70 Fun Facts About Eric Clapton

Clapton grew up believing that his mother was which relative?

His sister, he was told: his mother was only 16 when he was born, so her own mother and stepfather raised him as their son. He was still a boy when he learned who she really was.

Clapton's father, a soldier posted to England in the Second World War, came from which country?

Canada: Edward Fryer, who played piano in pubs while posted in England, went home before his son was born, and Clapton never met him. The absence runs through his 1998 song 'My Father's Eyes'.

Which band did Clapton quit in 1965 just as the pop single 'For Your Love' became its first big hit?

The Yardbirds had been a blues band, and Clapton, a purist, thought the single unacceptably commercial, so he walked out as it climbed the charts. The band coped: two more future guitar heroes followed him through its ranks.

How did Clapton get his famous nickname?

A pun on the slow handclap during string changes: when a string snapped he stayed on stage to fit a new one, and the waiting crowd clapped slowly. His manager at the time turned the jeer into a nickname.

Which session guitarist turned down the job of replacing Clapton in 1965 and suggested Jeff Beck instead?

Jimmy Page passed the job to a friend he had known since his teens, then joined the same band himself a year later. When it fell apart in 1968 he rebuilt it as Led Zeppelin.

Which bandleader's group did Clapton join in 1965, producing the album fans call "The Beano Album"?

John Mayall's 1966 record got its nickname from the cover, where Clapton sits reading a copy of the children's comic. By the time it reached the shops, he had already left to form Cream.

Which three-word slogan about the young guitarist was sprayed on walls around London in the mid-1960s?

Clapton is God was long thought to be a fan's work, but in 2016 Clapton said he suspected a put-up job by a man who worked for his old band's manager. He had earlier said the slogan embarrassed him.

Who were Clapton's two bandmates in the power trio Cream?

Ginger Baker and Jack Bruce already loathed each other: the drummer had fired the bassist from their previous band. Clapton agreed to join only if Bruce came too, and the trio lasted barely two years.

Which 1967 Cream album opens with the single 'Strange Brew'?

Disraeli Gears owes its name to a roadie who, talking about racing bikes, said it when he meant derailleur gears. The band found the slip so funny that they put it on the cover.

Cream's live hit 'Crossroads' reworked a 1936 song by which bluesman?

Robert Johnson cut it in a Texas hotel room. Legend says he met the devil at a crossroads and traded his soul for his talent, though the song's own words never mention any such bargain.

Which Cream single did Clapton write with a Beatle, who played on it billed as "L'Angelo Misterioso"?

Badge owes its title to a mistake: Clapton misread the word "bridge", which his co-writer had jotted on the song's notes. The title has nothing to do with the lyrics.

Clapton played the lead solo on which Beatles White Album track?

While My Guitar Gently Weeps nearly went without him: Clapton protested that nobody ever plays on Beatles records. His presence put the quarrelling band on its best behaviour, and he went uncredited.

Which Rolling Stones guitarist played bass in the Dirty Mac, John Lennon's one-off 1968 supergroup with Clapton?

Keith Richards swapped guitar for bass, with Jimi Hendrix's drummer Mitch Mitchell behind them. The Stones shelved the TV special they played it for, so the performance went unseen for decades.

Blind Faith, Clapton's 1969 supergroup, featured which singer-keyboardist?

Steve Winwood's new band debuted at a free concert in Hyde Park and took its only album to No. 1 in Britain and America, then fell apart within a year.

Which Blind Faith song was the first for which Clapton wrote both the words and the music?

Presence of the Lord was his own song of thanks, yet Clapton did not sing it. He left the lead vocal to a bandmate.

Clapton's first solo album yielded a US No. 18 hit with a cover of which J. J. Cale song?

After Midnight changed its writer's fortunes: J. J. Cale, by his account dirt poor at the time, heard the cover on his car radio. Its success led to his first album.

Where did the "Derek" in Derek and the Dominos come from?

A pianist friend's nickname for Clapton: Tony Ashton had taken to calling him Derek, or Del, though accounts of who picked the band name differ. Clapton wanted to blend into a group, not headline one.

Which guest guitarist added slide guitar to the Derek and the Dominos album Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs?

Duane Allman froze mid-solo when he spotted Clapton in the front row of an Allman Brothers show in Miami. Clapton then had him into the studio, and he played on most of the album.

In the Persian poem that inspired "Layla", what becomes of Majnun when he is kept apart from Layla?

He goes mad, and the name says so: Majnun is an Arabic word for crazy or possessed. The tale of a love he could not have struck a chord with Clapton.

"Layla" was written about Clapton's unrequited love for whose wife?

George Harrison's marriage to Pattie Boyd ended and she went on to marry Clapton, yet the two guitarists stayed close friends.

Who is officially credited with co-writing "Layla" for its piano coda?

Jim Gordon alone shares the credit with Clapton, but Rita Coolidge, his girlfriend at the time, has long said the piano melody came from a song the two of them wrote together.

At which Miami studio was Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs recorded with producer Tom Dowd?

Criteria Studios went on to revive another career: Clapton urged the Bee Gees to try recording in Miami, and their sessions there produced "Jive Talkin'" and their reinvention as a disco band.

Which Hendrix song did Derek and the Dominos record as a tribute just days before Hendrix died?

Little Wing was meant to honour a living guitar hero, but Hendrix never heard the recording: he died days after the session, weeks before the album came out.

Which fellow rock star organised the 1973 Rainbow Concert to help Clapton kick heroin?

Pete Townshend coaxed his friend back on stage after nearly two years away, assembling an all-star backing band and putting on two shows in a single day.

Who wrote "I Shot the Sheriff", the cover that gave Clapton his first US No. 1?

Bob Marley's song almost stayed on the shelf: Clapton doubted he could do it justice, and his band had to talk him into putting the cover on the album.

Clapton's album 461 Ocean Boulevard is named after the house he stayed in while recording it in which US state?

Florida: the rented house stood in Golden Beach, near Miami. The album ended three years in which heroin had kept Clapton out of the studio.

On which 1977 album did "Wonderful Tonight" and the J. J. Cale cover "Cocaine" appear?

Slowhand carries a song Clapton insists is anti-drug. To make the point he later took to adding the words "that dirty cocaine" when he played it live.

Clapton wrote "Wonderful Tonight" while waiting for Pattie Boyd to get ready for whose Buddy Holly party?

The McCartneys' party had the couple running late: Boyd kept trying on outfits, so Clapton picked up a guitar to pass the time. By the time she was ready, he had the song.

Which three Beatles were guests at the 1979 party celebrating Clapton's marriage to Pattie Boyd?

George, Paul and Ringo did more than turn up: they got up together for an impromptu jam. The wedding itself had taken place weeks earlier in Tucson, Arizona.

At which American treatment centre did Clapton check in for alcoholism in January 1982?

Hazelden, in Minnesota, did not take the first time: Clapton backslid, went into treatment again and counts his sobriety from 1987.

By his own account, why did Clapton call his first album after rehab Money and Cigarettes?

All he saw himself having left, he wrote later, was money and cigarettes. Newly sober, he also dropped most of his longtime band in favour of session veterans such as Ry Cooder.

Which drummer-singer produced Clapton's mid-1980s albums Behind the Sun and August?

Phil Collins's first version of Behind the Sun was turned down by the label for having no singles, so Clapton re-recorded a third of it in Los Angeles with the label's own producers.

Clapton's "It's in the Way That You Use It" featured in which 1986 Tom Cruise film?

The Color of Money had Robbie Robertson of the Band in charge of its music, and he wrote the song with Clapton. It reached cinemas a month before it opened the album August.

On the soundtrack of which 1991 film was "Tears in Heaven" first released?

Rush, a thriller about undercover narcotics officers, already had Clapton writing its score. His co-writer recalled him spotting one more place for a song and saying he wanted it to be about his son.

Who co-wrote "Tears in Heaven" with Clapton?

Will Jennings, by his own account, tried to talk his way out of the job: he felt the subject was too personal and urged Clapton to finish the song alone before he finally agreed.

In which city did Clapton's four-year-old son Conor die in 1991 after a fall from a high-rise window?

New York: the fall was from the 53rd floor of a Manhattan apartment block. Clapton went on to make public-service announcements urging parents to childproof their windows and stairs.

Which Texas blues guitarist died in a 1990 helicopter crash after sharing a Wisconsin stage with Clapton?

Stevie Ray Vaughan left in one of four helicopters that took off in fog, and his flew into a ski hill. Clapton's agent, bodyguard and assistant tour manager died with him.

Which 1994 Clapton album is made up entirely of covers of blues songs?

From the Cradle takes its title from a short poem of Clapton's own, which ends "from the cradle to the grave". It won the Grammy for best traditional blues album.

Which American maker built the 1939 acoustic that was Clapton's main guitar on Unplugged?

Martin: Clapton put the 000-42 up for auction in 2004 to raise money for his addiction treatment centre, and it sold for $791,500.

The acoustic Unplugged version of "Layla" won which Grammy in 1993?

Best Rock Song is a songwriters' prize, and in 1993 it went to a tune written in 1970: the slowed-down remake beat Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit".

Clapton's 1996 hit "Change the World", a Song of the Year Grammy winner, came from which film's soundtrack?

Phenomenon gave Clapton the hit, but he was not first to the song: country singer Wynonna Judd had released her own recording months earlier. His version won Record of the Year too.

Which Pink Floyd member hired Clapton as lead guitarist for his 1984 solo album and tour?

Roger Waters gave Clapton the lead guitar chair on The Pros and Cons of Hitch Hiking and took him on the road, but the tour sold poorly and left its leader deep in the red.

Which 1995 Comic Relief cover with Cher, Chrissie Hynde and Neneh Cherry took Clapton to No. 1 in the UK?

Love Can Build a Bridge began as a country song by the Judds. A children's charity version had stalled at No. 57 the year before, and this one topped the chart for a week.

Which blues legend's 2000 duets album with Clapton had a video casting Clapton as his chauffeur?

The album was titled Riding with the King.

On which Caribbean island did Clapton open the Crossroads Centre for addiction treatment in 1998?

Antigua had been Clapton's refuge for years, and he built the centre on a Robin Hood model: fees and funds from abroad let islanders be treated for next to nothing.

What was the name of Clapton's favourite Stratocaster, assembled from parts of three guitars and retired in 1985?

Blackie was Clapton's main guitar on stage and in the studio for more than a decade. He retired it because the neck was wearing thin and he feared doing it more harm than good.

In which US city did Clapton buy the cheap second-hand Stratocasters he cannibalised to build his favourite guitar?

Nashville's Sho-Bud shop had a rack of 1950s Strats going cheap because the model was out of fashion. Clapton bought the lot, gave three away to friends and built one guitar from the rest.

Which Cream hit grew from a bass riff written after the band saw Jimi Hendrix play in London?

Sunshine of Your Love was a salute Hendrix apparently never knew about. He took to covering it as his own tribute to Cream, once cutting short a song on live BBC television to play it.

Which 1957 Les Paul did Clapton give his Beatle friend in 1968?

Lucy was stolen from its new owner's home in 1973 and sold on to a musician from Mexico, who gave it back only in exchange for another vintage Les Paul.

Clapton entered the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as which three acts?

Solo, the Yardbirds and Cream: the Cream induction in 1993 did what nothing had since their 1968 split, getting all three members to play together again.

Clapton's first Grammy came as one of the performers on which all-star charity live album?

The Concert for Bangladesh won Album of the Year, though Clapton barely made the stage: deep in heroin addiction, he played the shows in withdrawal. His next Grammy took nearly two decades.

Which 1968 album does Clapton say helped convince him that Cream had run its course?

Music from Big Pink did more than help end Cream: inducting the Band into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994, Clapton admitted that on hearing it he had wanted to join them.

Which London venue has Clapton played more than 200 times, calling it "like playing in my front room"?

Royal Albert Hall staged Cream's two farewell concerts in 1968, and 37 years later the trio chose the same stage to reunite.

Clapton's set at Live Aid in July 1985 was played not in London but in which American city?

Philadelphia's JFK Stadium staged the American half of Live Aid. Clapton's drummer that evening had already played the London concert the same day and crossed the Atlantic on Concorde to do both.

What role did Clapton play in Ken Russell's 1975 film of the Who's Tommy?

The Preacher sings a Sonny Boy Williamson blues that the Who adapted for their rock opera. Clapton reckoned that was exactly why the part went to him: a blues was what he could do better than anything else.

Which bluesman did Clapton call "the father figure I never really had"?

Muddy Waters stayed close to him to the end: his last time on a stage was as a surprise guest at a Clapton show in June 1982. He died the following April.

Clapton re-recorded one of his early hits in 1987 for a television advert selling what?

Beer: the campaign was for Michelob, and the timing could hardly have been worse. Clapton was an alcoholic, and he went back into treatment for his drinking that same year.

What did the teenage Clapton do soon after getting his first guitar, a cheap acoustic?

Put it aside: the steel strings made the German-made guitar hard to play, and he lost interest. Only in his mid-teens did he pick it up again and begin practising in earnest.

Which subject was Clapton studying at a Kingston college when he was expelled in 1962?

Art: he was admitted to Kingston College of Art on a year's probation and expelled at the end of it for handing in too little work. Guitar practice and blues records had taken over his days.

Which Chicago bluesman flew to London in 1970 to record an album with Clapton and the Rolling Stones' rhythm section?

Howlin' Wolf ended up giving a lesson on tape: when Clapton could not get the timing of "Little Red Rooster", he asked the older man to pick up a guitar and show him.

In 2016 Clapton revealed that which condition had made playing the guitar "hard work"?

Peripheral neuropathy, he said, felt like electric shocks down his leg, and he had accepted it would not improve. Ten years on he was still touring, with a run of US dates in 2026.

Clapton married Melia McEnery in 2002 before guests who had come to the church expecting what?

A christening was all the guests expected: once Clapton's two daughters, a baby and a teenager, had been baptised, the vicar turned round and married the couple.

What was the title of Clapton's 2024 studio album?

Meanwhile is largely a gathering of loose ends: eight of its 14 songs had already come out as singles since 2020, among them "Moon River", cut with Jeff Beck and issued after Beck's death.

Which honour did Clapton collect at Buckingham Palace in 2004 for services to music?

CBE: Clapton, already an OBE, said his rebellious streak would once have made him turn the honour down, but at 59 he was grown up enough to accept it.

The 2005 Cream reunion shows took place in London and at which American venue?

Madison Square Garden got three nights that October, and they finished the reunion off: old quarrels flared on stage, and Clapton later wrote that he wished the trio had stopped after London.

Which 2006 collaboration album did Clapton make with J. J. Cale?

The Road to Escondido started out as a different job: Clapton asked Cale to produce an album for him, and it grew into a joint record that won the Grammy for best contemporary blues album.

When Blind Faith folded in 1969, Clapton stepped back to play as a sideman for which husband-and-wife act?

Delaney & Bonnie were the support act on Blind Faith's only US tour. Clapton spent that tour in their company to escape the hype around his own supergroup, then signed on as their guitarist.

Which football club's scarf appears on the back cover of Clapton's 1978 album Backless?

West Bromwich Albion got more than a scarf from him: in the early 1980s Clapton played a concert for the testimonial of John Wile, the club's long-serving captain.

Which carmaker built Clapton a one-off special project car, the SP12 EC, in 2012?

Ferrari built it on the 458 Italia but styled it after the 512 BB, a late-1970s model Clapton loved so much that he had owned three of them.

Under what name did Clapton and the Bee Gees team up in the 1980s to record for a cricket charity?

The Bunburys shared a name with the celebrity cricket club their songs raised money for. Its founder, David English, had been president of RSO Records, the label behind both Clapton and the Bee Gees.