Eric Clapton and Adoption

Clapton performing at Hyde Park in 2008
Source: Wikipedia.org.

Biography

1945-

British musician and composer

Clapton was born to an unmarried girl of 16 and a Canadian soldier, and raised by her parents. His mother left home, returning in 1957, but for some years the fiction was maintained that they were brother and sister. He got his first guitar when he was 14 and went on to become one of the world's greatest rock musicians, in the Yardbirds, Cream and Blind Faith. He is also the composer of the rock opera Tommy.

In 1998 Clapton learned his birth father's name and discovered his Canadian and American half-brothers and -sisters, but his father had died in 1985.

References

Coleman, Ray. Clapton!: An Authorized Biography. (New York: Warner Books, 1988) Shumacher, Michael. Crossroads: The Life and Music of Eric Clapton. (New York: Hyperion, 1995) Roberty, Marc. Slowhand: The Life & Music of Eric Clapton. (New York: Crown, 1993) Guinness Encyclopedia of Popular Music, 2nd edition, edited by Colin Larkin. (Enfield: Guinness Publishing, 1995) Gysin, Christian. "The Father I Never Knew Sounds Like a Great Guy Says Eric Clapton," Daily Mail [London], 30 March 1998, p. 11 "Eric Clapton." [Includes portrait]. Available at: www.netxn.com/~louise/eric.html