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British guitarist, singer and composer Eric Clapton ranks among the top five rock guitarists of all time. He is one of the most decorated musicians in rock history, having earned three inductions into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Grammy’s for his work. With music that reaches across genres, he is thought to have had more impact than any other guitarist in the history of popular music.
Born Eric Patrick Clapton on March 30, 1945, he developed a love for blues music early in life. The son of a 16 year-old girl named Molly Clapton, he grew up in Surrey, England with his grandparents, who told Clapton his birthmother was actually his sister. He still regards age nine, when he found out the truth about his family, as a critical moment in his life.
Clapton was a rebel and his grandparents, hoping to get him on track by fostering his affinity for music, bought him an acoustic guitar for his thirteenth birthday, but he did not take immediately to learning music and almost gave up entirely. Frustrated, he took up other artistic pursuits and went to Kingston Art School to study stained-glass design, only to pick his guitar back up and be kicked out of school for playing it during art class. At age 17, Clapton played with his first rock group The Roosters for less than a year, playing in local London clubs with young guitarists and musicians like Keith Richards and Mick Jagger. In September 1963, a month after leaving the band, he played a seven-gig run with Casey Jones and the Engineers, then a Top 40 British band.
Clapton’s music career began quickly, as people soon discovered his talent for his instrument. In 1963 joined the blues-influenced rock band The Yardbirds and played with them until 1965. Clapton’s guitar playing, with a sound that mingled the style of blues greats like one of his idols B.B. King with new Chicago blues, helped create a truly unique group. By age 18, he became one of the most known and respected guitarists in British music. The Yardbirds began playing just traditional blues covers and developed a following almost immediately after replacing the Rolling Stones as the house band for the Crawdaddy Club in Richmond. They toured England with legendary American blues musician Sonny Boy Williamson and even released a joint recording with him in 1965 that they recorded together in 1963. In March 1965, The Yardbirds had their first independent hit: “For Your Love.”
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