Eric Clapton 044

Look closer for one lyric and seven song titles: “She don’t lie, she don’t lie, she don’t lie” (Cocain); Crossroads; Layla; Lay Down Sally; Bell Bottom Blues; After Midnight; Wonderful Tonight; Let It Rain

The story: 
Eric Patrick Clapton

Eric Patrick Clapton, CBE born 03-30-1945, was an English rock and blues guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He is the only three-time inductee to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame: once as a solo artist, also as a member of the Yardbirds and of Cream. Clapton has been referred to as one of the most important and influential guitarists of all time. Clapton ranked second in Rolling Stone‘s list of the “100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time” and fourth in Gibson’s “Top 50 Guitarists of All Time”. He was named fifth in Time‘s list of “The 10 Best Electric Guitar Players” in 2009

After playing in a number of different local bands, Clapton joined the Yardbirds in 1963, replacing founding guitarist Top Topham. Dissatisfied with the change of the Yardbirds sound from blues rock to a more radio-friendly pop rock sound, Clapton left the Yardbirds in 1965 and played one album with John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers. Leaving Mayall in 1966, Clapton formed the power trio Cream with drummer Ginger Baker and bassist Jack Bruce, in which Clapton played sustained blues improvisations and “arty, blues-based psychedelic pop”. Cream split, he formed blues rock band Blind Faith with Baker, Steve Winwood, and Ric Grech, recording one album and performing on one tour. Their brake up lead Clapton to embark on a solo career in 1970. During that time, he also performed with Delaney & Bonnie and Derek and the Dominos. With them, he recorded “Layla”, one of his signature songs. He continued to record successful solo albums and songs over the next several decades, including a 1974 cover of Bob Marley’s “I Shot the Sheriff” which helped reggae reach a mass market. Also hits were the country-infused Slowhand album (1977) and the pop rock of 1986’s August. When his son Conor died in 1991, Clapton expressed his grief in the song “Tears in Heaven”, on his Unplugged album. In 1996 he had another top-40 hit with the R&B crossover “Change The World”, and in 1998 released the Grammy award-winning “My Father’s Eyes”. Since 1999, he has recorded a number of traditional blues and blues rock albums and hosted the periodic Crossroads Guitar Festival. His most recent studio album is 2018’s Happy Xmas.

Clapton has received 18 Grammy Awards plus the Brit Award for Outstanding Contribution to Music. In 2004 he was awarded a CBE at Buckingham Palace for services to music. He has received four Ivor Novello Awards from the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors, including the Lifetime Achievement Award. In his solo career, Clapton has sold more than 100 million records worldwide, making him one of the best-selling musicians of all time. In 1998, Clapton, a recovering alcoholic and drug addict, founded the Crossroads Centre on Antigua, a medical facility for recovering substance abusers.       

-credit Wikipedia

Clapton was born in his grandparents’ home at 1 The Green, Ripley, Surrey, England. He was the son of 16-year-old Patricia Molly Clapton (01-07-1929 to March 1999) and Edward Walter Fryer (03-21-1920, to 1985), a 24-year-old Canadian soldier stationed in England during World War II. Before Eric was born, Fryer returned to his wife in Canada.

It was extraordinarily difficult for an unmarried 16-year-old to raise a child on her own in the mid-1940s. Pat’s parents, Rose and Jack Clapp, stepped in as surrogate parents and raised Eric as their own. Thus, he grew up believing his mother was his sister. His grandparents never legally adopted him, but remained his legal guardians until 1963. Eric’s last name comes from Rose’s first husband and Pat’s father, Reginald Cecil Clapton (d. 1933).

Eric’s mother, Pat, eventually married and moved to Canada and Germany as her husband, Frank MacDonald, continued his military career. They had two girls and a boy. Eric’s half-brother, Brian, was killed in a road accident in 1974 at the age of 26. His half-sisters are Cheryl (b. May 1953) and Heather (b. September 1958).

Eric was raised in a musical household. His grandmother played piano, his uncle and mother both enjoyed listening to the big bands. Pat later told Eric’s official biographer, Ray Coleman, that Eric’s father played piano in several dance bands in the Surrey area.

-credit ericclapton.com/biography

Digital Print on Archival Matte – Original illustration done in graphite and the following Prisma Colors: Poppy Red for the good work done at the Crossroads Centre at Antigua, West Indies; Green Ochre for the sound of Eric’s voice at the beginning of Let It Grow; Indigo Blue for the “Bluesbreakers” and Bellbottom Blues; and Orange because orange you glad this color was used?
Artist: Tobin Bortner of Bastrop, Texas – drawing done in August of 2021 – ©Tobin Signs/Look Closer Illustrations 
DERIVATIVE Work – photo sources: face from “people_com_eric-clapton”; Fender Guitar and collar from “azcentral_com_1397774376003-c1ed1cac1590a40f510f6a706700b0c7”

0What you get:
$40 (36.95 + 3.05 tax)
11 x 14 Print Package with Authenticity Sheet
signed and numbered (run of 80)
Domestic Priority Mail (included)