Eric Clapton (Songbook)

Eric Patrick Clapton (born March 30, 1945) is an English musician, singer-songwriter and guitarist. He is the only three-time inductee to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame: once as a solo artist and separately as a member of the Yardbirds and Cream. Clapton has been referred to as one of the most important and influential guitarists of all time. Because of this, he was also coined with the nickname "Clapton is God" in graffiti on the wall at an Islington Underground station in 1967. The phrase began to appear in other areas throughout the mid-1960s. Clapton grew up with his grandparents in Surrey, England. He studied at the Kingston College of Art but was dismissed because his focus was more on music than art. At age 17 he began playing with bands. Two of his most popular recordings were "Layla", recorded while he was a member of band Derek and the Dominos; and Robert Johnson's "Crossroads", recorded by band Cream. Following the freak accident which killed his son Conor in 1991, Clapton's grief was expressed in the song "Tears in Heaven", which featured in his Unplugged album. Clapton has been the recipient of 18 Grammy Awards, and the Brit Award for Outstanding Contribution to Music. In 2004, he was awarded a CBE at Buckingham Palace for services to music. In 1998, Clapton, a recovering alcoholic and drug addict, founded the Crossroads Centre on Antigua, a medical facility for recovering substance abusers. Clapton was awarded a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2006 as a member of the rock group, Cream. In 2015, Clapton's autobiography (entitled Clapton: The Autobiography) became listed on the New York Times bestseller list. It was originally published in 2007.