Eric Clapton
Eric Clapton CBE, born March 30, 1945 in Ripley, near London, England, is a guitarist, singer and composer of blues and rock band. In 2003, the monthly Rolling Stone ranked fourth best guitarist of all time. His fans have dubbed "God" (God).
Youth
Born in Ripley, Surrey UK, Eric Clapton is the illegitimate son of a Canadian soldier and an English mother. His father went to fight in Europe shortly after his birth, then returned to Canada. Her mother, who was only 16 years is too young to care for him, the young Eric is committed to his maternal grandparents (whose name, Clapp, is the source of the false rumor that the real name of the guitarist would Clapp). He will later be permanently abandoned by its mother party to turn to Canada in the arms of another soldier.
The story of its birth long remained a family secret and the child learns at the age of 9 years than he thought his parents were not, and that his alleged sister was actually his mother. The shock is terrible for Eric.
Clapton's childhood does not go smoothly - he later confessed to having been a "brat". Inattentive at school, he almost abandoned even learning the guitar - he had received his first acoustic guitar, a Hoyer German-made as gifts for his 13 years - because he considered it "too difficult". Postman for a meager living, he joined the class design of the School of Art Kingston's poor performance earned him a quick return.
As a teenager, Eric Clapton draws its musical inspiration - he is finally able to play a little guitar - in the American blues from Big Bill Broonzy, Muddy Waters, Elmore James, Howlin 'Wolf and especially Robert Johnson, the legendary bluesman Mississippi. Known to his friends "the mod Eric in reference to his clothes reminiscent of the Mods movement, it starts around 1962 to attend clubs musicians such as Ealing Club London, which occur including the Rolling Stones. He even occasionally accompany singer like. Little confidence at that time to his guitar skills, he said: "I am a little I worked some blues stuff for a while, nothing serious. In the same club play the Blues Incorporated with Alexis Corner, with drummers and bass players are, from time to time (the staff varies greatly at the time), Ginger Baker and Jack Bruce of Cream future acolytes.
Yet learning by heart of an album of Chuck Berry finally allows him to integrate in March 1963 his first group the Roosters. He plays with them until October of that year, and when the group disbanded, joined Casey Jones & The Engineers along with Tom McGuinness (former bassist of Roosters).
But this new association lasts for only a month Clapton, who has already acquired a reputation as a guitarist, is hired by the Yardbirds, who will be his first truly professional group.
1963 - 1965: The Yardbirds
With the arrival of Clapton, the Yardbirds began to really take off. Small group of rock and roll like many others, strongly influenced by the blues, they play any original composition, which was limited to blues songs from the catalogs Chess, Checker and Vee-Jay. Succeeding the Rolling Stones' legendary resident of Crawdaddy Club in Richmond, they become a cult among hip young British blues fans. Their first single, I Wish You Would A Certain Girl and are varied success, and they even go on tour in 1963 with American bluesman Sonny Boy Williamson, recording an album set to be released later as both a hard Yardbirds and Williamson.
Clapton, meanwhile, gradually creates his individual style way of playing, of course, revolutionary way of synthesizing the influences of Buddy Guy, Freddie King and BB King, but also a way of dressing. This strong personality and his talents as a guitarist (though little highlighted on the first recordings of the group), earned him to become the principal soloist.
Rapidly becoming a major figure in the English scene, it is a nickname, Slowhand, ironic reference to the speed, extraordinary for its time, when he plays, or play on slow hand-clap (applause expressing impatience or public discontent). But in May 1965, the first real success of the group, For Your Love, coincides with the departure of guitarist and uncomfortable because of the song "too commercial" he said. Indeed, at that time, Clapton is still a fan of authentic blues, which considers a betrayal to play something other than times of great bluesmen. Recommending the young Jimmy Page to his colleagues, then share Clapton join John Mayall's Bluesbreakers, that no one can suspect of treason against the blues.
1965 - 1966: John Mayall & The Bluesbreakers
Gone to rest in Oxford at Ben Palmer (former guitarist Roosters), Clapton does not remain idle long after leaving the Yardbirds: in March 1965, John Mayall asked him to join the Bluesbreakers. At the time, the group is already a landmark of British R & B, Clapton therefore accepts the proposal. Exchanging his Fender Telecaster against a Gibson Les Paul Standard for a more authentic and powerful, Clapton plays with passion, and established its international reputation instrumentalist prodigy. This does not prevent him from missing sometimes serious, up to certain commitments to miss ... Bored by routine concerts in night clubs, in August 1965 he left the Bluesbreakers to join a composite supposed browse World: The Acorn.
The primary intention of this group of "musicians voyageurs was traveling the world in a double-decker bus, playing around. An epic that ends quickly in Greece, where they return penniless after having a car accident and have almost been kidnapped in Athens. Clapton then resumed in October 1965 when his place in the Bluesbreakers.
His getaway with The Acorn has not started reputation Clapton, who gradually becomes a true hero, and won a new nickname on fences and in the London Underground flowers with the inscription "Clapton is God" (Clapton is God). A new status difficult to accept for the young guitarist, who hesitates in his statements on the one hand between the belief that he has "powers", and also their denial.
In March 1966, Clapton, Mayall and the Bluesbreakers recorded the album Blues Breakers - John Mayall with Eric Clapton. Regarded today as a monument of British Blues Boom, the disc is a great success, but his title, ambiguous, does not satisfy the members of Bluesbreakers, Clapton or who finds that his name "is less visible than John Mayall. When the album was released, Clapton had already left the group. It has indeed formed with Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker a "supergroup Cream, which will soon become.
Read also Elton John
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