![]() ![]() The blues also meshed perfectly with his self-perception as an outsider and of being “different” from other people. Typical of his introspective nature, Eric looked beneath the surface and explored the roots of rock in American Blues. The reason? Guitar playing and listening to the blues dominated his waking hours. He was expelled at the end of that time for lack of progress as he had not submitted enough work. In 1961, when he was 16, Eric began studying at the Kingston College of Art on a one-year probation. Finding the inexpensive German-made Hoyer difficult to play - it had steel strings - he put it aside. For his 13th birthday, Eric asked for a guitar. Bede’s Secondary Modern School and two years later, entered the art branch of Holyfield Road School.īy 1958, Rock and Roll had exploded onto the world. Emotionally scarred by this event, Eric failed the all-important 11 Plus Exams. He became moody and distant and stopped applying himself at school. This singular event affected him deeply and was a defining moment in his life. At the age of nine, he learned the truth about his parentage when Pat returned to England with his six-year-old half brother for a visit. ![]() But, from his earliest years in school, he realized something was not quite right when he wrote his name as “Eric Clapton” and his parents’ names as “Mr. Quiet and polite, he was characterized as an above-average student with an aptitude for art. ![]() Pat later told Eric’s official biographer, Ray Coleman, that his father was a gifted musician, playing piano in several dance bands in the Surrey area. His grandmother played piano and his uncle and mother both enjoyed listening to the sounds of the big bands. September 1958).Įric was raised in a musical household. Eric’s half-brother, Brian, was killed in a road accident in 1974 at the age of 26. ![]() 1933).Įric’s mother, Pat, eventually married and moved to Canada and Germany as her husband, Frank MacDonald, continued his military career. Eric’s last name comes from Rose’s first husband and Pat’s father, Reginald Cecil Clapton (d. His grandparents never legally adopted him, but remained his legal guardians until 1963. Thus, he grew up believing his mother was his sister. Pat’s parents, Rose and Jack Clapp, stepped in as surrogate parents and raised Eric as their own. It was extraordinarily difficult for an unmarried 16-year-old to raise a child on her own in the mid-1940s. Before Eric was born, Fryer returned to his wife in Canada. 1985), a 24-year-old Canadian soldier stationed in England during World War II. He was the son of 16-year-old Patricia Molly Clapton (b. Eric Patrick Clapton was born on 30 March 1945 in his grandparents’ home at 1 The Green, Ripley, Surrey, England. ![]()
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