1914 Sonny Boy Williamson I.*
1945 Eric Clapton*
1948 Dave Hole*
1949 D.C. Bellamy* 1)
1949 Dana Gillespie*
1962 Edwin Kimmler*
1962 Julien Kasper*
1981 Edith Wilson+
Breezy G Peyton*
1945 Eric Clapton*
1948 Dave Hole*
1949 D.C. Bellamy* 1)
1949 Dana Gillespie*
1962 Edwin Kimmler*
1962 Julien Kasper*
1981 Edith Wilson+
Breezy G Peyton*
1) Der genaue Geburtstag
ist dem Autor nicht bekannt
Happy Birthday
Dave Hole *30.03.1948
Dave Hole (* 30. März 1948 in Heswall, Merseyside; eigentlich David Robert Hole) ist ein australischer Slide-Gitarrist.
Hole zog im Alter von vier Jahren mit seiner Familie nach Perth. Mit zwölf Jahren begann er Gitarre zu spielen, als Autodidakt spielte er unter anderem zu Alben von Eric Clapton und Jimi Hendrix. Der Linkshänder zog sich in einem Fußballspiel einen Fingerbruch zu, hierdurch kam es zur Ausprägung eines ungewöhnlichen Stil des Gitarrenspiels. Er wechselte zum rechtshändigen Spiel und greift seither nicht wie üblicherweise von unten, sondern von oben auf das Griffbrett. Seit 1974 tourte er durch Australien, bis 1990 ein Redakteur des Guitar Player-Magazins auf ihn aufmerksam wurde. Die Berichterstattung führte zu einem US-amerikanischen Plattenvertrag bei Alligator Records. Es folgten Tourneen durch die USA und Europa. 1999 erhielt Under the Spell einen ARIA Music Award als bestes Blues-Album.
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dave_Hole
David Robert "Dave" Hole (born 30 March 1948, Heswall, Cheshire, United Kingdom) is an Australian slide guitarist known for his style of playing rock and roll and blues music. In 1990 he issued Short Fuse Blues which brought him to the attention of United States label, Alligator Records. Two of his albums have appeared on Billboard Top Blues Albums, Steel on Steel (1995) peaked at No. 13 and Ticket to Chicago (1997) reached No. 15. His sixth album, Under the Spell, appeared in April 1999 and won "Best Blues & Roots Album" at the ARIA Music Awards of that year. According to Australian rock music historian, Ian McFarlane, Hole "is the most acclaimed blues guitarist Australia has ever produced ... courtesy of his unorthodox slide guitar style, his rousing live shows and a series of hard-rocking, roadhouse blues albums ... yet it took two decades of slogging around the Australian touring circuit before the local industry sat up and took notice".
Biography
David Robert Hole was born on 30 March 1948 in Heswall, United Kingdom and when he was four-years-old his family moved to Perth, Australia.[1] He became interested in blues music after hearing a school friend's Muddy Waters' album when aged six-years-old.[2][3] At twelve-years-old he received his first guitar and started to teach himself due to lack of availability of teachers.[2] He used the albums of Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, Blind Willie Johnson, Skip James, Blind Lemon Jefferson to learn.[2] He later used work of Robert Johnson, Elmore James, and Mississippi Fred McDowell.[2] Hole is left-handed and, after breaking a finger in a football accident, he played the guitar right-handed.[1][2] "I had to have a cast on it. So I came up with this idea, just while I was recuperating, of jamming the slide on my index finger and hanging it over the top of the guitar – quite an awkward sort of style, really. It took me about three months before this cast came off. And over that time it started to feel good".[3]
In 1965 Hole formed his first group, Broken Habits, which included Daryl Upson on bass guitar.[1] The following year he created the earliest version of Dave Hole Band with Upson, Denis Crake on vocals and Jim Morris on drums.[1] In 1968 Hole joined The Beaten Tracks, a pop, blues, R&B band formed in early 1967 with Ace Follington on drums, Warren Morgan on keyboards and vocals, Ross Partington on lead vocals and Murray Wilkins on bass guitar.[4][5] They played covers of The Beatles, Paul Butterfield, Motown and Vanilla Fudge material.[4] The group won the 1968 Perth heat of the national Hoadley's Battle of the Sounds and travelled to Melbourne for the final.[1] They also toured the eastern states before Hole returned to Perth late that year to continue his university studies.[1] He was replaced by Phil Manning (ex-Bay City Union, Laurie Allen Revue) on guitar and lead vocals – The Beaten Tracks evolved into Chain.[4][5]
In 1972 Hole formed Dave Hole Blues Band with Upson and Al Kash on drums (ex-Blackfeather), the trio relocated to London and played in local pubs.[1] Hole returned to Perth in 1974, from that time for twenty years, he toured the Western Australian pub circuit with differing line-ups of Dave Hole Band.[1] By 1977 with Hole were Phil Bailey on bass guitar and Ian Ironside on drums. They provided two tracks, "Country Town" and "Still in Love with You", for a various artists compilation, The 6WF Rock Group Album which appeared in 1979.[1] Also that year Hole joined with Matt Taylor (ex-Bay City Union, Chain, Western Flyer) on lead vocals and harmonica to form Matt Taylor Band featuring Dave Hole, they were backed by Paul Pooley on bass guitar (Manteca) and Ric Whittle on drums (Fatty Lumpkin, Manteca).[1][6] They toured Australia "playing some of the most electrifying blues rock ever heard in this country".[1][6] By late 1980 the group dissolved without recording any material.[1][6]
During the 1980s Dave Hole Band continued with various line-ups until 1988, when he established Short Fuse with John Wilson on bass guitar and Ronnie Parker on drums.[1] In 1990 they released an album, Short Fuse Blues, which Hole had financed, produced, and recorded in three days. Bob Patient (ex-Matt Taylor's Chain) guested on keyboards and joined to tour in support of the work.[1] Rock music historian, Ian McFarlane, observed that it is "full of Hole's sinuous, hot-wired guitar work, which evoked the spirit of Elmore James and Blind Willie Johnson".[1] Hole sent a copy to United States magazine, Guitar Player, its editor, Jas Obrecht, wrote an article in July 1991 praising Hole as the newest guitar wizard and comparing him with Stevie Ray Vaughan and Albert King.[2][7] Soon a copy of the album was in the hands of Alligator Records president Bruce Iglauer who signed Hole up as the first non-US-based artist of their 26-year history.[3]
In November 1992 Guitar Player 's critics, Art Thompson and Chris Gill, praised him – and fellow slide guitarists Sonny Landreth and Dave Tronzo – as "visionary" with a "distinctive technique" that "redefine[s] the art".[8] While new fans were gained via radio play on more than 1000 stations. Reviews appeared in Guitar for the Practicing Musician, Billboard, Audio, Spin, The Chicago Tribune, The Denver Post and Associated Press. Hole signed a deal for the European market with Provogue Records, with albums and tours of the US and Europe helping increase his popularity further. Later tours of Europe have seen him headlining festival shows in Germany, Denmark, Holland, France and Switzerland with the Leverkusen Blues Festival in Germany televised nationally. He has also performed in Brazil, Sweden, Norway, Russia, Austria, Italy, Spain, Belgium and the UK. Two of his albums have appeared on Billboard Top Blues Albums chart, Steel on Steel (1995) peaked at No. 13 and Ticket to Chicago (1997) reached No. 15.[9] In August 1997 Hole commenced his third tour of US blues festivals and displayed his "unique slide playing style which involves using his index finger rather than his pinkie".[10]
On 20 April 1999 he issued Under the Spell, which won "Best Blues & Roots Album" at the ARIA Music Awards of that year.[11][12] McFarlane noted that he "is the most acclaimed blues guitarist Australia has ever produced ... courtesy of his unorthodox slide guitar style, his rousing live shows and a series of hard-rocking, roadhouse blues albums ... yet it took two decades of slogging around the Australian touring circuit before the local industry sat up and took notice".[1] Although under-appreciated in Australia Hole was described by Robert Messenger in The Canberra Times as "a musical genius" and "in the US he is living blues legend".[13] In August 2004 Hole was interviewed by Brendan Hutchens for ABC's George Negus Tonight and recalled "It's very, very raw emotional music. And it communicates very strongly and it did to me. When I first heard blues, it bowled me over. And it's great. I love it. I love to be able to communicate with people through that, through the music".[3] On 19 May 2007 Hole issued his tenth album, Rough Diamond, which Sing Out! 's Gary von Tersch compared with Muddy Waters and Duane Allman as "spirited" and showed "incendiary blues and rock slide guitar".[14] As well as releasing ten albums, Hole has continued to tour worldwide for six months each year, returning to his home in the Darling Scarp of Western Australia for the other six months.
Biography
David Robert Hole was born on 30 March 1948 in Heswall, United Kingdom and when he was four-years-old his family moved to Perth, Australia.[1] He became interested in blues music after hearing a school friend's Muddy Waters' album when aged six-years-old.[2][3] At twelve-years-old he received his first guitar and started to teach himself due to lack of availability of teachers.[2] He used the albums of Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, Blind Willie Johnson, Skip James, Blind Lemon Jefferson to learn.[2] He later used work of Robert Johnson, Elmore James, and Mississippi Fred McDowell.[2] Hole is left-handed and, after breaking a finger in a football accident, he played the guitar right-handed.[1][2] "I had to have a cast on it. So I came up with this idea, just while I was recuperating, of jamming the slide on my index finger and hanging it over the top of the guitar – quite an awkward sort of style, really. It took me about three months before this cast came off. And over that time it started to feel good".[3]
In 1965 Hole formed his first group, Broken Habits, which included Daryl Upson on bass guitar.[1] The following year he created the earliest version of Dave Hole Band with Upson, Denis Crake on vocals and Jim Morris on drums.[1] In 1968 Hole joined The Beaten Tracks, a pop, blues, R&B band formed in early 1967 with Ace Follington on drums, Warren Morgan on keyboards and vocals, Ross Partington on lead vocals and Murray Wilkins on bass guitar.[4][5] They played covers of The Beatles, Paul Butterfield, Motown and Vanilla Fudge material.[4] The group won the 1968 Perth heat of the national Hoadley's Battle of the Sounds and travelled to Melbourne for the final.[1] They also toured the eastern states before Hole returned to Perth late that year to continue his university studies.[1] He was replaced by Phil Manning (ex-Bay City Union, Laurie Allen Revue) on guitar and lead vocals – The Beaten Tracks evolved into Chain.[4][5]
In 1972 Hole formed Dave Hole Blues Band with Upson and Al Kash on drums (ex-Blackfeather), the trio relocated to London and played in local pubs.[1] Hole returned to Perth in 1974, from that time for twenty years, he toured the Western Australian pub circuit with differing line-ups of Dave Hole Band.[1] By 1977 with Hole were Phil Bailey on bass guitar and Ian Ironside on drums. They provided two tracks, "Country Town" and "Still in Love with You", for a various artists compilation, The 6WF Rock Group Album which appeared in 1979.[1] Also that year Hole joined with Matt Taylor (ex-Bay City Union, Chain, Western Flyer) on lead vocals and harmonica to form Matt Taylor Band featuring Dave Hole, they were backed by Paul Pooley on bass guitar (Manteca) and Ric Whittle on drums (Fatty Lumpkin, Manteca).[1][6] They toured Australia "playing some of the most electrifying blues rock ever heard in this country".[1][6] By late 1980 the group dissolved without recording any material.[1][6]
During the 1980s Dave Hole Band continued with various line-ups until 1988, when he established Short Fuse with John Wilson on bass guitar and Ronnie Parker on drums.[1] In 1990 they released an album, Short Fuse Blues, which Hole had financed, produced, and recorded in three days. Bob Patient (ex-Matt Taylor's Chain) guested on keyboards and joined to tour in support of the work.[1] Rock music historian, Ian McFarlane, observed that it is "full of Hole's sinuous, hot-wired guitar work, which evoked the spirit of Elmore James and Blind Willie Johnson".[1] Hole sent a copy to United States magazine, Guitar Player, its editor, Jas Obrecht, wrote an article in July 1991 praising Hole as the newest guitar wizard and comparing him with Stevie Ray Vaughan and Albert King.[2][7] Soon a copy of the album was in the hands of Alligator Records president Bruce Iglauer who signed Hole up as the first non-US-based artist of their 26-year history.[3]
In November 1992 Guitar Player 's critics, Art Thompson and Chris Gill, praised him – and fellow slide guitarists Sonny Landreth and Dave Tronzo – as "visionary" with a "distinctive technique" that "redefine[s] the art".[8] While new fans were gained via radio play on more than 1000 stations. Reviews appeared in Guitar for the Practicing Musician, Billboard, Audio, Spin, The Chicago Tribune, The Denver Post and Associated Press. Hole signed a deal for the European market with Provogue Records, with albums and tours of the US and Europe helping increase his popularity further. Later tours of Europe have seen him headlining festival shows in Germany, Denmark, Holland, France and Switzerland with the Leverkusen Blues Festival in Germany televised nationally. He has also performed in Brazil, Sweden, Norway, Russia, Austria, Italy, Spain, Belgium and the UK. Two of his albums have appeared on Billboard Top Blues Albums chart, Steel on Steel (1995) peaked at No. 13 and Ticket to Chicago (1997) reached No. 15.[9] In August 1997 Hole commenced his third tour of US blues festivals and displayed his "unique slide playing style which involves using his index finger rather than his pinkie".[10]
On 20 April 1999 he issued Under the Spell, which won "Best Blues & Roots Album" at the ARIA Music Awards of that year.[11][12] McFarlane noted that he "is the most acclaimed blues guitarist Australia has ever produced ... courtesy of his unorthodox slide guitar style, his rousing live shows and a series of hard-rocking, roadhouse blues albums ... yet it took two decades of slogging around the Australian touring circuit before the local industry sat up and took notice".[1] Although under-appreciated in Australia Hole was described by Robert Messenger in The Canberra Times as "a musical genius" and "in the US he is living blues legend".[13] In August 2004 Hole was interviewed by Brendan Hutchens for ABC's George Negus Tonight and recalled "It's very, very raw emotional music. And it communicates very strongly and it did to me. When I first heard blues, it bowled me over. And it's great. I love it. I love to be able to communicate with people through that, through the music".[3] On 19 May 2007 Hole issued his tenth album, Rough Diamond, which Sing Out! 's Gary von Tersch compared with Muddy Waters and Duane Allman as "spirited" and showed "incendiary blues and rock slide guitar".[14] As well as releasing ten albums, Hole has continued to tour worldwide for six months each year, returning to his home in the Darling Scarp of Western Australia for the other six months.
Eric Clapton *30.03.1945
Eric Patrick „Slowhand“ Clapton, CBE (* 30. März 1945 in Ripley, Borough of Guildford, Vereinigtes Königreich) ist ein englischer Blues- und Rock-Gitarrist und -Sänger. Er ist 20-facher Grammygewinner[1][2] und als einziger Musiker dreifaches Mitglied der Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Clapton prägte die Entwicklung des Bluesrocks seit den 1960er Jahren wesentlich mit und gilt als einer der bedeutendsten Gitarristen. Auf der im Jahr 2011 aktualisierten Liste der 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time der US-amerikanischen Musikzeitschrift Rolling Stone findet sich Clapton auf Rang zwei.[3]Biografie
Kindheit
Eric Clapton wurde am 30. März 1945 in Ripley in der Grafschaft Surrey, England, geboren. Seine Mutter Patricia Molly Clapton war bei seiner Geburt erst 16 Jahre alt. Sein Vater war der in England stationierte 24-jährige kanadische Soldat Edward Walter Fryer, der bei der Geburt das Land bereits wieder verlassen hatte.[4] Als uneheliches Kind wuchs Clapton ab seinem zweiten Lebensjahr bei seinen Großeltern mütterlicherseits in Ripley in der Grafschaft Surrey in England auf. Diese verheimlichten ihm seine Abstammung und ließen ihn in dem Glauben, seine Mutter sei seine Schwester.[5] Der junge Clapton war in seiner Schulzeit ein eher ruhiges, aber überdurchschnittlich begabtes Kind.[5]
Karriere
1960er
Clapton brach sein Kunststudium an der Londoner Kingston University ab, um sich im Januar 1963 im Alter von 17 Jahren seiner ersten Band, den Roosters anzuschließen. In dieser R&B-Band lernte er Tom McGuinness kennen. Nach der Auflösung der Gruppe im August 1963 traten Clapton und McGuinness einige Male mit Casey Jones & the Engineers auf.[6] Im Oktober 1963 wurde Eric Clapton Gitarrist der Yardbirds, mit denen er 1965 deren größten Hit For Your Love einspielte. Nach seinem Ausscheiden aus der Gruppe im April 1965 – da sie ihm zu kommerziell wurde – schloss er sich den Bluesbreakers von John Mayall an. Er nahm an den Aufnahmen zum Album Blues Breakers with Eric Clapton teil.
Mitte 1966 verließ Eric Clapton die Bluesbreakers und formierte mit Ginger Baker (Schlagzeug) und Jack Bruce (Bass), die beide zuvor bei der Graham Bond Organization gespielt hatten, das Powertrio Cream, die erste Supergroup der Rockmusik. Die Gruppe hatte diverse große Hits wie I Feel Free, Sunshine of Your Love, White Room, Crossroads, Strange Brew oder Badge und entsprechenden kommerziellen Erfolg. Insbesondere die offen ausgetragenen Differenzen zwischen Bruce und Baker erschwerten die musikalische Zusammenarbeit in der Band jedoch dauerhaft.
Clapton begann in dieser Zeit, selbst zu singen und Songs zu schreiben. Seine Kompositionen und sein gesamter Stil wurden in dieser Zeit stark von The Band beeinflusst. Mit George Harrison von den Beatles schrieb er den Cream-Titel Badge. Die lebenslange Freundschaft der beiden führte auch zur Mitwirkung Claptons bei der Beatles-Aufnahme von While My Guitar Gently Weeps (1968). Bis zu Harrisons Tod 2001 spielte Clapton oft bei dessen Soloaufnahmen mit, gemeinsame Live-Auftritte waren nicht selten. Nach der überraschenden Auflösung von Cream 1968 spielte Clapton im Dezember desselben Jahres einen Auftritt im „Rock and Roll Circus“, bei dem er mit John Lennon, Keith Richards und Mitch Mitchell als The Dirty Mac auftrat. Im März des darauffolgenden Jahres gründete er zusammen mit Steve Winwood die Gruppe Blind Faith – in der Besetzung Eric Clapton (Leadgitarre), Steve Winwood (Orgel, Klavier, Gesang), Ginger Baker (Schlagzeug) und Ric Grech (Bass, Violine). Nach der Veröffentlichung des musikalisch exzellenten und vielfach prämierten Albums Blind Faith und einer erfolgreichen Tournee löste sich im September 1969 auch diese Formation auf. Zwischen den einzelnen individualistischen Bandmitgliedern waren die Differenzen über die künftige musikalische Ausrichtung von Blind Faith zu groß geworden. Kurze Zeit später wirkte Clapton in John Lennons neuer Live-Band, der Plastic Ono Band, sowie auf dem Album Friends And Angels von Martha Veléz mit.
Ende 1969 tourte Clapton mit Delaney & Bonnie, nachdem er nach New York gezogen war, und nahm 1970 sein erstes Soloalbum auf. Mit der Auskopplung des J.-J.-Cale-Songs After Midnight erreichte er einen Achtungserfolg in den US-Charts. Ferner spielte er in dieser Zeit oft bei den Aufnahmen anderer Musiker mit, so mit der Plastic Ono Band und Dr. John. Mit einigen der Bandmusiker von Delaney & Bonnie gründete er anschließend Derek and the Dominos, die das vielgelobte Album Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs aufnahm, bei dem auch Duane Allman mitspielte. Das Album ist stark vom Blues beeinflusst und gilt bis heute insbesondere wegen des Zusammenspiels der beiden herausragenden Gitarristen als eines der besten Alben Claptons. Der Titelsong Layla ist einer der meistgespielten Rocksongs der 1970er Jahre. Er greift Themen aus der Liebesgeschichte Leila und Madschnun des persischen Dichters Nezāmi auf; Clapton fühlte sich wegen seiner damals noch nicht erwiderten Liebe zu Pattie Boyd-Harrison in einer ähnlichen Situation. Die Gruppe, die ohne Allman auf Tournee ging, veröffentlichte zwar noch ein Live-Doppelalbum, brach jedoch kurze Zeit später auseinander.
1970er
Clapton spielte weiterhin bei zahlreichen Studioaufnahmen von Freunden wie John Lennon und Billy Preston und mit Howlin’ Wolf bei dessen London Session. In dieser Zeit verfiel er den Drogen und wurde heroinsüchtig. 1971 nahm Clapton an George Harrisons Konzert für Bangladesch teil, bei dem er auf der Bühne zusammenbrach. Er habe in einer „Wolke aus rosa Watte“ gelebt, erzählte er in einem Interview des Rolling Stone, kam aber durch eine neuartige Elektrotherapie von der Sucht los.
1973 trat er beim von Pete Townshend organisierten Rainbow Concert auf – seine prominent besetzte Begleitband nannte sich The Palpitations. Townshend verhalf Clapton damit zu einem frühen Comeback nach der drogenlastigen Zeit. 1974 nahm Clapton 461 Ocean Boulevard auf. Seine Version von Bob Marleys I Shot the Sheriff wurde ein Hit und machte Marley und Reggae einem breiteren Publikum bekannt. Im Rahmen eines Auftritts 1976 in Birmingham machte Eric Clapton rassistische Bemerkungen, beschimpfte schwarze Menschen als „Wogs“ und forderte alle „Foreigners“ auf, nicht nur die Halle, sondern das Land zu verlassen. Er rief zur Wahl des britischen Politikers Enoch Powell auf, dieser werde verhindern, dass Großbritannien eine „schwarze Kolonie“ werde. Clapton benutzte dabei den Slogan der rechtsextremen National Front „Keep Britain white!“[7] Der von Clapton so zum Ausdruck gebrachte Rassismus war ein Anlass zur Gründung der Musiker-Initiative Rock Against Racism. In seiner Biografie entschuldigte sich Clapton und sagte, er sei damals betrunken gewesen. Eine Woche nach dem Auftritt hatte Clapton seine Ausfälle allerdings gegenüber einem Musikmagazin bekräftigt. Noch 2004 erklärte er gegenüber Uncut, Powell sei „unfassbar mutig“ gewesen.[8] Eric Clapton lebte seit Mitte der 1970er mit Pattie Boyd-Harrison zusammen, 1979 heirateten sie. In dieser Zeit war Clapton schwer alkoholabhängig. Nach einer Entziehungskur erlitt er einen Rückfall. Die zweite Entziehungskur veranlasste ihn, auf Antigua das Rehabilitationszentrum Crossroads Centre Antigua zu gründen.[9]
1980er
Nach Behandlung seiner Suchtprobleme nahm Clapton in den 1980ern erneut Platten auf. Die mit Phil Collins produzierten Alben Behind the Sun (1985) und August (1986) zeigten deutlich den von Collins bevorzugten pop-orientierten Stil mit Synthie-Drums und Bläsern, stellten aber vor allem in Großbritannien beachtliche Verkaufserfolge dar. Das Album August erreichte Platz 3 der britischen Hitparade. Der Eröffnungssong It’s in the Way that You Use It wurde für die Filmmusik des Spielfilms Die Farbe des Geldes mit Tom Cruise und Paul Newman verwendet. Ebenfalls 1986 trat Clapton zusammen mit seinem Idol Chuck Berry bei dessen Konzert zum 60. Geburtstag in St. Louis auf. 1989 wurde das Album Journeyman veröffentlicht. Seit den 1980er Jahren ist Clapton auch als Komponist für Filmmusik tätig. So arbeitete er zusammen mit Michael Kamen an dem Soundtrack Edge of Darkness für die Filmreihe Lethal Weapon. 1989 ließ Clapton sich von Pattie Boyd-Harrison scheiden, nachdem er bereits 1985 und 1986 Vater zweier Kinder aus losen Beziehungen geworden war. Clapton wurde in den 80ern und frühen 90ern von Gianni Versace eingekleidet.[10][11][12][13]
1990er
Anfang der 1990er Jahre musste Clapton einige tragische Ereignisse durchleben. Am 27. August 1990 kam Stevie Ray Vaughan, der mit Clapton auf der Journeyman World Tour war, bei einem Helikopterabsturz ums Leben; am 20. März 1991 starb sein viereinhalbjähriger Sohn Conor bei einem Sturz aus dem 53. Stock eines Hochhauses in New York. Teil seiner Trauerarbeit waren die Songs Circus sowie Tears in Heaven[14]. Die MTV Unplugged-Session brachte Clapton 6 Grammys im Jahr 1993. 1991 erschien sein Live-Album 24 Nights das in den Jahren 1990 bis 1991 mit Orchester, Blues-Band sowie 4- und 9-Band-Besetzung in der Royal Albert Hall aufgenommen wurde. Auf dem Album sind die Rockhits Pretending und Bad Love enthalten, die Clapton Platz 1 der Mainstream-Rock-Charts und 1991 einen Grammy für den besten Rocksong einbrachten. Mit dem Album From the Cradle kehrte Clapton 1994 zu seinen Blueswurzeln zurück. Auf dem von Simon Climie produzierten Album Pilgrim (1998) dominierten eher pop-orientierte Songs. 1996 veröffentlichte Clapton die Hitsingle Change the World, die ihm 1997 drei Grammys brachte. Seit Mitte der 90ern wird Clapton von seinem engen Freund Giorgio Armani eingekleidet.[14] Clapton weihte 1996 zwei Emporio Armani Stores in New York für Armani ein und komponierte 1997 Stücke für Armanis Modenschauen.[14][15] Seine Kritiker überzeugten insbesondere gemeinsame Aufnahmen mit Carlos Santana. Ende der 1990er Jahren hatte er eine Beziehung zu der Musikerin Sheryl Crow. 1999 lernte Clapton die damals 25 Jahre alte Grafikkünstlerin Melia McEnery kennen, die er 2002 heiratete. Mit ihr hat Clapton drei Kinder. Im selben Jahr versteigerte Clapton zum ersten mal eine Auswahl seiner Gitarren und Verstärker zu Gunsten des Crossroads Centre. Auf DVD erschien das dazugehörige Benefitzkonzert In Concert: A Benefit for the Crossroads Centre at Antigua. Ebenfalls erschien das Kompilationsalbum Clapton Chronicles: The Best of Eric Clapton auf dem der Song Blue Eyes Blue enthalten ist. Der Song kommt als Soundtrack im Film Die Braut, die sich nicht traut vor.[16]
2000er
Im Jahr 2000 veröffentlichte Clapton Riding with the King zusammen mit B. B. King. 2001 erschien das Album Reptile lanciert mit der Reptile World Tour. 2002 veranstaltete Eric Clapton am 29. November in der Royal Albert Hall das Concert for George, ein Gedenkkonzert für George Harrison, genau ein Jahr nach dessen Tod. Dazu lud er Freunde von Harrison ein, unter anderem Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Jeff Lynne, Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers, Ravi Shankar, Billy Preston, Gary Brooker, Klaus Voormann und Joe Brown. Außerdem waren auch Olivia Harrison und deren Sohn Dhani anwesend, der auch in der Band mitspielte. 2004 organisierte Clapton das erste Crossroads Guitar Festival in Dallas, dessen Einnahmen als Benefizveranstaltung an seine gleichnamige Entzugsklinik auf Antigua gingen. Noch im selben Jahr nahm er die Blues-Dokumentation Sessions for Robert J und das Album Me and Mr. Johnson auf. Im Mai 2005 trat Clapton in der Royal Albert Hall in London mit Ginger Baker (Schlagzeug) und Jack Bruce (Bass) in einem „Cream Reunion Concert“ in Originalbesetzung auf. Kurz darauf ließ sich Clapton für 100.000 US-Dollar einen Martin-Gitarrenkoffer von Hermès aus Krokodilleder herstellen.[17] Im November 2006 erschien The Road to Escondido, ein gemeinsames Album mit J. J. Cale. Auch die Einnahmen des zweiten Crossroads Guitar Festivals am 28. Juli 2007 in Chicago kamen der Rehaklinik zugute. An der Veranstaltung waren unter anderem Jeff Beck, Doyle Bramhall II, Robert Cray, Sheryl Crow, Vince Gill, Buddy Guy, BB King, Alison Krauss and Union Station, Sonny Landreth, Albert Lee, Los Lobos, John Mayer, John McLaughlin, Willie Nelson, Robert Randolph, Hubert Sumlin, Derek Trucks, Jimmie Vaughan und Steve Winwood beteiligt.
2008 gewann Clapton den Primetime Emmy Award in der Kategorie Outstanding Special Class für das Crossroads Festival 2007.[18] Nach einer Konzertreihe mit Steve Winwood im Februar 2008 absolvierte Clapton im Sommer 2008 in den USA und Europa eine Tour. Diese setzte er Anfang 2009 in Japan und Australien fort. Im Mai 2009 spielte Clapton eine Serie von Konzerten in der Royal Albert Hall in London. Im Herbst 2009 kehrte Clapton nochmals für 14 Konzerte mit Winwood in die USA zurück und veröffentlichte das Album und die DVD Live from Madison Square Garden. Im März 2009 trat Clapton im New Yorker Beacon Theater als Gast an zwei Abenden mit der Allmann Brothers Band auf. Die Band spielte eine Serie von Konzerten zu ihrem 40-jährigen Bestehen.
Seit 2010
Nach den Konzerten mit Winwood setzte man die Tour 2010 in Europa fort. Anfang des Jahres trat Clapton auch mit Jeff Beck auf. Zwischendurch spielte Clapton eine kleine Serie von Solo-Konzerten in den USA mit Roger Daltrey als Support. Clapton startete eine weitere Welttournee, die mit dem Crossroads Guitar Festival 2010 in Illinois endete.[19] Die Videoaufnahme erreichte in Deutschland Platin-Status. Im September 2010 erschien sein 14. Soloalbum mit dem Titel Clapton, das Platz drei der deutschen Charts belegte und ebenfalls gute Verkaufszahlen erreichte.
2011 gab Clapton nur wenige Konzerte und arbeitete mit Jazz-Trompeter Wynton Marsalis an der Veröffentlichung Play the Blues: Live from Jazz at Lincoln Center, für die er einen ECHO Jazz erhielt. Jedoch war Clapton 2011 als Gast für Chris Barber und Robbie Robertson im Studio tätig. Im gleichen Jahr versteigerte er zum dritten Mal einige seiner Gitarren und Verstärker für das Crossroads Center. 2012 nahm Clapton an dem Konzert Howlin’ For Hubert für Hubert Sumlin teil[20] und spielte Gitarre auf Paul McCartneys Album Kisses on the Bottom. Am 29. November 2012 war er Gastgitarrist für die Rolling Stones in der O2 World in London.[21] Am 12. Dezember des Jahres trat Clapton zusammen mit Steve Jordan und Willie Weeks auf dem 12-12-12: Konzert für Sandy-Opfer auf. 2013 fand das vierte Crossroads Guitar Festival in Chicago statt, und das Album Old Sock, das überwiegend aus Coverversionen besteht, erschien unter Claptons eigenem Label. Im selben Jahr erschien Bobby Whitlocks Veröffentlichung Where There’s a Will, There’s a Way, auf der Clapton auch als Bassist tätig war.
2014 veröffentlichte er zusammen mit anderen Musikern wie Mark Knopfler oder Willie Nelson das Album The Breeze – An Appreciation of JJ Cale, das in Deutschland Platz 2 der Charts erreichte. Außerdem spielte Clapton einige Konzerte in Europa, Ostasien und den USA. Am 21. Juni verließ Clapton kurz vor Ende seines Konzertes in Glasgow die Bühne wegen Tonproblemen, entschuldigte sich aber nicht beim Publikum und erklärte den Sachverhalt nicht genau, sodass knapp 13.000 Besucher enttäuscht von Claptons Auftreten die Arena verließen.[22] Am 24. Juni 2014 spielte er sein einziges Deutschlandkonzert in der Mannheimer SAP Arena.[23] Clapton kündigte einen möglichen Rückzug aus dem Tourneegeschäft im selben Jahr an und veröffentlichte den Dokumentar- und Konzertfilm Planes, Trains and Eric. Am 21. Oktober 2014 wurde bekanntgegeben, dass Clapton anlässlich seines 70. Geburtstages im Mai 2015 für vier Konzerte in der Royal Albert Hall auftreten will.[24] Am 30. Dezember verärgerte Clapton Tierschützer, da er mit einem bodenlangen Echtpelzmantel in London unterwegs war.[25] Am 19. Februar 2015 wurde bekannt, dass Clapton in die Blues Hall of Fame aufgenommen wird.[26]
Privatleben
Eric Clapton ist seit 2002 in zweiter Ehe mit der 31 Jahre jüngeren Melia McEnery verheiratet. Mit ihr hat er drei Töchter (*2001, *2003, *2005). Eine weitere Tochter (*1985) und ein Sohn (*1986; †1991) stammen aus parallel zu seiner ersten Ehe (1979 - 1988) mit Pattie Boyd unterhaltenen Beziehungen zu Yvonne Kelly und Lory Del Santo.
Clapton als Gitarrist
Stil
Claptons musikalische Wurzeln liegen im Blues der 1930er und 1940er Jahre. Seine Vorbilder waren vor allem Robert Johnson und Chuck Berry, ebenso Muddy Waters, B. B. King, Albert King, Freddie King und Otis Rush. Obwohl Clapton zu schnellem Spieltempo imstande ist (so zum Beispiel in der Live-Version des Songs Crossroads vom Album Wheels of Fire, 1968), ist er nicht vorwiegend dafür bekannt. Der Wert von Claptons Spiel liegt besonders in seiner Fähigkeit, Soli mit schlüssiger musikalischer Architektur (Aufbau von Spannung, Höhepunkt und Auflösung) zu improvisieren.
Beiname Slowhand
Clapton erklärt in seiner Autobiografie Mein Leben, wie er zu diesem Spitznamen kam: Zu jener Zeit gehörte Clapton zur Band „The Yardbirds“. Sie spielten unter anderem im CrawDaddy Club, dessen Besitzer Giorgio Gomelsky war. Die Band spielte in der Regel gecoverte Songs, die normalerweise drei Minuten lang waren, und streckten sie auf fünf bis sechs Minuten. Clapton spielte damals sehr dünne Saiten, weil man die Töne darauf besser ziehen kann, und es passierte häufiger, dass eine Saite mitten in einem Stück riss. Während Clapton die neue Saite aufzog, verfiel das Publikum in ein langsames Klatschen. Dieser „Slow Handclap“ inspirierte Gomelsky dazu, ihn „Slowhand“ Clapton zu nennen.[14]
Clapton spielte zu Beginn seiner Karriere bei den Yardbirds eine Fender Telecaster und eine Gibson ES-335. Bei John Mayalls Bluesbreakers und bei Cream wechselte er zur Gibson Les Paul und Gibson SG. Er gehörte zu den Blues-Musikern, deren Erfolg den Gitarrenhersteller Gibson motivierte, die Les Paul wieder ins Programm zu nehmen. Seit Derek and the Dominoes spielte Clapton vorwiegend auf Fender-Gitarren, insbesondere auf seiner „Brownie“, einer zweifarbige Sunburst Stratocaster aus dem Jahr 1956. Brownie wurde drei Jahre später auf dem Rainbow-Concert von „Blackie“ abgelöst, einer schwarzen Fender Stratocaster, die er sich aus drei Instrumenten selbst zusammengesetzt hatte. Weitere Gitarren sind die Cherry Red, 1977 Juan Alvarez, Martin 000-42.
Fender Eric Clapton Stratocaster
Clapton wurde 1986 von Fender mit seinem Signaturmodell geehrt.[27] Die „Eric Clapton Stratocaster“ wird bis heute produziert und ist die zweiterfolgreichste Signaturgitarre nach Steve Vai's Ibanez Jem. Auf Claptons Gitarren kam neuartige Technik zum Einsatz, die das Soundspektrum erheblich erweitern. Durch den Mid-Boost ist man in der Lage, die Gitarre von klaren bis zu verzerrten Sounds ohne Veränderung der Lautstärke durch einen Drehregler zu verändern. Dank den von Fender 1999 eingebauten Fender Noiseless Pickups ist die Gitarre im Gegensatz zu anderen Stratocaster-Modellen sehr brummarm.[28] Vorher wurden Lace Sensor Pickups verwendet.[29]
Die „Artist Serie“ ist nach Claptons Lieblingsmodell „Blackie“ aus den 1970ern nach Claptons Vorgaben gebaut worden. Das Besondere ist der Gitarrenhals mit einem V-Profil, das seiner Spielweise zugutekommt. Sie besitzt darüber hinaus sehr moderne Merkmale wie die Noiseless Pickups, die sehr brummarm sind, einen 25dB-Aktiv-Mittenbooster mit 9-Volt-Batterie und ein geblocktes Tremolo, da Clapton es nie benutzt.[30]
2007 wurde die „Eric Clapton Crossroads Stratocaster“ hergestellt. Die mit dem Crossroads Centre-Logo verzierte Gitarre war auf 100 Exemplare limitiert. Die Gewinne aus diesen Instrumentenverkäufen gingen an das Crossroads Centre. Der Preis für die Stratocaster mit Koffer und einem Gurt betrug 20.000 US-Dollar.[31] Weitere spezielle Editionen waren die Custom Artist Serie und die 2009 Limited Edition. Außerdem gab es die Custom Thinskin Nitro Serie. Diese Nitrolackierung soll für einen natürlicheren, klareren und „dünneren“ Sound der Gitarre sorgen.
Die „Eric Clapton Gold Leaf Stratocaster“ ließ sich Clapton nach speziellen Wünschen für seine Legends-Tour 1998 herstellen. Die Stratocaster wurde mit einem Alder-Korpus, Lace-Sensor-Tonabnehmern und einem geflammten AAA-Vogelaugenahornhals bestückt. Der Korpus wurde mit 24 Karat Gold (Gold Leaf) überzogen. Clapton versteigerte diese Gitarre 1999 bei Christie’s in New York auf seiner ersten Versteigerung von Gitarren und Verstärken, um das von ihm gegründeten Reha-Zentrum auf Antigua zu unterstützen. Der Preis lag bei 455.500 US-Dollar. Außerdem gab es die Crashocaster-Modelle, die vom britischen Künstler John Matos für Clapton mit Graffiti-Motiven verziert wurden.
Martin Eric Clapton Series
Martin Guitar widmete Clapton nach dem weltweit enormen Erfolgs von Unplugged die erste Signatur-Akustikgitarre der Welt.[32] Clapton hatte bereits ab den 1970er Jahren Martin-Gitarren der 000-28 und 000-42 Bauart live und im Studio benutzt.[33]
Filmmusik und Werbung
Neben vielen anderen bekannten Künstlern spielt Clapton in der für den Film Blues Brothers 2000 zusammengestellten Band Louisiana Gator Boys einen Gitarristen. Im von George Harrison produzierten Spielfilm Wasser – Der Film ist Clapton in einer kleinen Nebenrolle an der Seite anderer Musiker zu sehen. Zudem spielte er 1975 den Prediger in der Verfilmung der Rockoper Tommy.
Clapton steuerte den Song I Looked Away zur Fernsehserie Hexenkessel aus dem Jahr 1973 bei. Weitere Clapton-Songs fanden Verwendung in Miami Vice (Wonderful Tonight, Knock On Wood, She's Waiting und Layla), Zurück in die Zukunft (Heaven Is One Step Away), Die Farbe des Geldes (It's In The Way That You Use It), Lethal Weapon 2 (Knockin' On Heaven's Door), Good Fellas – Drei Jahrzehnte in der Mafia (Layla, Sunshine Of Your Love), Die Friends-Episode The One with the Proposal (Wonderful Tonight) und Men in Black II (Strange Brew). Außerdem verwendeten Opel und Vauxhall von 1987 bis 1995 den Riff von Layla in ihren Werbekampagnen.
Im September 1987 wurde Clapton Werbegesicht von Michelob Beer. Clapton nahm für den Werbeclip eine langsamere Version von After Midnight auf. 1990 warb Honda mit dem Song Bad Love. Clapton verwendete für das Video auf Nachfrage von Honda seine Gitarre „Blackie“. Clapton war an der Filmmusik der Lethal Weapon-Filmreihe, dem Film Fisch & Chips (1996) und An deiner Seite (1999) beteiligt und lieferte Soundtracks für die Filme Phenomenon – Das Unmögliche wird wahr (Change the World), Die Besucher und Rush. 1998 verwendete Lexus einige Konzertmitschnitte von Claptons Pilgrim World Tour. 2005 nutzte Yahoo einige Clapton-Songs zu Werbezwecken.[34]
Erfolge und Auszeichnungen
Clapton verzeichnet mehr als 70 Millionen Albumverkäufe, über fünf Millionen Single- und mehr als zehn Millionen Videoverkäufe und über 20 Millionen Radioübertragungen seiner Songs.[35] Sein kommerziell erfolgreichstes Album ist Unplugged mit weltweiten Verkäufen von mehr als 16 Millionen Stück.
Clapton wurde viermal in die Grammy Hall of Fame aufgenommen: sowohl in der Kategorie Rock Single 1998 mit Layla und 2003 mit seiner Version von I Shot the Sheriff als auch für Rock Album Disraeli Gears 1999 sowie 2000 mit Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs.[36]
1987 gewann Clapton den Lifetime Achievement Award des British Phonographic Institute. 1990 wurde er bei den Billboard Music Awards für das Top-Album eines Rock-Künstlers ausgezeichnet. Außerdem erhielt Clapton in den Kategorien Weltweit meistverkaufender Rock-Künstler des Jahres (1993) und Meistverkaufender britischer Künstler des Jahres (1994) einen World Music Award. Bei den American Music Awards war Clapton fünfmal nominiert und wurde dreimal als Beliebtester Pop-/Rock-Künstler (1994, 1997 und 1999) ausgezeichnet.
1992 wurde Clapton für einen Golden Globe Award in der Kategorie Bester Originalsong für Tears in Heaven nominiert. Seine Arbeit an der Lethal-Weapon-Filmreihe brachten Clapton 1988, 1990 und 1993 den BMI Film & TV Award, 1986 einen BAFTA Award sowie den Ivor Novello Award für den Soundtrack Edge of Darkness ein.[37] Bei den MTV Movie Awards war er dreimal nominiert.
1994 wurde er von Queen Elizabeth 2 für seinen Beitrag zur Musikgeschichte mit dem Titel OBE ausgezeichnet.[38] 2004 wurde ihm der nächsthöhere Rang CBE im Buckingham Palace verliehen.[39]
Grammy Awards
Clapton erhielt in den 90er Jahren 13 Grammy Awards und ist damit britischer Rekordhalter.[40]
Jahr Kategorie
Werk
1972 Album of the Year The Concert for Bangladesh
1987 Best Performance Music Video The Prince’s Trust All Star Rock Concert
1991 Best Male Rock Vocal Bad Love
1993 Best Rock Song Layla
1993 Best Male Rock Vocal Performance Unplugged
1993 Album of the Year Unplugged
1993 Best Male Pop Vocal Performance Tears in Heaven
1993 Song of the Year Tears in Heaven
1993 Record of the Year Tears in Heaven
1994 Best Traditional Blues Album From the Cradle
1996 Best Male Pop Vocal Change the World
1996 Song of the Year Change the World
1996 Record of the Year Change the World
1996 Best Rock Instrumental Performance SRV Shuffle
1998 Best Male Pop Vocal Performance My Father's Eyes
2000 Best Rock Instrumental Performance The Calling
2000 Best Traditional Blues Album Riding with the King
2001 Best Pop Instrumental Performance Reptile
2006 Lifetime Achievement Award Cream
2007 Best Contemporary Blues Album The Road to Escondido
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Clapton
Eric Patrick Clapton, CBE (born 30 March 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.[1] Clapton ranked second in Rolling Stone magazine's list of the "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time"[2] and fourth in Gibson's "Top 50 Guitarists of All Time".[3] He was also named number five in Time magazine's list of "The 10 Best Electric Guitar Players" in 2009 [4]
In the mid-1960s, Clapton left the Yardbirds to play blues with John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers. Immediately after leaving Mayall, Clapton joined Cream, a power trio with drummer Ginger Baker and bassist Jack Bruce in which Clapton played sustained blues improvisations and "arty, blues-based psychedelic pop".[5] For most of the 1970s, Clapton's output bore the influence of the mellow style of JJ Cale and the reggae of Bob Marley. His version of Marley's "I Shot the Sheriff" helped reggae reach a mass market.[6] 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 death of 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.[7][8][9] In 1998, Clapton, a recovering alcoholic and drug addict, founded the Crossroads Centre on Antigua, a medical facility for recovering substance abusers.[10]
Early life
Eric Patrick Clapton was born in Ripley, Surrey, England, the son of 16-year-old Patricia Molly Clapton (7 January 1929 – March 1999) and Edward Walter Fryer (21 March 1920 – 15 May 1985), a 25-year-old soldier from Montreal, Quebec.[11] Fryer shipped off to war prior to Clapton's birth and then returned to Canada. Clapton grew up with his grandmother, Rose, and her second husband, Jack Clapp, who was stepfather to Patricia Clapton and her brother Adrian, believing they were his parents and that his mother was actually his older sister. The similarity in surnames gave rise to the erroneous belief that Clapton's real surname is Clapp (Reginald Cecil Clapton was the name of Rose's first husband, Eric Clapton's maternal grandfather).[12] Years later, his mother married another Canadian soldier and moved to Germany,[13] leaving young Eric with his grandparents in Surrey.[14]
Clapton received an acoustic Hoyer guitar, made in Germany, for his thirteenth birthday, but the inexpensive steel-stringed instrument was difficult to play and he briefly lost interest.[14] Two years later Clapton picked it up again and started playing consistently.[14] Clapton was influenced by the blues from an early age, and practised long hours to learn the chords of blues music by playing along to the records.[15] He preserved his practice sessions using his portable Grundig reel-to-reel tape recorder, listening to them over and over until he felt he'd got it right.[15][16]
In 1961, after leaving Hollyfield School in Surbiton, Clapton studied at the Kingston College of Art but was dismissed at the end of the academic year because his focus remained on music rather than art. His guitar playing was so advanced that, by the age of 16, he was getting noticed.[16] Around this time, Clapton began busking around Kingston, Richmond, and the West End.[17] In 1962, Clapton started performing as a duo with fellow blues enthusiast David Brock in pubs around Surrey.[16] When he was seventeen years old, Clapton joined his first band, an early British R&B group, the Roosters, whose other guitarist was Tom McGuinness. He stayed with this band from January through August 1963.[18] In October of that year, Clapton did a seven-gig stint with Casey Jones & the Engineers.[18]
Career
Early career, breakthrough, and international success
The Yardbirds and the Bluesbreakers
In October 1963, Clapton joined The Yardbirds, a blues-influenced rock and roll band, and stayed with them until March 1965. Synthesising influences from Chicago blues and leading blues guitarists such as Buddy Guy, Freddie King, and B. B. King, Clapton forged a distinctive style and rapidly became one of the most talked-about guitarists in the British music scene.[19] The band initially played Chess/Checker/Vee-Jay blues numbers and began to attract a large cult following when they took over the Rolling Stones' residency at the Crawdaddy Club in Richmond. They toured England with American bluesman Sonny Boy Williamson II; a joint LP album, recorded in December 1963, was issued in 1965.
Yardbirds' rhythm guitarist, Chris Dreja, recalled that whenever Clapton broke a guitar string during a concert, he would stay on stage and replace it. The English audiences would wait out the delay by doing what is called a "slow handclap". Clapton told his official biographer, Ray Coleman, that, "My nickname of 'Slowhand' came from Giorgio Gomelsky. He coined it as a good pun. He kept saying I was a fast player, so he put together the slow handclap phrase into Slowhand as a play on words".[20] In December 1964, Clapton made his first appearance at the Royal Albert Hall, London with The Yardbirds. Since then, Clapton has performed at the Hall almost 200 times and has stated that performing at the venue is like "playing in my front room".[21][22]
In March 1965, Clapton and the Yardbirds had their first major hit, "For Your Love", written by songwriter Graham Gouldman, who would also write hit songs for Herman's Hermits and The Hollies. In part because of its success, the Yardbirds elected to move toward a pop-oriented sound, much to the disappointment of Clapton, who was devoted to the blues and not commercial success. He left Yardbirds on the day that "For Your Love" went public, a move that left the band without its lead guitarist and most accomplished member. Clapton suggested fellow guitarist Jimmy Page to be his replacement, but Page declined out of loyalty to Clapton,[23] putting Jeff Beck forward.[19] While Beck and Page played together in the Yardbirds, the trio of Beck, Page, and Clapton were never in the group together. However, the three did appear on the 12-date benefit tour for Action for Research into Multiple Sclerosis in 1983.
Clapton joined John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers in April 1965, only to quit a few months later. In the summer of 1965 he left for Greece with a band called The Glands, which included his old friend Ben Palmer on piano. In November 1965 he rejoined John Mayall. During his second Bluesbreakers stint, Clapton gained a reputation as the best blues guitarist on the club circuit. Although Clapton gained world fame for his playing on the influential album, Blues Breakers – John Mayall – With Eric Clapton, this album was not released until he had left the band for the last time. Having swapped his Fender Telecaster and Vox AC30 amplifier for a 1960 Gibson Les Paul Standard guitar and Marshall amplifier, Clapton's sound and playing inspired a well-publicised graffito that deified him with the famous slogan "Clapton is God". The phrase was spray-painted by an admirer on a wall in an Islington Underground station in the autumn of 1967. The graffiti was captured in a now-famous photograph, in which a dog is urinating on the wall. Clapton is reported to have been embarrassed by the slogan, saying in his The South Bank Show profile in 1987, "I never accepted that I was the greatest guitar player in the world. I always wanted to be the greatest guitar player in the world, but that's an ideal, and I accept it as an ideal". The phrase began to appear in other areas of Islington throughout the mid-1960s.[24]
Cream
Clapton left the Bluesbreakers in July 1966 (replaced by Peter Green) and was invited by drummer Ginger Baker to play in his newly formed band Cream, one of the earliest supergroups, with Jack Bruce on bass (previously of the Bluesbreakers, the Graham Bond Organisation and Manfred Mann).[25] Before the formation of Cream, Clapton was not well known in the United States; he left the Yardbirds before "For Your Love" hit the American Top Ten, and had yet to perform there.[26] During his time with Cream, Clapton began to develop as a singer, songwriter, and guitarist, though Bruce took most of the lead vocals and wrote the majority of the material with lyricist Pete Brown.[19] Cream's first gig was an unofficial performance at the Twisted Wheel Club in Manchester on 29 July 1966 before their full debut two nights later at the National Jazz and Blues Festival in Windsor. Cream established its enduring legend with the high-volume blues jamming and extended solos of their live shows.
By early 1967, as fans of the emerging blues-rock sound in Britain had begun to portray Clapton as Britain's top guitarist; however, he found himself rivalled by the emergence of Jimi Hendrix, an acid rock-infused guitarist who used wailing feedback and effects pedals to create new sounds for the instrument. Hendrix attended a performance of the newly formed Cream at the Central London Polytechnic on 1 October 1966, during which Hendrix sat in on a double-timed version of "Killing Floor". Top UK stars, including Clapton, Pete Townshend, and members of The Rolling Stones and The Beatles, avidly attended Hendrix's early club performances. Hendrix's arrival had an immediate and major effect on the next phase of Clapton's career, although Clapton continued to be recognised in UK music polls as the premier guitarist.
Clapton first visited the United States while touring with Cream. In March 1967, Cream performed a nine-show stand at the RKO Theater in New York. They recorded Disraeli Gears in New York from 11–15 May 1967. Cream's repertoire varied from hard rock ("I Feel Free") to lengthy blues-based instrumental jams ("Spoonful"). Disraeli Gears featured Clapton's searing guitar lines, Bruce's soaring vocals and prominent, fluid bass playing, and Baker's powerful, polyrhythmic jazz-influenced drumming. Together, Cream's talents secured them as an influential power trio.
In 28 months, Cream had become a commercial success, selling millions of records and playing throughout the US and Europe. They redefined the instrumentalist's role in rock and were one of the first blues-rock bands to emphasise musical virtuosity and lengthy jazz-style improvisation sessions. Their US hit singles include "Sunshine of Your Love" (#5, 1968), "White Room" (#6, 1968) and "Crossroads" (#28, 1969) – a live version of Robert Johnson's "Cross Road Blues". Though Cream was hailed as one of the greatest groups of its day, and the adulation of Clapton as a guitar legend reached new heights, the supergroup was short-lived. Drug and alcohol use escalated tension between the three members, and conflicts between Bruce and Baker eventually led to Cream's demise. A strongly critical Rolling Stone review of a concert of the group's second headlining US tour was another significant factor in the trio's demise, and it affected Clapton profoundly.[27]
Cream's farewell album, Goodbye, featuring live performances recorded at The Forum, Los Angeles, 19 October 1968, was released shortly after Cream disbanded; it also featured the studio single "Badge", co-written by Clapton and George Harrison. Clapton met Harrison and became friends with him after the Beatles shared a bill with the Clapton-era Yardbirds at the London Palladium. The close friendship between Clapton and Harrison resulted in Clapton playing on Harrison's "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" from the Beatles' White Album (1968).
Harrison also released his solo debut album, Wonderwall Music, in 1968. It became the first of many Harrison solo records to feature Clapton on guitar. Clapton would go largely uncredited for his contributions to Harrison's albums due to contractual restraints, and Harrison was credited as "L'Angelo Misterioso" for his contributions to the song "Badge" on Goodbye. The pair would often play live together as each other's guest. A year after Harrison's death in 2001, Clapton helped organise a tribute concert, for which he was musical director.[28]
In 1969, when The Beatles were recording/filming what became Let It Be, tensions became so acute that Harrison quit the group for several days, prompting the others to consider replacing him with Clapton, an idea that particularly appealed to John Lennon, who was captured on tape saying that if: "George doesn’t come back by Monday or Tuesday, we ask Eric Clapton to play", and that this would be congenial to Clapton in that The Beatles, unlike Cream, "would give him full scope to play his guitar".[29] Years later, Clapton commented on the absurdity of this idea: "There may have been [a suggestion that I would be asked to join The Beatles in January 1969]. The problem with that was I had bonded or was developing a relationship with George, exclusive of them. I think it fitted a need of his and mine, that he could elevate himself by having this guy that could be like a gunslinger to them. Lennon would use my name every now and then for clout, as if I was the fastest gun. So, I don’t think I could have been brought into the whole thing because I was too much a mate of George’s".[29] This is not to say that Clapton was not on good terms with the other Beatles; previously he had backed up Lennon at the The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus as part of the one-off group The Dirty Mac in December, 1968.
Cream briefly reunited in 1993 to perform at the ceremony inducting them into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame; a full reunion took place in May 2005, with Clapton, Bruce, and Baker playing four sold-out concerts at London's Royal Albert Hall,[30] and three shows at New York's Madison Square Garden that October.[31] Recordings from the London shows, Royal Albert Hall London May 2-3-5-6, 2005, were released on CD, LP, and DVD in September/December 2005.[32]
Blind Faith, Delaney and Bonnie and Friends
Clapton's next group, Blind Faith (1969), was composed of Cream drummer Ginger Baker, Steve Winwood of Traffic, and Ric Grech of Family, and yielded one LP and one arena-circuit tour. The supergroup debuted before 100,000 fans in London's Hyde Park on 7 June 1969. They performed several dates in Scandinavia and began a sold-out American tour in July before their only album was released. The LP Blind Faith consisted of just six songs, one of them a 15-minute jam entitled "Do What You Like". The album's jacket image of a topless pubescent girl was deemed controversial in the United States and was replaced by a photograph of the band. Blind Faith dissolved after less than seven months.
Clapton subsequently toured as a sideman for an act that had opened for Blind Faith, Delaney and Bonnie and Friends. He also played two dates as a member of The Plastic Ono Band that autumn, including a recorded performance at the Toronto Rock and Roll Revival in September 1969 released as the album Live Peace in Toronto 1969.[33] On 30 September 1969, Clapton played lead guitar on Lennon's second solo single, Cold Turkey.[34] On 15 December 1969 Clapton performed with John Lennon, George Harrison, and others as the Plastic Ono Band at a fundraiser for UNICEF in London.[33]
Delaney Bramlett encouraged Clapton in his singing and writing. During the summer of 1969, Clapton and Bramlett contributed to the Music From Free Creek "supersession" project. Clapton, appearing as "King Cool" for contractual reasons, played with Dr. John on three songs, joined by Bramlett on two tracks.
Using the Bramletts' backing group and an all-star cast of session players (including Leon Russell and Stephen Stills), Clapton recorded his first solo album during two brief tour hiatuses, fittingly named Eric Clapton. Delaney Bramlett co-wrote six of the songs with Clapton, also producing the LP.[35] and Bonnie Bramlett co-wrote "Let It Rain".[36] The album yielded the unexpected US No. 18 hit, J. J. Cale's "After Midnight". Clapton also worked with much of Delaney and Bonnie's band to record George Harrison's All Things Must Pass in spring 1970. During this busy period, Clapton also recorded with other artists including Dr. John, Leon Russell, Plastic Ono Band, Billy Preston, Ringo Starr and Dave Mason. Other notable recordings from this period include Clapton's guitar work on "Go Back Home" from Stephen Stills' self-titled first solo album.
"Layla" and solo career
Derek and the Dominos
With the intention of counteracting the "star" cult faction that had begun to form around him, Clapton assembled a new band composed of Delaney and Bonnie's former rhythm section, Bobby Whitlock as keyboardist and vocalist, Carl Radle as the bassist, and drummer Jim Gordon, with Clapton playing guitar. It was his intention to show that he need not fill a starring role, and functioned well as a member of an ensemble.[37] During this period, Clapton was increasingly influenced by The Band and their album Music from Big Pink, saying, "What I appreciated about The Band was that they were more concerned with songs and singing. They would have three- and four-part harmonies, and the guitar was put back into perspective as being accompaniment. That suited me well, because I had gotten so tired of the virtuosity—or pseudo-virtuosity—thing of long, boring guitar solos just because they were expected. The Band brought things back into perspective. The priority was the song".[38]
Clapton (right) with Derek and the Dominos
The band was originally called "Eric Clapton and Friends". The name "Derek and the Dominos" was a fluke that occurred when the band's provisional name of "Del and the Dynamos" was misread as Derek and the Dominos.[39] Clapton's biography states that Tony Ashton of Ashton, Gardner and Dyke told Clapton to call the band "Del and the Dominos", since "Del" was his nickname for Eric Clapton. Del and Eric were combined and the final name became "Derek and the Dominos".[40]
Clapton's close friendship with George Harrison brought him into contact with Harrison's wife, Pattie Boyd, with whom he became deeply infatuated. When she spurned his advances, Clapton's unrequited affections prompted most of the material for the Dominos' album, Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs (1970). Heavily blues-influenced, the album features the twin lead guitars of Duane Allman and Clapton, with Allman's slide guitar as a key ingredient of the sound. Working at Criteria Studios in Miami with Atlantic Records producer Tom Dowd, who had worked with Clapton on Cream's Disraeli Gears, the band recorded a double album.
The album features the hit love song "Layla", inspired by the classical poet of Persian literature, Nizami Ganjavi's The Story of Layla and Majnun, a copy of which Ian Dallas had given to Clapton. The book moved Clapton profoundly, as it was the tale of a young man who fell hopelessly in love with a beautiful, unavailable woman and who went crazy because he could not marry her.[41][42] The two parts of "Layla" were recorded in separate sessions: the opening guitar section was recorded first, and for the second section, laid down several months later, drummer Jim Gordon played the piano part for the melody which he claimed to have written (though Bobby Whitlock stated that Rita Coolidge wrote it).[40]
The Layla LP was actually recorded by a five-piece version of the group, thanks to the unforeseen inclusion of guitarist Duane Allman of The Allman Brothers Band. A few days into the Layla sessions, Dowd—who was also producing the Allmans—invited Clapton to an Allman Brothers outdoor concert in Miami. The two guitarists met first on stage, then played all night in the studio, and became friends. Duane first added his slide guitar to "Tell the Truth" and "Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out". In four days, the five-piece Dominos recorded "Key to the Highway", "Have You Ever Loved a Woman" (a blues standard popularised by Freddie King and others), and "Why Does Love Got to be So Sad". In September, Duane briefly left the sessions for gigs with his own band, and the four-piece Dominos recorded "I Looked Away", "Bell Bottom Blues", and "Keep on Growing". Duane returned to record "I am Yours", "Anyday", and "It's Too Late". On 9 September, they recorded Hendrix's "Little Wing" and the title track. The following day, the final track, "It's Too Late", was recorded.[43]
Tragedy dogged the group throughout its brief career. During the sessions, Clapton was devastated by news of the death of Jimi Hendrix; eight days previously the band had cut a cover of "Little Wing" as a tribute to Hendrix. On 17 September 1970, one day before Hendrix's death, Clapton had purchased a left-handed Fender Stratocaster that he had planned to give to Hendrix as a birthday gift. Adding to Clapton's woes, the Layla album received only lukewarm reviews upon release. The shaken group undertook a US tour without Allman, who had returned to the Allman Brothers Band. Despite Clapton's later admission that the tour took place amidst a veritable blizzard of drugs and alcohol, it resulted in the live double album In Concert.[44]
A second record was in the works when a clashing of egos took place and Clapton walked, thus disbanding the group. Allman was killed in a motorcycle accident on 29 October 1971. Clapton wrote later in his autobiography that he and Allman were inseparable during the sessions in Florida; he talked about Allman as the "musical brother I'd never had but wished I did".[45] Although Radle would remain Clapton's bass player until the summer of 1979 (Radle died in May 1980 from the effects of alcohol and narcotics), it would be 2003 before Clapton and Whitlock appeared together again (Clapton guested on Whitlock's appearance on the Later with Jools Holland show). Another tragic footnote to the Dominos story was the fate of drummer Jim Gordon, who was an undiagnosed schizophrenic and years later murdered his mother during a psychotic episode. Gordon was confined to 16-years-to-life imprisonment, later being moved to a mental institution, where he remains today.[19]
Personal challenges and early solo success
Clapton's career successes in the 1970s were in stark contrast with the struggles he coped with in his personal life, which was troubled by romantic longings and drug and alcohol addiction.[46] He became infatuated with Pattie Boyd, who at the time was married to close friend George Harrison, he withdrew from recording and touring as the band broke up to isolation in his Surrey, England, residence. There he nursed a heroin addiction, which resulted in a lengthy career hiatus interrupted only by the Concert for Bangladesh in August 1971 (where he passed out on stage, was revived, and managed to finish his performance).[19] In January 1973, The Who's Pete Townshend organised a comeback concert for Clapton at London's Rainbow Theatre, aptly titled the "Rainbow Concert", to help Clapton kick his addiction. Clapton would return the favour by playing 'The Preacher' in Ken Russell's film version of The Who's Tommy in 1975; his appearance in the film (performing "Eyesight to the Blind") is notable as he is clearly wearing a fake beard in some shots, the result of deciding to shave off his real beard after the initial takes in an attempt to force the director to remove his earlier scene from the movie and leave the set.[40]
In 1974, Clapton was partnered with Pattie Boyd (they would not actually marry until 1979) and no longer using heroin (although he gradually began to drink heavily). He assembled a low-key touring band that included Radle, Miami guitarist George Terry, keyboardist Dick Sims (who died in 2011[47]), drummer Jamie Oldaker, and vocalists Yvonne Elliman and Marcy Levy (also known as Marcella Detroit). With this band Clapton recorded 461 Ocean Boulevard (1974), an album with an emphasis on more compact songs and fewer guitar solos; the cover version of "I Shot the Sheriff" was Clapton's first No. 1 hit and was important in bringing reggae and the music of Bob Marley to a wider audience. The 1975 album There's One in Every Crowd continued this trend. The album's original title, The World's Greatest Guitar Player (There's One in Every Crowd), was changed before pressing, as it was felt its ironic intention would be misunderstood. The band toured the world and subsequently released the 1975 live LP, E.C. Was Here.[48] Clapton continued to release albums and toured regularly. Highlights of the period include No Reason to Cry (a collaboration with Bob Dylan and The Band); Slowhand, which featured "Wonderful Tonight and a second JJ Cale cover, "Cocaine". In 1976 he performed as one of a string of notable guests at the farewell performance of The Band, filmed in a Martin Scorsese documentary called The Last Waltz.
Continued success
In 1981 Clapton was invited by producer Martin Lewis to appear at the Amnesty International benefit The Secret Policeman's Other Ball. Clapton accepted the invitation and teamed up with Jeff Beck to perform a series of duets—reportedly their first-ever billed stage collaboration. Three of the performances were released on the album of the show, and one of the songs was featured in the film. The performances heralded a return to form and prominence for Clapton in the new decade. Many factors had influenced Clapton's comeback, including his "deepening commitment to Christianity", to which he had converted prior to his heroin addiction.[49][50][51]
After an embarrassing fishing incident, Clapton finally called his manager and admitted he was an alcoholic. In January 1982 Roger and Clapton flew to Minneapolis – St. Paul; Clapton would be checked in at Hazelden Treatment Center, located in Center City, Minnesota. On the flight over, Clapton indulged in a large number of drinks, for fear he would never be able to drink again. Clapton is quoted as saying from his autobiography, "In the lowest moments of my life, the only reason I didn't commit suicide was that I knew I wouldn't be able to drink any more if I was dead. It was the only thing I thought was worth living for, and the idea that people were about to try and remove me from alcohol was so terrible that I drank and drank and drank, and they had to practically carry me into the clinic".[52]
After being discharged, it was recommended by doctors of Hazelden that Clapton not partake in any activities that would act as triggers for his alcoholism or stress, until he was fully situated back at Hurtwood. A few months after his discharge, Clapton began working on his next album, against the Hazelden doctors' orders. Working with Tom Dowd, Clapton produced what he thought as his "most forced" album to date, Money and Cigarettes.
In 1984 he performed on Pink Floyd member Roger Waters' solo album, The Pros and Cons of Hitch Hiking, and went on tour with Waters following the release of the album. Since then Waters and Clapton have had a close relationship. In 2005 they performed together for the Tsunami Relief Fund. In 2006 they performed at the Highclere Castle, in aid of the Countryside Alliance, playing two set pieces of "Wish You Were Here" and "Comfortably Numb". Clapton, now a seasoned charity performer, played at the Live Aid concert on 13 July 1985.[53] When offered a slot close to peak viewing hours, he was apparently flattered. As Clapton recovered from his addictions, his album output continued in the 1980s, including two produced with Phil Collins, 1985's Behind the Sun, which produced the hits "Forever Man" and "She's Waiting", and 1986's August.
August was suffused with Collins's trademark drum and horn sound, and became Clapton's biggest seller in the UK to date, matching his highest chart position, number 3. The album's first track, the hit "It's in the Way That You Use It", was featured in the Tom Cruise – Paul Newman movie The Color of Money. The horn-peppered "Run" echoed Collins' "Sussudio" and rest of the producer's Genesis/solo output, while "Tearing Us Apart" (with Tina Turner) and the unimpressed "Miss You" echoed Clapton's angry sound. This rebound kicked off Clapton's two-year period of touring with Collins and their August collaborates, bassist Nathan East and keyboard player/songwriter Greg Phillinganes. While on tour for August, two concert videos were recorded of the four-man band, Eric Clapton Live from Montreux and Eric Clapton and Friends. Clapton later remade "After Midnight" as a single and a promotional track for the Michelob beer brand, which had also marketed earlier songs by Collins and Steve Winwood. Clapton won a British Academy Television Award for his collaboration with Michael Kamen on the score for the 1985 BBC Television thriller serial Edge of Darkness. In 1989, Clapton released Journeyman, an album which covered a wide range of styles including blues, jazz, soul and pop. Collaborators included George Harrison, Phil Collins, Daryl Hall, Chaka Khan, Mick Jones, David Sanborn and Robert Cray. At the 1987 Brit Awards in London, Clapton was awarded the prize for Outstanding Contribution to Music.[9]
Resurgence and stardom
The 1990s brought a series of 32 concerts to the Royal Albert Hall, such as the 24 Nights series of concerts that took place around January through February 1990, and February to March 1991. On 27 August 1990, fellow blues guitarist Stevie Ray Vaughan, who was touring with Clapton, and three members of their road crew were killed in a helicopter crash between concerts. Then, on 20 March 1991, Clapton's four-year-old son, Conor, died after falling from the 53rd-floor window of his mother's friend's New York City apartment at 117 East 57th Street. Conor's funeral took place on 28 March at St Mary Magdelene's Church in Clapton's home village in Ripley, Surrey.[54]
"I almost subconsciously used music for myself as a healing agent, and lo and behold, it worked... I have got a great deal of happiness and a great deal of healing from music."
—Clapton on the healing process in writing "Tears in Heaven".[55]
Clapton's grief was expressed in the song "Tears in Heaven", which was co-written by Will Jennings. At the 35th Grammy Awards, Clapton received six Grammy Awards for the single "Tears in Heaven" and his Unplugged album.[56] The album reached number one on the Billboard 200, and has since been certified Diamond by the RIAA for selling over 10 million copies in the United States.[57] On 9 September 1992, Clapton performed "Tears in Heaven" at the 1992 MTV Video Music Awards in Los Angeles, and won the award for Best Male Video.[58][59]
In October 1992 Clapton was among the dozens of artists performing at Bob Dylan's 30th Anniversary Concert Celebration. Recorded at Madison Square Garden in New York City, the live two-disk CD/DVD captured a show full of celebrities performing classic Dylan songs, with Clapton playing the lead on a nearly 7-minute version of Dylan's "Knockin' on Heaven's Door" as part of the finale.[60]
While Unplugged featured Clapton playing acoustic guitar, his 1994 album From the Cradle contained new versions of old blues standards, highlighted by his electric guitar playing.[61] Clapton's 1996 recording of the Wayne Kirkpatrick/Gordon Kennedy/Tommy Sims tune "Change the World" (featured in the soundtrack of the film Phenomenon) won the Grammy Award for Song of the Year in 1997, the same year he recorded Retail Therapy (an album of electronic music with Simon Climie under the pseudonym TDF). On 15 September 1997, Clapton appeared at the Music for Montserrat concert at the Royal Albert Hall, London, performing "Layla" and "Same Old Blues" before finishing with "Hey Jude" alongside fellow English artists Paul McCartney, Elton John, Phil Collins, Mark Knopfler and Sting.[62] That autumn, Clapton released the album Pilgrim, the first record featuring new material for almost a decade.[51]
In 1996 Clapton had a relationship with singer/songwriter Sheryl Crow. They remain friends, and Clapton appeared as a guest on Crow's Central Park Concert. The duo performed a Cream hit single, "White Room". Later, Clapton and Crow performed an alternate version of "Tulsa Time" with other guitar legends at the Crossroads Guitar Festival in June 2007.
In 1998 Clapton, then 53, met 22-year-old administrative assistant Melia McEnery in Columbus, Ohio, at a party given for him after a performance. He quietly dated her for a year, and went public with the relationship in 1999. They married on 1 January 2001 at St Mary Magdalene church in Clapton's birthplace, Ripley. As of 2005 they have three daughters, Julie Rose (13 June 2001), Ella May (14 January 2003), and Sophie Belle (1 February 2005).
At the 41st Grammy Awards on 24 February 1999, Clapton received his third Grammy Award for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance, for his song "My Father's Eyes".[63] In October 1999, the compilation album, Clapton Chronicles: The Best of Eric Clapton, was released, which contained a new song, "Blue Eyes Blue", that also appears in soundtrack for the film, Runaway Bride.[64][65] Clapton finished the twentieth century with collaborations with Carlos Santana and B. B. King.
Collaboration albums
Following the release of the 2001 record Reptile, in June 2002, Clapton performed "Layla" and "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" at the Party at the Palace concert in the grounds of Buckingham Palace.[66] On 29 November 2002, the Concert for George was held at the Royal Albert Hall, a tribute to George Harrison, who had died a year earlier of lung cancer.[67] Clapton was a performer and the musical director. The concert featured Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Jeff Lynne, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Ravi Shankar, Gary Brooker, Billy Preston, Joe Brown and Dhani Harrison.[67] In 2004, Clapton released two albums of covers of songs by bluesman Robert Johnson, Me and Mr. Johnson and Sessions for Robert J. Guitarist Doyle Bramhall II worked on the album with Clapton (after opening Clapton's 2001 tour with his band Smokestack) and would join him on his 2004 tour. In 2004, Rolling Stone ranked Clapton No. 53 on their list of the "100 Greatest Artists of All Time".[68]
On 22 January 2005, Clapton performed in the Tsunami Relief Concert held at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, in aid of the victims of the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake. In May 2005 Eric Clapton, Jack Bruce, and Ginger Baker reunited as Cream for a series of concerts at the Royal Albert Hall in London. Concert recordings were released on CD and DVD. Later, Cream performed in New York at Madison Square Garden. Back Home, Clapton's first album of new original material in nearly five years, was released on Reprise Records on 30 August.
A collaboration with guitarist J. J. Cale, titled The Road to Escondido, was released on 7 November 2006, featuring Derek Trucks and Billy Preston (Preston had also been a part of Clapton's 2004 touring band). The 14-track CD was produced and recorded by the duo in August 2005 in California. He invited Trucks to join his band for his 2006–2007 world tour. Bramhall remained in the band as well, giving Clapton three elite guitarists in his band and thus allowing him to revisit many Derek and the Dominos songs that he hadn't played in decades. Trucks became the third member of the Allman Brothers Band to tour supporting Clapton, the second being pianist/keyboardist Chuck Leavell, who appeared on the MTV Unplugged album and the 24 Nights performances at the Royal Albert Hall theatre of London in 1990 and 1991, as well as Clapton's 1992 US tour.[69]
On 20 May 2006, Clapton performed with Queen drummer Roger Taylor and former Pink Floyd bassist/songwriter Roger Waters at the Highclere Castle, Hampshire, in support of the Countryside Alliance.[70] On 13 August 2006, Clapton made a guest appearance at the Bob Dylan concert in Columbus, Ohio, playing guitar on three songs in Jimmie Vaughan's opening act.[71] The chemistry between Trucks and Clapton convinced him to invite The Derek Trucks Band to open for Clapton's set at his 2007 Crossroads Guitar Festival. Trucks remained on set afterward and performed with Clapton's band throughout his performances.
The rights to Clapton's official memoirs, written by Christopher Simon Sykes and published in 2007, were sold at the 2005 Frankfurt Book Fair for US$4 million.[72]
On 26 February 2008, it was reported that North Korean officials had invited Clapton to play a concert in the communist state.[73] Clapton's management received the invitation and passed it on to the singer, who agreed in principle and suggested it take place sometime in 2009.[74] Kristen Foster, a spokesperson, said, "Eric Clapton receives numerous offers to play in countries around the world", and "[t]here is no agreement whatsoever for him to play in North Korea".[75]
In 2007 Clapton learned more about his father, a Canadian soldier who left the UK after the war. Although Clapton's grandparents eventually told him the truth about his parentage, he only knew that his father's name was Edward Fryer. This was a source of disquiet for Clapton, as witnessed by his 1998 song "My Father's Eyes". A Montreal journalist named Michael Woloschuk researched Canadian Armed Forces service records and tracked down members of Fryer's family, and finally pieced together the story. He learned that Clapton's father was Edward Walter Fryer, born 21 March 1920, in Montreal and died 15 May 1985 in Newmarket, Ontario. Fryer was a musician (piano and saxophone) and a lifelong drifter who was married several times, had several children, and apparently never knew that he was the father of Eric Clapton.[76] Clapton thanked Woloschuk in an encounter at Macdonald Cartier Airport, in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.[77]
In February 2008 Clapton performed with his long-time friend Steve Winwood at Madison Square Garden and guested on his recorded single, "Dirty City", on Winwood's album Nine Lives. The two former Blind Faith bandmates met again for a series of 14 concerts throughout the United States in June 2009.
Clapton's 2008 Summer Tour began on 3 May at the Ford Amphitheatre, Tampa, Florida, and then moved to Canada, Ireland, England, Norway, Iceland, Denmark, Poland, Germany, and Monaco. On 28 June 2008, he headlined Saturday night for Hard Rock Calling 2008 in London's Hyde Park (previously Hyde Park Calling) with support from Sheryl Crow and John Mayer.[78][79] In September 2008 Clapton performed at a private charity fundraiser for The Countryside Alliance at Floridita in Soho, London, that included such guests as the London Mayor Boris Johnson.
Clapton performing with The Allman Brothers Band at the Beacon Theatre, New York City
In March 2009, the Allman Brothers Band (amongst many notable guests) celebrated their 40th year, dedicating their string of concerts to the late Duane Allman on their annual run at the Beacon Theatre. Eric Clapton was one of the performers, with drummer Butch Trucks remarking that the performance was not the typical Allman Brothers experience, given the number and musical styles of the guests who were invited to perform. Songs like "In Memory of Elizabeth Reed" were punctuated with others, including "The Weight", with Levon Helm; Johnny Winter sitting in on Hendrix's "Red House"; and "Layla". On 4 May 2009 Clapton appeared as a featured guest at the Royal Albert Hall, playing "Further on Up the Road" with Joe Bonamassa.
Clapton was scheduled to be one of the performers at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 25th anniversary concert in Madison Square Garden on 30 October 2009, but cancelled due to gallstone surgery.[80] Van Morrison (who also cancelled)[81] said in an interview that he and Clapton were to do a "couple of songs", but that they would do something else together at "some other stage of the game".[82]
Clapton, Old Sock and recent events
Clapton performed a two-night show with Jeff Beck at London's O2 Arena on 13–14 February 2010.[83] The two former Yardbirds extended their 2010 tour with stops at Madison Square Garden,[84] the Air Canada Centre in Toronto, and the Bell Centre in Montreal.[85] Clapton performed a series of concerts in 11 cities throughout the United States from 25 February to 13 March 2010, including Roger Daltrey as opening act. His third European tour with Steve Winwood began on 18 May and ended 13 June, including Tom Norris as opening act. He then began a short North American tour lasting from 26 June to 3 July, starting with his third Crossroads Guitar Festival on 26 June at Toyota Park in Bridgeview, Illinois. Clapton released a new studio album, Clapton, on 27 September 2010 in the United Kingdom and 28 September 2010 in the United States. On 17 November 2010, Clapton performed as guest on the Prince's Trust rock gala held at the Royal Albert Hall, supported by the house band for the evening, which included Jools Holland, Midge Ure and Mark King.[86]
On 24 June 2011, Clapton was in concert with Pino Daniele in Cava de' Tirreni stadium, Italy, with an audience of 15,000 people before performing a series of concerts in South America from 6 to 16 October 2011. He spent November and December 2011 touring Japan with Steve Winwood, playing 13 shows in various cities throughout the country. On 24 February 2012 Clapton, Keith Richards, Gary Clark Jr., Derek Trucks, Doyle Bramhall II, Kim Wilson and other artists performed together in the Howlin' For Hubert Tribute concert held at the Apollo Theater of New York honouring blues guitarist Hubert Sumlin who died at age 80 in 4 December 2011. On 29 November 2012, Clapton joined the Rolling Stones at London's O2 Arena during the band's second of five arena dates celebrating their 50th anniversary. He played guitar on Muddy Waters' Champagne and Reefer.[87] On 12 December 2012, Clapton performed The Concert for Sandy Relief at Madison Square Garden, broadcast live via television, radio, cinemas and the Internet across six continents.[88]
In January 2013, Surfdog Records announced a signed deal with Eric for the release of his forthcoming album Old Sock on 12 March. On 8 April 2013, Eric and Hard Rock International launched the limited-edition Eric Clapton Artist Spotlight merchandise programme benefiting Crossroads Centre Antigua.[89] Clapton toured the United States and Europe from 14 March to 19 June 2013 to celebrate his 50 years as a professional musician.[90]
On 28 February 2013, Clapton announced his intention to stop touring in 2015 due to hassles with travel.[91][92] On 27 June 2014 Clapton confirmed his retirement plans attributing his decision to the road being “unbearable” in addition to “odd ailments” that may force him to put down his guitar permanently.[93]
On 15 October 2013, Eric's popular Unplugged album and concert DVD were re-released, titled Unplugged: Expanded & Remastered. The album includes the original 14 tracks, remastered, as well as 6 additional tracks, including 2 versions of My Father's Eyes. The DVD includes a restored version of the concert, as well as over 60 minutes of unseen footage from the rehearsal.
On 13 and 14 November 2013, Clapton headlined the final two evenings of the "Baloise Sessions", an annual indoor music festival in Basel, Switzerland. The concerts took place in the Event Halle, Messe Basel and a one hour broadcasting from this performance was aired on Swiss radio SRF3 on 18 November 2013.[94][95] On 20 November 2013, Warner Bros released Crossroads Guitar Festival 2013 in CD/DVD/Blu-ray.
On 30 April 2014, Clapton announced the release of The Breeze: An Appreciation of JJ Cale as an homage to JJ Cale who died on 26 July 2013. This tribute album, released on 29 July 2014,[96] is named after the 1972 single Call Me The Breeze and features 16 Cale songs performed by Clapton, Christine Lakeland, Mark Knopfler, John Mayer, Willie Nelson, Tom Petty, Derek Trucks and Don White.[97]
On 21 June 2014, Clapton abruptly walked off stage during a concert at the Glasgow Hydro. Although he did return to perform one final song, thousands of fans were upset by the lack of explanation from Clapton or the venue and booed after the concert ended around 40 minutes before advertised to finish. Both Clapton and the venue apologised the next day, blaming 'technical difficulties' for making sound conditions 'unbearable' for Clapton on stage.[98][99][100] Clapton scheduled a 7-night residency at London's Royal Albert Hall from 14 to 23 May 2015 to celebrate his 70th birthday on 30 March. The shows also mark 50 years since Clapton first played at Royal Albert Hall – his debut was on 7 December 1964 when he performed as part of the Yardbirds for BBC-2 TV’s “Top Beat Show.” Clapton returned to the venue four years later for Cream's U.K. Farewell Concerts on 26 November 1968.[101]
Influences
Clapton cites Freddie King, B.B. King, Albert King, Buddy Guy, and Hubert Sumlin as guitar playing influences. Clapton stated blues musician Robert Johnson to be his single most important influence. In 2004 Clapton released CDs and DVDs entitled Sessions for Robert Johnson, featuring Clapton covering Robert Johnson songs using electric and acoustic guitars.[102]
Clapton co-authored with others the book Discovering Robert Johnson, in which Clapton said Johnson was:[103]
...the most important blues musician who ever lived. He was true, absolutely, to his own vision, and as deep as I have gotten into the music over the last 30 years, I have never found anything more deeply soulful than Robert Johnson. His music remains the most powerful cry that I think you can find in the human voice, really. ... it seemed to echo something I had always felt.
Legacy
Clapton has been referred to as one of the most important and influential guitarists of all time.[1][104][105][106] Clapton 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.[5] He ranked second in Rolling Stone magazine's list of the "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time"[2] and fourth in Gibson's Top 50 Guitarists of All Time.[3]
Guitarists influenced by Clapton include Slash, Allen Collins, Richie Sambora, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Gary Moore, Duane Allman, Derek Trucks,[107] Eddie Van Halen, Brian May, Tony Iommi, Lenny Kravitz, Ted Nugent, Orianthi, Vince Gill, Brad Paisley, Jonny Buckland, Joe Don Rooney, Alex Lifeson, Jonny Lang, John Mayer, Joe Satriani, Joe Bonamassa, Davy Knowles, Lindsay Ell,[108] Neal Schon, and Mark Knopfler.
Guitars
Clapton on the There's One in Every Crowd Tour, with "Blackie" on 15 August 1975
Clapton's choice of electric guitars has been as notable as the man himself; alongside Hank Marvin, The Beatles and Jimi Hendrix, Clapton exerted a crucial and widespread influence in popularising particular models of electric guitar.[109] With the Yardbirds, Clapton played a Fender Telecaster, a Fender Jazzmaster, a double-cutaway Gretsch 6120, and a 1964 Cherry-Red Gibson ES-335. He became exclusively a Gibson player for a period beginning in mid-1965, when he purchased a used sunburst Gibson Les Paul guitar from a guitar store in London. Clapton commented on the slim profile of the neck, which would indicate it was a 1960 model.[110]
Early during his stint in Cream, Clapton's first Les Paul Standard was stolen. He continued to play Les Pauls exclusively with Cream (one bought from Andy Summers was almost identical to the stolen guitar)[111] until 1967, when he acquired his most famous guitar in this period, a 1964 Gibson SG.[112] Just before Cream's first US appearance in 1967, Clapton's SG, Bruce's Fender VI, and Baker's drum head were all repainted in psychedelic designs created by the visual art collective known as The Fool. In 1968 Clapton bought a Gibson Firebird and started using the 1964 Cherry-Red Gibson ES-335 again.[112] The aforementioned 1964 ES-335 had a storied career. Clapton used it at the last Cream show in November 1968 as well as with Blind Faith, played it sparingly for slide pieces in the 1970s, used it on "Hard Times" from Journeyman, the Hyde Park live concert of 1996, and the From the Cradle sessions and tour of 1994–95. It was sold for US$847,500 at a 2004 auction.[113] Gibson produced a limited run of 250 "Crossroads 335" replicas. The 335 was only the second electric guitar Clapton bought.[114]
In July 1968 Clapton gave George Harrison a 1957 'goldtop' Gibson Les Paul that been refinished with a red colour. The following September, Clapton played the guitar on the Beatles' studio recording of "While My Guitar Gently Weeps". His SG found its way into the hands of George Harrison's friend Jackie Lomax, who subsequently sold it to musician Todd Rundgren for US$500 in 1972. Rundgren restored the guitar and nicknamed it "Sunny", after "Sunshine of Your Love". He retained it until 2000, when he sold it at an auction for US$150,000.[112] At the 1969 Blind Faith concert in Hyde Park, London Clapton played a Fender Custom Telecaster, which was fitted with "Brownie" 's neck.
In late 1969 Clapton made the switch to the Fender Stratocaster. "I had a lot of influences when I took up the Strat. First there was Buddy Holly, and Buddy Guy. Hank Marvin was the first well known person over here in England who was using one, but that wasn't really my kind of music. Steve Winwood had so much credibility, and when he started playing one, I thought, oh, if he can do it, I can do it".[115] The first—used during the recording of Eric Clapton—was "Brownie", which in 1973 became the backup to the most famous of all Clapton's guitars, "Blackie". In November 1970 Eric bought six Fender Stratocasters from the Sho-bud guitar shop in Nashville, Tennessee while on tour with the Dominos. He gave one each to George Harrison, Steve Winwood, and Pete Townshend.
Clapton assembled the best components of the remaining three to create "Blackie", which was his favourite stage guitar until its retirement in 1985. It was first played live 13 January 1973 at the Rainbow Concert.[116] Clapton called the 1956/57 Strat a "mongrel".[117] On 24 June 2004, Clapton sold "Blackie" at Christie's Auction House, New York, for US$959,500 to raise funds for his Crossroads Centre for drug and alcohol addictions. "Brownie" is now on display at the Experience Music Project.[118] The Fender Custom Shop has since produced a limited run of 275 'Blackie' replicas, correct in every detail right down to the 'Duck Brothers' flight case, and artificially aged using Fender's 'Relic' process to simulate years of hard wear. One was presented to Eric upon the model's release and was used for three numbers during a concert at the Royal Albert Hall on 17 May 2006.[119]
In 1981 Clapton gave his signed Fender Lead II guitar to the Hard Rock Cafe to designate his favourite bar stool. Pete Townshend also donated his own Gibson Les Paul guitar, with a note attached: "Mine's as good as his! Love, Pete".[120]
In 1988 Fender honoured Clapton with the introduction of his signature Eric Clapton Stratocaster.[121] This, and the Yngwie Malmsteen Stratocaster, were the first two artist models in the Stratocaster range. Since then, the artist series has grown to include models inspired by Clapton's contemporaries such as Rory Gallagher, Mark Knopfler, Jeff Beck, and Stevie Ray Vaughan, and by those who have influenced him, such as Buddy Guy. Clapton uses Ernie Ball Slinky and Super Slinky strings, gauge .10 to.46.[122] Clapton has been honoured with several signature-model 000-sized acoustic guitars made by the American firm of C.F. Martin & Company. The first, of these, introduced in 1995, was a limited edition 000-42EC Eric Clapton signature model with a production run of 461. For the single Change The World (1996) and the album Pilgrim (1998) he used a Martin 000-28 EC Eric Clapton signature model, which he subsequently gave to guitarist Paul Wassif.[123] As of December 2007, Martin had produced seven EC signature models.[124] His 1939 000-42 Martin that he played on the Unplugged album sold for US$791,500 at auction.[113] Clapton plays a custom 000-ECHF Martin these days.
In 1999, Clapton auctioned off some of his guitar collection to raise more than US$5 million for continuing support of the Crossroads Centre in Antigua, which he founded in 1997.[125] The Crossroads Centre is a treatment base for addictive disorders such as drugs and alcohol. In 2004 Clapton organised and participated in the Crossroads Guitar Festival to benefit the Centre. A second guitar auction, including the "Cream" of Clapton's collection – as well as guitars donated by famous friends – was held on 24 June 2004. His Lowden acoustic guitar sold for US$41,825. The revenue garnered by this auction at Christie's was US$7,438,624.[113]
In 2010 Eric Clapton announced that he would be auctioning off over 150 items at a New York auction in 2011. Proceeds will benefit his Crossroads Centre in Antigua. Items include Clapton's guitar from the Cream reunion tour in 2005, speaker cabinets used in the early 1970s from his days with Derek and the Dominoes, and some guitars from Jeff Beck, JJ Cale, and Joe Bonamassa.[126] In March 2011 Clapton raised more than US$2.15 million when he auctioned off key items, including a 1984 Gibson hollow body guitar, a Gianni Versace suit from his 1990 concert at the Royal Albert Hall, and a replica of the famous Fender Stratocaster known as "Blackie", which fetched more than $30,000. All proceeds from the auction were donated to Clapton's Crossroads drug and rehabilitation centre in Antigua.
Woman tone
The "woman tone" is the informal term used by Clapton to refer to his distinctive mid- to late-1960s electric guitar sound, created using his Gibson SG solid body guitar (with Humbucker pick-ups) and a Marshall tube amplifier,[127] with the treble boosted by a Dallas Rangemaster. The sound is described as "thick yet piercing, overdriven yet smooth, distorted yet creamy".[128]
Other media appearances
Clapton frequently appears as a guest on the albums of other musicians. For example, he is credited on Dire Straits 's Brothers in Arms album, as he lent Mark Knopfler one of his guitars. He played lead guitar and synthesiser on The Pros and Cons of Hitch Hiking, Roger Waters' debut solo album. Other media appearances include the Toots & the Maytals album True Love, where he played guitar on the track "Pressure Drop". He played on Paul Brady's 1985 album Back to the Centre on the track "Deep in your Heart". He can also be heard at the beginning of Frank Zappa's album, We're Only in It for the Money, repeating the phrase, "Are you hung up?" over and over again. In 1985, Clapton appeared on the charity concert Live Aid in Philadelphia with Phil Collins, Tim Renwick, Chris Stainton, Jamie Oldaker, Marcy Levy, Shaun Murphy, and Donald 'Duck' Dunn. In 1988 he played with Dire Straits and Elton John at the Nelson Mandela 70th Birthday Tribute at Wembley Stadium and the Prince's Trust rock gala at the Royal Albert Hall. On 30 June 1990, Dire Straits, Clapton and Elton John made a guest appearance in the Nordoff-Robbins charity show held at Knebworth.[129] In 1991 Clapton was featured on Richie Sambora's album, Stranger in This Town, in a song dedicated to him, called "Mr. Bluesman". He contributed guitar and vocals to "Runaway Train", a duet with Elton John on the latter's The One album the following year.
On 12 September 1996 Clapton played a party for Armani at New York City's Lexington Armory with Greg Phillinganes, Nathan East and Steve Gadd. Sheryl Crow appeared on one number, performing "Tearing Us Apart", a track from August, which was first performed by Tina Turner during the Prince's Trust All-Star Rock show in 1986. It was Clapton's sole US appearance that year, following the open-air concert held at Hyde Park.[130] The concert was taped and the footage was released both on VHS video cassette and later, on DVD.[130]
Clapton was featured in the movie version of Tommy, the first full length rock opera, written by The Who. The movie version gave Clapton a cameo appearance as The Preacher, performing Sonny Boy Williamson's song, "Eyesight to the Blind". He appeared in Blues Brothers 2000 as one of the Louisiana Gator Boys. In addition to being in the band, he had a small speaking role. Clapton has appeared in an advertisement for the Mercedes-Benz G-Wagen. In March 2007 Clapton appeared in an advertisement[131] for RealNetwork's Rhapsody online music service. In 2010 Clapton started appearing as a spokesman for T-Mobile, advertising their MyTouch Fender cell phone. In 2011 Clapton made a guest appearance on Paul Wassif's album Looking Up Feeling Down, where he played alongside legendary folk guitarist Bert Jansch for the first time.[132]
Eric Clapton was compared to God's image in the episode "Holy Crap!" of season two of That '70s Show when characters Eric Forman and Steven Hyde are asked by their minister to draw a picture of God.
Eric Clapton appeared on Top Gear in 2013, during Series 19 Episode 4 and was involved in testing the new Kia Cee'd. He was called upon to test the Cee'd's auxiliary input, which he tested by plugging in one of his guitars and playing several bars of his most famous hits. He was announced by Jeremy Clarkson as a "local guitarist".[133]
Personal life
Relationships and children
Clapton and Pattie Boyd married in 1979. They had no children. In 1984 while recording Behind The Sun, Clapton began a relationship with Yvonne Kelly, the manager of the recording studio in Montserrat. Both married but not to each other, the two had a daughter in January 1985. She was named Ruth Kelly Clapton, but her existence was kept from the public until the media realised she was his child in 1991.[134][135]
Clapton and Boyd tried unsuccessfully to have children, even trying in vitro fertilisation in 1984, but were faced instead with miscarriages.[136] They divorced in 1988 following his affair with Italian model Lory Del Santo, who gave birth to their son, Conor, on 21 August 1986. Conor died in 1991, at the age of four and a half, when he fell out of an open bedroom window on the 53rd floor of a Manhattan apartment building.[137] The death of his son was the inspiration for Clapton's song, "Tears in Heaven".
Clapton married Melia McEnery in a low-key church ceremony in January 2001. They have three daughters - Julie Rose (born June 2001), Ella May (born 2003) and Sophie Belle (born 2005).[138] His grandson Isaac Eric Owen Bartlett was born in June 2013 to Eric's oldest daughter Ruth and her husband Dean Bartlett.[139]
Political views
Clapton is a supporter of the Countryside Alliance, has played in concerts to raise funds for the organisation and publicly opposed the Labour Party’s ban on fox hunting with the 2004 Hunting Act. A spokesperson for Clapton said, "Eric supports the Countryside Alliance. He doesn't hunt himself, but does enjoy rural pursuits such as fishing and shooting. He supports the Alliance's pursuit to scrap the ban on the basis that he doesn't agree with the state's interference with people's private pursuits".[140]
In 2008, he donated a song to Aid Still Required's CD to assist with the restoration of the devastation done to Southeast Asia from the 2004 tsunami.
Controversy over remarks on immigration
On 5 August 1976,Clapton provoked an uproar and lingering controversy when he spoke out against increasing immigration during a concert in Birmingham. Visibly intoxicated, Clapton voiced his support of controversial political candidate Enoch Powell, and announced on stage that Britain was in danger of becoming a "black colony". Clapton was quoted as saying, "I think Enoch's right ... we should send them all back. Throw the wogs out! Keep Britain white!"[141] The latter phrase was at the time a British National Front slogan.[142] Clapton continued:
I used to be into dope, now I'm into racism. It's much heavier, man. Fucking wogs, man. Fucking Saudis taking over London. Bastard wogs. Britain is becoming overcrowded and Enoch will stop it and send them all back. The black wogs and coons and Arabs and fucking Jamaicans and fucking [indecipherable] don't belong here, we don't want them here. This is England, this is a white country, we don't want any black wogs and coons living here. We need to make clear to them they are not welcome. England is for white people, man. We are a white country. I don't want fucking wogs living next to me with their standards. This is Great Britain, a white country, what is happening to us, for fuck's sake? We need to vote for Enoch Powell, he's a great man, speaking truth. Vote for Enoch, he's our man, he's on our side, he'll look after us. I want all of you here to vote for Enoch, support him, he's on our side. Enoch for Prime Minister! Throw the wogs out! Keep Britain white![143]
This incident, along with some controversial remarks made around the same time by David Bowie, as well as uses of Nazi-related imagery by Sid Vicious and Siouxsie Sioux, were the main catalysts for the creation of Rock Against Racism, which occurred on 30 April 1978.[144]
In response to the comments, rock photographer Red Saunders and others published an open letter in NME, Melody Maker, Sounds, and the Socialist Worker. It read "Come on Eric... Own up. Half your music is black. You're rock music's biggest colonist". It concluded, "P.S. Who shot the Sheriff, Eric? It sure as hell wasn't you!"[144]
In an interview from October 1976 with Sounds magazine, Clapton remarked, "I thought it was quite funny actually. I don't know much about politics. I don't even know if it would be good or bad for him to get in. I don't even know who the Prime Minister is now. I just don't know what came over me that night. It must have been something that happened in the day but it came out in this garbled thing... I thought the whole thing was like Monty Python. There's this rock group playing on-stage and the singer starts talking about politics. It's so stupid. Those people who paid their money sittin' listening to this madman dribbling on and the band meanwhile getting fidgety thinking 'oh dear'".[145]
In a 2004 interview with Uncut, Clapton referred to Powell as "outrageously brave", and stated that his "feeling about this has not changed", because the UK is still "... inviting people in as cheap labour and then putting them in ghettos". In 2004, Clapton told an interviewer for Scotland on Sunday, "There's no way I could be a racist. It would make no sense".[146] In his 2007 autobiography, Clapton called himself "deliberately oblivious to it all" and wrote, "I had never really understood or been directly affected by racial conflict ... when I listened to music, I was disinterested in where the players came from or what colour their skin was. Interesting, then, that 10 years later, I would be labelled a racist ... Since then, I have learnt to keep my opinions to myself. Of course, it might also have had something to do with the fact that Pattie had just been leered at by a member of the Saudi royal family".[147] In a December 2007 interview with Melvyn Bragg on The South Bank Show, Clapton reiterated his support for Enoch Powell and again denied that Powell's views were "racist".[148]
Wealth and assets
In 2009, Surrey Life Magazine ranked Eric Clapton as number 17 in their list of richest Surrey residents, estimating Clapton's fortune at £120 million in assets. This was a compilation of property and income which include a £9 million yacht, "Va Bene" (previously owned by Bernie Ecclestone), his back music catalogue, his touring income, and his Marshbrook holding company, which had earned him £110 million since 1989.[149] In 2003, he purchased a 50 percent share of gentleman's outfitters Cordings Piccadilly.[150] At the time, owner Noll Uloth was trying to save the shop from closure and thought 'I will go and talk to my best client". He is reported to have contacted Clapton and within five minutes he had a reply saying 'I can't let this happen".[150]
Charitable work
In 1993, Clapton was appointed a director of Clouds House, a treatment centre for drug and alcohol dependence, and served on their board until 1997.[151] Clapton also served on the board of directors for The Chemical Dependency Centre from 1994 until 1999.[152] Both charities subsequently merged to become Action on Addiction in 2007.
In 1998, he established the Crossroads Centre in Antigua to help others overcome their addictions to drugs and alcohol and is active in its management oversight and fundraising to the present day.[153][154] Clapton has organised the Crossroads Guitar Festival in 2004, 2007, 2010 and 2013 to raise funds for this centre.[155]
Awards and honours
Year Award / Recognition
1983
Presented the Silver Clef Award from Princess Michael of Kent for outstanding contribution to British music.[156]
1985
Presented with BAFTA for Best Original Television Music for Score of Edge of Darkness with Michael Kamen.[157]
1993
"Tears in Heaven" won three Grammy awards for Song of the Year, Record of the Year, and Male Pop Vocal Performance. Clapton also won Album of the Year and Best Rock Vocal Performance for Unplugged and Best Rock Song for "Layla".[158]
1994
Awarded the OBE for services to music.[159]
2000
Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame for the third time, this time as a solo artist. He was earlier inducted as a member of the bands Cream and The Yardbirds.[160]
2004
Promoted to CBE, receiving the award from the Princess Royal at Buckingham Palace as part of the New Year's Honours list.[161][162]
2006
Awarded the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award as a member of Cream.[163]
Football
In 1982 he performed a concert before West Bromwich Albion player John Wile's testimonial game at The Hawthorns. It has been reported that the club rejected his offer to invest cash in the club around this time, and that he has since expressed more of an interest in Chelsea.[164]
Clapton's music in film and TV
Clapton's music has appeared in dozens of movies and television shows as far back as 1973's Mean Streets which featured the song "I Looked Away". Other appearances in media include in the Miami Vice series ("Wonderful Tonight", "Knock on Wood", "She's Waiting", and "Layla"), Back to the Future ("Heaven Is One Step Away"), The Color of Money ("It's In The Way That You Use It"), Lethal Weapon 2 ("Knockin' On Heaven's Door"), Goodfellas ("Layla" and "Sunshine of Your Love"),[165] the Friends episode "The One with the Proposal, Part 2" ("Wonderful Tonight"), and Men in Black III ("Strange Brew"). Also, Opel and Vauxhall used the guitar riff from "Layla" in their advertising campaigns throughout 1987–95. In addition to his music appearing in media, Clapton has contributed to several movies by writing or co-writing the musical scores or contributing original songs. These movies include Lethal Weapon (co-written with Michael Kamen), Communion, Rush, Phenomenon ("Change the World"), and Lethal Weapon 3 (co-wrote and co-performed "It's Probably Me" with Sting and "Runaway Train" with Elton John).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Clapton
ERIC CLAPTON Live at Budokan, Tokyo, 2001 (Full Concert)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3FE70D5mRp0
Eric Patrick Clapton, CBE (born 30 March 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.[1] Clapton ranked second in Rolling Stone magazine's list of the "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time"[2] and fourth in Gibson's "Top 50 Guitarists of All Time".[3] He was also named number five in Time magazine's list of "The 10 Best Electric Guitar Players" in 2009 [4]In the mid-1960s, Clapton left the Yardbirds to play blues with John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers. Immediately after leaving Mayall, Clapton joined Cream, a power trio with drummer Ginger Baker and bassist Jack Bruce in which Clapton played sustained blues improvisations and "arty, blues-based psychedelic pop".[5] For most of the 1970s, Clapton's output bore the influence of the mellow style of JJ Cale and the reggae of Bob Marley. His version of Marley's "I Shot the Sheriff" helped reggae reach a mass market.[6] 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 death of 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.[7][8][9] In 1998, Clapton, a recovering alcoholic and drug addict, founded the Crossroads Centre on Antigua, a medical facility for recovering substance abusers.[10]
Early life
Eric Patrick Clapton was born in Ripley, Surrey, England, the son of 16-year-old Patricia Molly Clapton (7 January 1929 – March 1999) and Edward Walter Fryer (21 March 1920 – 15 May 1985), a 25-year-old soldier from Montreal, Quebec.[11] Fryer shipped off to war prior to Clapton's birth and then returned to Canada. Clapton grew up with his grandmother, Rose, and her second husband, Jack Clapp, who was stepfather to Patricia Clapton and her brother Adrian, believing they were his parents and that his mother was actually his older sister. The similarity in surnames gave rise to the erroneous belief that Clapton's real surname is Clapp (Reginald Cecil Clapton was the name of Rose's first husband, Eric Clapton's maternal grandfather).[12] Years later, his mother married another Canadian soldier and moved to Germany,[13] leaving young Eric with his grandparents in Surrey.[14]
Clapton received an acoustic Hoyer guitar, made in Germany, for his thirteenth birthday, but the inexpensive steel-stringed instrument was difficult to play and he briefly lost interest.[14] Two years later Clapton picked it up again and started playing consistently.[14] Clapton was influenced by the blues from an early age, and practised long hours to learn the chords of blues music by playing along to the records.[15] He preserved his practice sessions using his portable Grundig reel-to-reel tape recorder, listening to them over and over until he felt he'd got it right.[15][16]
In 1961, after leaving Hollyfield School in Surbiton, Clapton studied at the Kingston College of Art but was dismissed at the end of the academic year because his focus remained on music rather than art. His guitar playing was so advanced that, by the age of 16, he was getting noticed.[16] Around this time, Clapton began busking around Kingston, Richmond, and the West End.[17] In 1962, Clapton started performing as a duo with fellow blues enthusiast David Brock in pubs around Surrey.[16] When he was seventeen years old, Clapton joined his first band, an early British R&B group, the Roosters, whose other guitarist was Tom McGuinness. He stayed with this band from January through August 1963.[18] In October of that year, Clapton did a seven-gig stint with Casey Jones & the Engineers.[18]
Career
Early career, breakthrough, and international success
The Yardbirds and the Bluesbreakers
In October 1963, Clapton joined The Yardbirds, a blues-influenced rock and roll band, and stayed with them until March 1965. Synthesising influences from Chicago blues and leading blues guitarists such as Buddy Guy, Freddie King, and B. B. King, Clapton forged a distinctive style and rapidly became one of the most talked-about guitarists in the British music scene.[19] The band initially played Chess/Checker/Vee-Jay blues numbers and began to attract a large cult following when they took over the Rolling Stones' residency at the Crawdaddy Club in Richmond. They toured England with American bluesman Sonny Boy Williamson II; a joint LP album, recorded in December 1963, was issued in 1965.
Yardbirds' rhythm guitarist, Chris Dreja, recalled that whenever Clapton broke a guitar string during a concert, he would stay on stage and replace it. The English audiences would wait out the delay by doing what is called a "slow handclap". Clapton told his official biographer, Ray Coleman, that, "My nickname of 'Slowhand' came from Giorgio Gomelsky. He coined it as a good pun. He kept saying I was a fast player, so he put together the slow handclap phrase into Slowhand as a play on words".[20] In December 1964, Clapton made his first appearance at the Royal Albert Hall, London with The Yardbirds. Since then, Clapton has performed at the Hall almost 200 times and has stated that performing at the venue is like "playing in my front room".[21][22]
In March 1965, Clapton and the Yardbirds had their first major hit, "For Your Love", written by songwriter Graham Gouldman, who would also write hit songs for Herman's Hermits and The Hollies. In part because of its success, the Yardbirds elected to move toward a pop-oriented sound, much to the disappointment of Clapton, who was devoted to the blues and not commercial success. He left Yardbirds on the day that "For Your Love" went public, a move that left the band without its lead guitarist and most accomplished member. Clapton suggested fellow guitarist Jimmy Page to be his replacement, but Page declined out of loyalty to Clapton,[23] putting Jeff Beck forward.[19] While Beck and Page played together in the Yardbirds, the trio of Beck, Page, and Clapton were never in the group together. However, the three did appear on the 12-date benefit tour for Action for Research into Multiple Sclerosis in 1983.
Clapton joined John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers in April 1965, only to quit a few months later. In the summer of 1965 he left for Greece with a band called The Glands, which included his old friend Ben Palmer on piano. In November 1965 he rejoined John Mayall. During his second Bluesbreakers stint, Clapton gained a reputation as the best blues guitarist on the club circuit. Although Clapton gained world fame for his playing on the influential album, Blues Breakers – John Mayall – With Eric Clapton, this album was not released until he had left the band for the last time. Having swapped his Fender Telecaster and Vox AC30 amplifier for a 1960 Gibson Les Paul Standard guitar and Marshall amplifier, Clapton's sound and playing inspired a well-publicised graffito that deified him with the famous slogan "Clapton is God". The phrase was spray-painted by an admirer on a wall in an Islington Underground station in the autumn of 1967. The graffiti was captured in a now-famous photograph, in which a dog is urinating on the wall. Clapton is reported to have been embarrassed by the slogan, saying in his The South Bank Show profile in 1987, "I never accepted that I was the greatest guitar player in the world. I always wanted to be the greatest guitar player in the world, but that's an ideal, and I accept it as an ideal". The phrase began to appear in other areas of Islington throughout the mid-1960s.[24]
Cream
Clapton left the Bluesbreakers in July 1966 (replaced by Peter Green) and was invited by drummer Ginger Baker to play in his newly formed band Cream, one of the earliest supergroups, with Jack Bruce on bass (previously of the Bluesbreakers, the Graham Bond Organisation and Manfred Mann).[25] Before the formation of Cream, Clapton was not well known in the United States; he left the Yardbirds before "For Your Love" hit the American Top Ten, and had yet to perform there.[26] During his time with Cream, Clapton began to develop as a singer, songwriter, and guitarist, though Bruce took most of the lead vocals and wrote the majority of the material with lyricist Pete Brown.[19] Cream's first gig was an unofficial performance at the Twisted Wheel Club in Manchester on 29 July 1966 before their full debut two nights later at the National Jazz and Blues Festival in Windsor. Cream established its enduring legend with the high-volume blues jamming and extended solos of their live shows.
By early 1967, as fans of the emerging blues-rock sound in Britain had begun to portray Clapton as Britain's top guitarist; however, he found himself rivalled by the emergence of Jimi Hendrix, an acid rock-infused guitarist who used wailing feedback and effects pedals to create new sounds for the instrument. Hendrix attended a performance of the newly formed Cream at the Central London Polytechnic on 1 October 1966, during which Hendrix sat in on a double-timed version of "Killing Floor". Top UK stars, including Clapton, Pete Townshend, and members of The Rolling Stones and The Beatles, avidly attended Hendrix's early club performances. Hendrix's arrival had an immediate and major effect on the next phase of Clapton's career, although Clapton continued to be recognised in UK music polls as the premier guitarist.
Clapton first visited the United States while touring with Cream. In March 1967, Cream performed a nine-show stand at the RKO Theater in New York. They recorded Disraeli Gears in New York from 11–15 May 1967. Cream's repertoire varied from hard rock ("I Feel Free") to lengthy blues-based instrumental jams ("Spoonful"). Disraeli Gears featured Clapton's searing guitar lines, Bruce's soaring vocals and prominent, fluid bass playing, and Baker's powerful, polyrhythmic jazz-influenced drumming. Together, Cream's talents secured them as an influential power trio.
In 28 months, Cream had become a commercial success, selling millions of records and playing throughout the US and Europe. They redefined the instrumentalist's role in rock and were one of the first blues-rock bands to emphasise musical virtuosity and lengthy jazz-style improvisation sessions. Their US hit singles include "Sunshine of Your Love" (#5, 1968), "White Room" (#6, 1968) and "Crossroads" (#28, 1969) – a live version of Robert Johnson's "Cross Road Blues". Though Cream was hailed as one of the greatest groups of its day, and the adulation of Clapton as a guitar legend reached new heights, the supergroup was short-lived. Drug and alcohol use escalated tension between the three members, and conflicts between Bruce and Baker eventually led to Cream's demise. A strongly critical Rolling Stone review of a concert of the group's second headlining US tour was another significant factor in the trio's demise, and it affected Clapton profoundly.[27]
Cream's farewell album, Goodbye, featuring live performances recorded at The Forum, Los Angeles, 19 October 1968, was released shortly after Cream disbanded; it also featured the studio single "Badge", co-written by Clapton and George Harrison. Clapton met Harrison and became friends with him after the Beatles shared a bill with the Clapton-era Yardbirds at the London Palladium. The close friendship between Clapton and Harrison resulted in Clapton playing on Harrison's "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" from the Beatles' White Album (1968).
Harrison also released his solo debut album, Wonderwall Music, in 1968. It became the first of many Harrison solo records to feature Clapton on guitar. Clapton would go largely uncredited for his contributions to Harrison's albums due to contractual restraints, and Harrison was credited as "L'Angelo Misterioso" for his contributions to the song "Badge" on Goodbye. The pair would often play live together as each other's guest. A year after Harrison's death in 2001, Clapton helped organise a tribute concert, for which he was musical director.[28]
In 1969, when The Beatles were recording/filming what became Let It Be, tensions became so acute that Harrison quit the group for several days, prompting the others to consider replacing him with Clapton, an idea that particularly appealed to John Lennon, who was captured on tape saying that if: "George doesn’t come back by Monday or Tuesday, we ask Eric Clapton to play", and that this would be congenial to Clapton in that The Beatles, unlike Cream, "would give him full scope to play his guitar".[29] Years later, Clapton commented on the absurdity of this idea: "There may have been [a suggestion that I would be asked to join The Beatles in January 1969]. The problem with that was I had bonded or was developing a relationship with George, exclusive of them. I think it fitted a need of his and mine, that he could elevate himself by having this guy that could be like a gunslinger to them. Lennon would use my name every now and then for clout, as if I was the fastest gun. So, I don’t think I could have been brought into the whole thing because I was too much a mate of George’s".[29] This is not to say that Clapton was not on good terms with the other Beatles; previously he had backed up Lennon at the The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus as part of the one-off group The Dirty Mac in December, 1968.
Cream briefly reunited in 1993 to perform at the ceremony inducting them into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame; a full reunion took place in May 2005, with Clapton, Bruce, and Baker playing four sold-out concerts at London's Royal Albert Hall,[30] and three shows at New York's Madison Square Garden that October.[31] Recordings from the London shows, Royal Albert Hall London May 2-3-5-6, 2005, were released on CD, LP, and DVD in September/December 2005.[32]
Blind Faith, Delaney and Bonnie and Friends
Clapton's next group, Blind Faith (1969), was composed of Cream drummer Ginger Baker, Steve Winwood of Traffic, and Ric Grech of Family, and yielded one LP and one arena-circuit tour. The supergroup debuted before 100,000 fans in London's Hyde Park on 7 June 1969. They performed several dates in Scandinavia and began a sold-out American tour in July before their only album was released. The LP Blind Faith consisted of just six songs, one of them a 15-minute jam entitled "Do What You Like". The album's jacket image of a topless pubescent girl was deemed controversial in the United States and was replaced by a photograph of the band. Blind Faith dissolved after less than seven months.
Clapton subsequently toured as a sideman for an act that had opened for Blind Faith, Delaney and Bonnie and Friends. He also played two dates as a member of The Plastic Ono Band that autumn, including a recorded performance at the Toronto Rock and Roll Revival in September 1969 released as the album Live Peace in Toronto 1969.[33] On 30 September 1969, Clapton played lead guitar on Lennon's second solo single, Cold Turkey.[34] On 15 December 1969 Clapton performed with John Lennon, George Harrison, and others as the Plastic Ono Band at a fundraiser for UNICEF in London.[33]
Delaney Bramlett encouraged Clapton in his singing and writing. During the summer of 1969, Clapton and Bramlett contributed to the Music From Free Creek "supersession" project. Clapton, appearing as "King Cool" for contractual reasons, played with Dr. John on three songs, joined by Bramlett on two tracks.
Using the Bramletts' backing group and an all-star cast of session players (including Leon Russell and Stephen Stills), Clapton recorded his first solo album during two brief tour hiatuses, fittingly named Eric Clapton. Delaney Bramlett co-wrote six of the songs with Clapton, also producing the LP.[35] and Bonnie Bramlett co-wrote "Let It Rain".[36] The album yielded the unexpected US No. 18 hit, J. J. Cale's "After Midnight". Clapton also worked with much of Delaney and Bonnie's band to record George Harrison's All Things Must Pass in spring 1970. During this busy period, Clapton also recorded with other artists including Dr. John, Leon Russell, Plastic Ono Band, Billy Preston, Ringo Starr and Dave Mason. Other notable recordings from this period include Clapton's guitar work on "Go Back Home" from Stephen Stills' self-titled first solo album.
"Layla" and solo career
Derek and the Dominos
With the intention of counteracting the "star" cult faction that had begun to form around him, Clapton assembled a new band composed of Delaney and Bonnie's former rhythm section, Bobby Whitlock as keyboardist and vocalist, Carl Radle as the bassist, and drummer Jim Gordon, with Clapton playing guitar. It was his intention to show that he need not fill a starring role, and functioned well as a member of an ensemble.[37] During this period, Clapton was increasingly influenced by The Band and their album Music from Big Pink, saying, "What I appreciated about The Band was that they were more concerned with songs and singing. They would have three- and four-part harmonies, and the guitar was put back into perspective as being accompaniment. That suited me well, because I had gotten so tired of the virtuosity—or pseudo-virtuosity—thing of long, boring guitar solos just because they were expected. The Band brought things back into perspective. The priority was the song".[38]
Clapton (right) with Derek and the Dominos
The band was originally called "Eric Clapton and Friends". The name "Derek and the Dominos" was a fluke that occurred when the band's provisional name of "Del and the Dynamos" was misread as Derek and the Dominos.[39] Clapton's biography states that Tony Ashton of Ashton, Gardner and Dyke told Clapton to call the band "Del and the Dominos", since "Del" was his nickname for Eric Clapton. Del and Eric were combined and the final name became "Derek and the Dominos".[40]
Clapton's close friendship with George Harrison brought him into contact with Harrison's wife, Pattie Boyd, with whom he became deeply infatuated. When she spurned his advances, Clapton's unrequited affections prompted most of the material for the Dominos' album, Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs (1970). Heavily blues-influenced, the album features the twin lead guitars of Duane Allman and Clapton, with Allman's slide guitar as a key ingredient of the sound. Working at Criteria Studios in Miami with Atlantic Records producer Tom Dowd, who had worked with Clapton on Cream's Disraeli Gears, the band recorded a double album.
The album features the hit love song "Layla", inspired by the classical poet of Persian literature, Nizami Ganjavi's The Story of Layla and Majnun, a copy of which Ian Dallas had given to Clapton. The book moved Clapton profoundly, as it was the tale of a young man who fell hopelessly in love with a beautiful, unavailable woman and who went crazy because he could not marry her.[41][42] The two parts of "Layla" were recorded in separate sessions: the opening guitar section was recorded first, and for the second section, laid down several months later, drummer Jim Gordon played the piano part for the melody which he claimed to have written (though Bobby Whitlock stated that Rita Coolidge wrote it).[40]
The Layla LP was actually recorded by a five-piece version of the group, thanks to the unforeseen inclusion of guitarist Duane Allman of The Allman Brothers Band. A few days into the Layla sessions, Dowd—who was also producing the Allmans—invited Clapton to an Allman Brothers outdoor concert in Miami. The two guitarists met first on stage, then played all night in the studio, and became friends. Duane first added his slide guitar to "Tell the Truth" and "Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out". In four days, the five-piece Dominos recorded "Key to the Highway", "Have You Ever Loved a Woman" (a blues standard popularised by Freddie King and others), and "Why Does Love Got to be So Sad". In September, Duane briefly left the sessions for gigs with his own band, and the four-piece Dominos recorded "I Looked Away", "Bell Bottom Blues", and "Keep on Growing". Duane returned to record "I am Yours", "Anyday", and "It's Too Late". On 9 September, they recorded Hendrix's "Little Wing" and the title track. The following day, the final track, "It's Too Late", was recorded.[43]
Tragedy dogged the group throughout its brief career. During the sessions, Clapton was devastated by news of the death of Jimi Hendrix; eight days previously the band had cut a cover of "Little Wing" as a tribute to Hendrix. On 17 September 1970, one day before Hendrix's death, Clapton had purchased a left-handed Fender Stratocaster that he had planned to give to Hendrix as a birthday gift. Adding to Clapton's woes, the Layla album received only lukewarm reviews upon release. The shaken group undertook a US tour without Allman, who had returned to the Allman Brothers Band. Despite Clapton's later admission that the tour took place amidst a veritable blizzard of drugs and alcohol, it resulted in the live double album In Concert.[44]
A second record was in the works when a clashing of egos took place and Clapton walked, thus disbanding the group. Allman was killed in a motorcycle accident on 29 October 1971. Clapton wrote later in his autobiography that he and Allman were inseparable during the sessions in Florida; he talked about Allman as the "musical brother I'd never had but wished I did".[45] Although Radle would remain Clapton's bass player until the summer of 1979 (Radle died in May 1980 from the effects of alcohol and narcotics), it would be 2003 before Clapton and Whitlock appeared together again (Clapton guested on Whitlock's appearance on the Later with Jools Holland show). Another tragic footnote to the Dominos story was the fate of drummer Jim Gordon, who was an undiagnosed schizophrenic and years later murdered his mother during a psychotic episode. Gordon was confined to 16-years-to-life imprisonment, later being moved to a mental institution, where he remains today.[19]
Personal challenges and early solo success
Clapton's career successes in the 1970s were in stark contrast with the struggles he coped with in his personal life, which was troubled by romantic longings and drug and alcohol addiction.[46] He became infatuated with Pattie Boyd, who at the time was married to close friend George Harrison, he withdrew from recording and touring as the band broke up to isolation in his Surrey, England, residence. There he nursed a heroin addiction, which resulted in a lengthy career hiatus interrupted only by the Concert for Bangladesh in August 1971 (where he passed out on stage, was revived, and managed to finish his performance).[19] In January 1973, The Who's Pete Townshend organised a comeback concert for Clapton at London's Rainbow Theatre, aptly titled the "Rainbow Concert", to help Clapton kick his addiction. Clapton would return the favour by playing 'The Preacher' in Ken Russell's film version of The Who's Tommy in 1975; his appearance in the film (performing "Eyesight to the Blind") is notable as he is clearly wearing a fake beard in some shots, the result of deciding to shave off his real beard after the initial takes in an attempt to force the director to remove his earlier scene from the movie and leave the set.[40]
In 1974, Clapton was partnered with Pattie Boyd (they would not actually marry until 1979) and no longer using heroin (although he gradually began to drink heavily). He assembled a low-key touring band that included Radle, Miami guitarist George Terry, keyboardist Dick Sims (who died in 2011[47]), drummer Jamie Oldaker, and vocalists Yvonne Elliman and Marcy Levy (also known as Marcella Detroit). With this band Clapton recorded 461 Ocean Boulevard (1974), an album with an emphasis on more compact songs and fewer guitar solos; the cover version of "I Shot the Sheriff" was Clapton's first No. 1 hit and was important in bringing reggae and the music of Bob Marley to a wider audience. The 1975 album There's One in Every Crowd continued this trend. The album's original title, The World's Greatest Guitar Player (There's One in Every Crowd), was changed before pressing, as it was felt its ironic intention would be misunderstood. The band toured the world and subsequently released the 1975 live LP, E.C. Was Here.[48] Clapton continued to release albums and toured regularly. Highlights of the period include No Reason to Cry (a collaboration with Bob Dylan and The Band); Slowhand, which featured "Wonderful Tonight and a second JJ Cale cover, "Cocaine". In 1976 he performed as one of a string of notable guests at the farewell performance of The Band, filmed in a Martin Scorsese documentary called The Last Waltz.
Continued success
In 1981 Clapton was invited by producer Martin Lewis to appear at the Amnesty International benefit The Secret Policeman's Other Ball. Clapton accepted the invitation and teamed up with Jeff Beck to perform a series of duets—reportedly their first-ever billed stage collaboration. Three of the performances were released on the album of the show, and one of the songs was featured in the film. The performances heralded a return to form and prominence for Clapton in the new decade. Many factors had influenced Clapton's comeback, including his "deepening commitment to Christianity", to which he had converted prior to his heroin addiction.[49][50][51]
After an embarrassing fishing incident, Clapton finally called his manager and admitted he was an alcoholic. In January 1982 Roger and Clapton flew to Minneapolis – St. Paul; Clapton would be checked in at Hazelden Treatment Center, located in Center City, Minnesota. On the flight over, Clapton indulged in a large number of drinks, for fear he would never be able to drink again. Clapton is quoted as saying from his autobiography, "In the lowest moments of my life, the only reason I didn't commit suicide was that I knew I wouldn't be able to drink any more if I was dead. It was the only thing I thought was worth living for, and the idea that people were about to try and remove me from alcohol was so terrible that I drank and drank and drank, and they had to practically carry me into the clinic".[52]
After being discharged, it was recommended by doctors of Hazelden that Clapton not partake in any activities that would act as triggers for his alcoholism or stress, until he was fully situated back at Hurtwood. A few months after his discharge, Clapton began working on his next album, against the Hazelden doctors' orders. Working with Tom Dowd, Clapton produced what he thought as his "most forced" album to date, Money and Cigarettes.
In 1984 he performed on Pink Floyd member Roger Waters' solo album, The Pros and Cons of Hitch Hiking, and went on tour with Waters following the release of the album. Since then Waters and Clapton have had a close relationship. In 2005 they performed together for the Tsunami Relief Fund. In 2006 they performed at the Highclere Castle, in aid of the Countryside Alliance, playing two set pieces of "Wish You Were Here" and "Comfortably Numb". Clapton, now a seasoned charity performer, played at the Live Aid concert on 13 July 1985.[53] When offered a slot close to peak viewing hours, he was apparently flattered. As Clapton recovered from his addictions, his album output continued in the 1980s, including two produced with Phil Collins, 1985's Behind the Sun, which produced the hits "Forever Man" and "She's Waiting", and 1986's August.
August was suffused with Collins's trademark drum and horn sound, and became Clapton's biggest seller in the UK to date, matching his highest chart position, number 3. The album's first track, the hit "It's in the Way That You Use It", was featured in the Tom Cruise – Paul Newman movie The Color of Money. The horn-peppered "Run" echoed Collins' "Sussudio" and rest of the producer's Genesis/solo output, while "Tearing Us Apart" (with Tina Turner) and the unimpressed "Miss You" echoed Clapton's angry sound. This rebound kicked off Clapton's two-year period of touring with Collins and their August collaborates, bassist Nathan East and keyboard player/songwriter Greg Phillinganes. While on tour for August, two concert videos were recorded of the four-man band, Eric Clapton Live from Montreux and Eric Clapton and Friends. Clapton later remade "After Midnight" as a single and a promotional track for the Michelob beer brand, which had also marketed earlier songs by Collins and Steve Winwood. Clapton won a British Academy Television Award for his collaboration with Michael Kamen on the score for the 1985 BBC Television thriller serial Edge of Darkness. In 1989, Clapton released Journeyman, an album which covered a wide range of styles including blues, jazz, soul and pop. Collaborators included George Harrison, Phil Collins, Daryl Hall, Chaka Khan, Mick Jones, David Sanborn and Robert Cray. At the 1987 Brit Awards in London, Clapton was awarded the prize for Outstanding Contribution to Music.[9]
Resurgence and stardom
The 1990s brought a series of 32 concerts to the Royal Albert Hall, such as the 24 Nights series of concerts that took place around January through February 1990, and February to March 1991. On 27 August 1990, fellow blues guitarist Stevie Ray Vaughan, who was touring with Clapton, and three members of their road crew were killed in a helicopter crash between concerts. Then, on 20 March 1991, Clapton's four-year-old son, Conor, died after falling from the 53rd-floor window of his mother's friend's New York City apartment at 117 East 57th Street. Conor's funeral took place on 28 March at St Mary Magdelene's Church in Clapton's home village in Ripley, Surrey.[54]
"I almost subconsciously used music for myself as a healing agent, and lo and behold, it worked... I have got a great deal of happiness and a great deal of healing from music."
—Clapton on the healing process in writing "Tears in Heaven".[55]
Clapton's grief was expressed in the song "Tears in Heaven", which was co-written by Will Jennings. At the 35th Grammy Awards, Clapton received six Grammy Awards for the single "Tears in Heaven" and his Unplugged album.[56] The album reached number one on the Billboard 200, and has since been certified Diamond by the RIAA for selling over 10 million copies in the United States.[57] On 9 September 1992, Clapton performed "Tears in Heaven" at the 1992 MTV Video Music Awards in Los Angeles, and won the award for Best Male Video.[58][59]
In October 1992 Clapton was among the dozens of artists performing at Bob Dylan's 30th Anniversary Concert Celebration. Recorded at Madison Square Garden in New York City, the live two-disk CD/DVD captured a show full of celebrities performing classic Dylan songs, with Clapton playing the lead on a nearly 7-minute version of Dylan's "Knockin' on Heaven's Door" as part of the finale.[60]
While Unplugged featured Clapton playing acoustic guitar, his 1994 album From the Cradle contained new versions of old blues standards, highlighted by his electric guitar playing.[61] Clapton's 1996 recording of the Wayne Kirkpatrick/Gordon Kennedy/Tommy Sims tune "Change the World" (featured in the soundtrack of the film Phenomenon) won the Grammy Award for Song of the Year in 1997, the same year he recorded Retail Therapy (an album of electronic music with Simon Climie under the pseudonym TDF). On 15 September 1997, Clapton appeared at the Music for Montserrat concert at the Royal Albert Hall, London, performing "Layla" and "Same Old Blues" before finishing with "Hey Jude" alongside fellow English artists Paul McCartney, Elton John, Phil Collins, Mark Knopfler and Sting.[62] That autumn, Clapton released the album Pilgrim, the first record featuring new material for almost a decade.[51]
In 1996 Clapton had a relationship with singer/songwriter Sheryl Crow. They remain friends, and Clapton appeared as a guest on Crow's Central Park Concert. The duo performed a Cream hit single, "White Room". Later, Clapton and Crow performed an alternate version of "Tulsa Time" with other guitar legends at the Crossroads Guitar Festival in June 2007.
In 1998 Clapton, then 53, met 22-year-old administrative assistant Melia McEnery in Columbus, Ohio, at a party given for him after a performance. He quietly dated her for a year, and went public with the relationship in 1999. They married on 1 January 2001 at St Mary Magdalene church in Clapton's birthplace, Ripley. As of 2005 they have three daughters, Julie Rose (13 June 2001), Ella May (14 January 2003), and Sophie Belle (1 February 2005).
At the 41st Grammy Awards on 24 February 1999, Clapton received his third Grammy Award for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance, for his song "My Father's Eyes".[63] In October 1999, the compilation album, Clapton Chronicles: The Best of Eric Clapton, was released, which contained a new song, "Blue Eyes Blue", that also appears in soundtrack for the film, Runaway Bride.[64][65] Clapton finished the twentieth century with collaborations with Carlos Santana and B. B. King.
Collaboration albums
Following the release of the 2001 record Reptile, in June 2002, Clapton performed "Layla" and "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" at the Party at the Palace concert in the grounds of Buckingham Palace.[66] On 29 November 2002, the Concert for George was held at the Royal Albert Hall, a tribute to George Harrison, who had died a year earlier of lung cancer.[67] Clapton was a performer and the musical director. The concert featured Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Jeff Lynne, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Ravi Shankar, Gary Brooker, Billy Preston, Joe Brown and Dhani Harrison.[67] In 2004, Clapton released two albums of covers of songs by bluesman Robert Johnson, Me and Mr. Johnson and Sessions for Robert J. Guitarist Doyle Bramhall II worked on the album with Clapton (after opening Clapton's 2001 tour with his band Smokestack) and would join him on his 2004 tour. In 2004, Rolling Stone ranked Clapton No. 53 on their list of the "100 Greatest Artists of All Time".[68]
On 22 January 2005, Clapton performed in the Tsunami Relief Concert held at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, in aid of the victims of the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake. In May 2005 Eric Clapton, Jack Bruce, and Ginger Baker reunited as Cream for a series of concerts at the Royal Albert Hall in London. Concert recordings were released on CD and DVD. Later, Cream performed in New York at Madison Square Garden. Back Home, Clapton's first album of new original material in nearly five years, was released on Reprise Records on 30 August.
A collaboration with guitarist J. J. Cale, titled The Road to Escondido, was released on 7 November 2006, featuring Derek Trucks and Billy Preston (Preston had also been a part of Clapton's 2004 touring band). The 14-track CD was produced and recorded by the duo in August 2005 in California. He invited Trucks to join his band for his 2006–2007 world tour. Bramhall remained in the band as well, giving Clapton three elite guitarists in his band and thus allowing him to revisit many Derek and the Dominos songs that he hadn't played in decades. Trucks became the third member of the Allman Brothers Band to tour supporting Clapton, the second being pianist/keyboardist Chuck Leavell, who appeared on the MTV Unplugged album and the 24 Nights performances at the Royal Albert Hall theatre of London in 1990 and 1991, as well as Clapton's 1992 US tour.[69]
On 20 May 2006, Clapton performed with Queen drummer Roger Taylor and former Pink Floyd bassist/songwriter Roger Waters at the Highclere Castle, Hampshire, in support of the Countryside Alliance.[70] On 13 August 2006, Clapton made a guest appearance at the Bob Dylan concert in Columbus, Ohio, playing guitar on three songs in Jimmie Vaughan's opening act.[71] The chemistry between Trucks and Clapton convinced him to invite The Derek Trucks Band to open for Clapton's set at his 2007 Crossroads Guitar Festival. Trucks remained on set afterward and performed with Clapton's band throughout his performances.
The rights to Clapton's official memoirs, written by Christopher Simon Sykes and published in 2007, were sold at the 2005 Frankfurt Book Fair for US$4 million.[72]
On 26 February 2008, it was reported that North Korean officials had invited Clapton to play a concert in the communist state.[73] Clapton's management received the invitation and passed it on to the singer, who agreed in principle and suggested it take place sometime in 2009.[74] Kristen Foster, a spokesperson, said, "Eric Clapton receives numerous offers to play in countries around the world", and "[t]here is no agreement whatsoever for him to play in North Korea".[75]
In 2007 Clapton learned more about his father, a Canadian soldier who left the UK after the war. Although Clapton's grandparents eventually told him the truth about his parentage, he only knew that his father's name was Edward Fryer. This was a source of disquiet for Clapton, as witnessed by his 1998 song "My Father's Eyes". A Montreal journalist named Michael Woloschuk researched Canadian Armed Forces service records and tracked down members of Fryer's family, and finally pieced together the story. He learned that Clapton's father was Edward Walter Fryer, born 21 March 1920, in Montreal and died 15 May 1985 in Newmarket, Ontario. Fryer was a musician (piano and saxophone) and a lifelong drifter who was married several times, had several children, and apparently never knew that he was the father of Eric Clapton.[76] Clapton thanked Woloschuk in an encounter at Macdonald Cartier Airport, in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.[77]
In February 2008 Clapton performed with his long-time friend Steve Winwood at Madison Square Garden and guested on his recorded single, "Dirty City", on Winwood's album Nine Lives. The two former Blind Faith bandmates met again for a series of 14 concerts throughout the United States in June 2009.
Clapton's 2008 Summer Tour began on 3 May at the Ford Amphitheatre, Tampa, Florida, and then moved to Canada, Ireland, England, Norway, Iceland, Denmark, Poland, Germany, and Monaco. On 28 June 2008, he headlined Saturday night for Hard Rock Calling 2008 in London's Hyde Park (previously Hyde Park Calling) with support from Sheryl Crow and John Mayer.[78][79] In September 2008 Clapton performed at a private charity fundraiser for The Countryside Alliance at Floridita in Soho, London, that included such guests as the London Mayor Boris Johnson.
Clapton performing with The Allman Brothers Band at the Beacon Theatre, New York City
In March 2009, the Allman Brothers Band (amongst many notable guests) celebrated their 40th year, dedicating their string of concerts to the late Duane Allman on their annual run at the Beacon Theatre. Eric Clapton was one of the performers, with drummer Butch Trucks remarking that the performance was not the typical Allman Brothers experience, given the number and musical styles of the guests who were invited to perform. Songs like "In Memory of Elizabeth Reed" were punctuated with others, including "The Weight", with Levon Helm; Johnny Winter sitting in on Hendrix's "Red House"; and "Layla". On 4 May 2009 Clapton appeared as a featured guest at the Royal Albert Hall, playing "Further on Up the Road" with Joe Bonamassa.
Clapton was scheduled to be one of the performers at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 25th anniversary concert in Madison Square Garden on 30 October 2009, but cancelled due to gallstone surgery.[80] Van Morrison (who also cancelled)[81] said in an interview that he and Clapton were to do a "couple of songs", but that they would do something else together at "some other stage of the game".[82]
Clapton, Old Sock and recent events
Clapton performed a two-night show with Jeff Beck at London's O2 Arena on 13–14 February 2010.[83] The two former Yardbirds extended their 2010 tour with stops at Madison Square Garden,[84] the Air Canada Centre in Toronto, and the Bell Centre in Montreal.[85] Clapton performed a series of concerts in 11 cities throughout the United States from 25 February to 13 March 2010, including Roger Daltrey as opening act. His third European tour with Steve Winwood began on 18 May and ended 13 June, including Tom Norris as opening act. He then began a short North American tour lasting from 26 June to 3 July, starting with his third Crossroads Guitar Festival on 26 June at Toyota Park in Bridgeview, Illinois. Clapton released a new studio album, Clapton, on 27 September 2010 in the United Kingdom and 28 September 2010 in the United States. On 17 November 2010, Clapton performed as guest on the Prince's Trust rock gala held at the Royal Albert Hall, supported by the house band for the evening, which included Jools Holland, Midge Ure and Mark King.[86]
On 24 June 2011, Clapton was in concert with Pino Daniele in Cava de' Tirreni stadium, Italy, with an audience of 15,000 people before performing a series of concerts in South America from 6 to 16 October 2011. He spent November and December 2011 touring Japan with Steve Winwood, playing 13 shows in various cities throughout the country. On 24 February 2012 Clapton, Keith Richards, Gary Clark Jr., Derek Trucks, Doyle Bramhall II, Kim Wilson and other artists performed together in the Howlin' For Hubert Tribute concert held at the Apollo Theater of New York honouring blues guitarist Hubert Sumlin who died at age 80 in 4 December 2011. On 29 November 2012, Clapton joined the Rolling Stones at London's O2 Arena during the band's second of five arena dates celebrating their 50th anniversary. He played guitar on Muddy Waters' Champagne and Reefer.[87] On 12 December 2012, Clapton performed The Concert for Sandy Relief at Madison Square Garden, broadcast live via television, radio, cinemas and the Internet across six continents.[88]
In January 2013, Surfdog Records announced a signed deal with Eric for the release of his forthcoming album Old Sock on 12 March. On 8 April 2013, Eric and Hard Rock International launched the limited-edition Eric Clapton Artist Spotlight merchandise programme benefiting Crossroads Centre Antigua.[89] Clapton toured the United States and Europe from 14 March to 19 June 2013 to celebrate his 50 years as a professional musician.[90]
On 28 February 2013, Clapton announced his intention to stop touring in 2015 due to hassles with travel.[91][92] On 27 June 2014 Clapton confirmed his retirement plans attributing his decision to the road being “unbearable” in addition to “odd ailments” that may force him to put down his guitar permanently.[93]
On 15 October 2013, Eric's popular Unplugged album and concert DVD were re-released, titled Unplugged: Expanded & Remastered. The album includes the original 14 tracks, remastered, as well as 6 additional tracks, including 2 versions of My Father's Eyes. The DVD includes a restored version of the concert, as well as over 60 minutes of unseen footage from the rehearsal.
On 13 and 14 November 2013, Clapton headlined the final two evenings of the "Baloise Sessions", an annual indoor music festival in Basel, Switzerland. The concerts took place in the Event Halle, Messe Basel and a one hour broadcasting from this performance was aired on Swiss radio SRF3 on 18 November 2013.[94][95] On 20 November 2013, Warner Bros released Crossroads Guitar Festival 2013 in CD/DVD/Blu-ray.
On 30 April 2014, Clapton announced the release of The Breeze: An Appreciation of JJ Cale as an homage to JJ Cale who died on 26 July 2013. This tribute album, released on 29 July 2014,[96] is named after the 1972 single Call Me The Breeze and features 16 Cale songs performed by Clapton, Christine Lakeland, Mark Knopfler, John Mayer, Willie Nelson, Tom Petty, Derek Trucks and Don White.[97]
On 21 June 2014, Clapton abruptly walked off stage during a concert at the Glasgow Hydro. Although he did return to perform one final song, thousands of fans were upset by the lack of explanation from Clapton or the venue and booed after the concert ended around 40 minutes before advertised to finish. Both Clapton and the venue apologised the next day, blaming 'technical difficulties' for making sound conditions 'unbearable' for Clapton on stage.[98][99][100] Clapton scheduled a 7-night residency at London's Royal Albert Hall from 14 to 23 May 2015 to celebrate his 70th birthday on 30 March. The shows also mark 50 years since Clapton first played at Royal Albert Hall – his debut was on 7 December 1964 when he performed as part of the Yardbirds for BBC-2 TV’s “Top Beat Show.” Clapton returned to the venue four years later for Cream's U.K. Farewell Concerts on 26 November 1968.[101]
Influences
Clapton cites Freddie King, B.B. King, Albert King, Buddy Guy, and Hubert Sumlin as guitar playing influences. Clapton stated blues musician Robert Johnson to be his single most important influence. In 2004 Clapton released CDs and DVDs entitled Sessions for Robert Johnson, featuring Clapton covering Robert Johnson songs using electric and acoustic guitars.[102]
Clapton co-authored with others the book Discovering Robert Johnson, in which Clapton said Johnson was:[103]
...the most important blues musician who ever lived. He was true, absolutely, to his own vision, and as deep as I have gotten into the music over the last 30 years, I have never found anything more deeply soulful than Robert Johnson. His music remains the most powerful cry that I think you can find in the human voice, really. ... it seemed to echo something I had always felt.
Legacy
Clapton has been referred to as one of the most important and influential guitarists of all time.[1][104][105][106] Clapton 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.[5] He ranked second in Rolling Stone magazine's list of the "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time"[2] and fourth in Gibson's Top 50 Guitarists of All Time.[3]
Guitarists influenced by Clapton include Slash, Allen Collins, Richie Sambora, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Gary Moore, Duane Allman, Derek Trucks,[107] Eddie Van Halen, Brian May, Tony Iommi, Lenny Kravitz, Ted Nugent, Orianthi, Vince Gill, Brad Paisley, Jonny Buckland, Joe Don Rooney, Alex Lifeson, Jonny Lang, John Mayer, Joe Satriani, Joe Bonamassa, Davy Knowles, Lindsay Ell,[108] Neal Schon, and Mark Knopfler.
Guitars
Clapton on the There's One in Every Crowd Tour, with "Blackie" on 15 August 1975
Clapton's choice of electric guitars has been as notable as the man himself; alongside Hank Marvin, The Beatles and Jimi Hendrix, Clapton exerted a crucial and widespread influence in popularising particular models of electric guitar.[109] With the Yardbirds, Clapton played a Fender Telecaster, a Fender Jazzmaster, a double-cutaway Gretsch 6120, and a 1964 Cherry-Red Gibson ES-335. He became exclusively a Gibson player for a period beginning in mid-1965, when he purchased a used sunburst Gibson Les Paul guitar from a guitar store in London. Clapton commented on the slim profile of the neck, which would indicate it was a 1960 model.[110]
Early during his stint in Cream, Clapton's first Les Paul Standard was stolen. He continued to play Les Pauls exclusively with Cream (one bought from Andy Summers was almost identical to the stolen guitar)[111] until 1967, when he acquired his most famous guitar in this period, a 1964 Gibson SG.[112] Just before Cream's first US appearance in 1967, Clapton's SG, Bruce's Fender VI, and Baker's drum head were all repainted in psychedelic designs created by the visual art collective known as The Fool. In 1968 Clapton bought a Gibson Firebird and started using the 1964 Cherry-Red Gibson ES-335 again.[112] The aforementioned 1964 ES-335 had a storied career. Clapton used it at the last Cream show in November 1968 as well as with Blind Faith, played it sparingly for slide pieces in the 1970s, used it on "Hard Times" from Journeyman, the Hyde Park live concert of 1996, and the From the Cradle sessions and tour of 1994–95. It was sold for US$847,500 at a 2004 auction.[113] Gibson produced a limited run of 250 "Crossroads 335" replicas. The 335 was only the second electric guitar Clapton bought.[114]
In July 1968 Clapton gave George Harrison a 1957 'goldtop' Gibson Les Paul that been refinished with a red colour. The following September, Clapton played the guitar on the Beatles' studio recording of "While My Guitar Gently Weeps". His SG found its way into the hands of George Harrison's friend Jackie Lomax, who subsequently sold it to musician Todd Rundgren for US$500 in 1972. Rundgren restored the guitar and nicknamed it "Sunny", after "Sunshine of Your Love". He retained it until 2000, when he sold it at an auction for US$150,000.[112] At the 1969 Blind Faith concert in Hyde Park, London Clapton played a Fender Custom Telecaster, which was fitted with "Brownie" 's neck.
In late 1969 Clapton made the switch to the Fender Stratocaster. "I had a lot of influences when I took up the Strat. First there was Buddy Holly, and Buddy Guy. Hank Marvin was the first well known person over here in England who was using one, but that wasn't really my kind of music. Steve Winwood had so much credibility, and when he started playing one, I thought, oh, if he can do it, I can do it".[115] The first—used during the recording of Eric Clapton—was "Brownie", which in 1973 became the backup to the most famous of all Clapton's guitars, "Blackie". In November 1970 Eric bought six Fender Stratocasters from the Sho-bud guitar shop in Nashville, Tennessee while on tour with the Dominos. He gave one each to George Harrison, Steve Winwood, and Pete Townshend.
Clapton assembled the best components of the remaining three to create "Blackie", which was his favourite stage guitar until its retirement in 1985. It was first played live 13 January 1973 at the Rainbow Concert.[116] Clapton called the 1956/57 Strat a "mongrel".[117] On 24 June 2004, Clapton sold "Blackie" at Christie's Auction House, New York, for US$959,500 to raise funds for his Crossroads Centre for drug and alcohol addictions. "Brownie" is now on display at the Experience Music Project.[118] The Fender Custom Shop has since produced a limited run of 275 'Blackie' replicas, correct in every detail right down to the 'Duck Brothers' flight case, and artificially aged using Fender's 'Relic' process to simulate years of hard wear. One was presented to Eric upon the model's release and was used for three numbers during a concert at the Royal Albert Hall on 17 May 2006.[119]
In 1981 Clapton gave his signed Fender Lead II guitar to the Hard Rock Cafe to designate his favourite bar stool. Pete Townshend also donated his own Gibson Les Paul guitar, with a note attached: "Mine's as good as his! Love, Pete".[120]
In 1988 Fender honoured Clapton with the introduction of his signature Eric Clapton Stratocaster.[121] This, and the Yngwie Malmsteen Stratocaster, were the first two artist models in the Stratocaster range. Since then, the artist series has grown to include models inspired by Clapton's contemporaries such as Rory Gallagher, Mark Knopfler, Jeff Beck, and Stevie Ray Vaughan, and by those who have influenced him, such as Buddy Guy. Clapton uses Ernie Ball Slinky and Super Slinky strings, gauge .10 to.46.[122] Clapton has been honoured with several signature-model 000-sized acoustic guitars made by the American firm of C.F. Martin & Company. The first, of these, introduced in 1995, was a limited edition 000-42EC Eric Clapton signature model with a production run of 461. For the single Change The World (1996) and the album Pilgrim (1998) he used a Martin 000-28 EC Eric Clapton signature model, which he subsequently gave to guitarist Paul Wassif.[123] As of December 2007, Martin had produced seven EC signature models.[124] His 1939 000-42 Martin that he played on the Unplugged album sold for US$791,500 at auction.[113] Clapton plays a custom 000-ECHF Martin these days.
In 1999, Clapton auctioned off some of his guitar collection to raise more than US$5 million for continuing support of the Crossroads Centre in Antigua, which he founded in 1997.[125] The Crossroads Centre is a treatment base for addictive disorders such as drugs and alcohol. In 2004 Clapton organised and participated in the Crossroads Guitar Festival to benefit the Centre. A second guitar auction, including the "Cream" of Clapton's collection – as well as guitars donated by famous friends – was held on 24 June 2004. His Lowden acoustic guitar sold for US$41,825. The revenue garnered by this auction at Christie's was US$7,438,624.[113]
In 2010 Eric Clapton announced that he would be auctioning off over 150 items at a New York auction in 2011. Proceeds will benefit his Crossroads Centre in Antigua. Items include Clapton's guitar from the Cream reunion tour in 2005, speaker cabinets used in the early 1970s from his days with Derek and the Dominoes, and some guitars from Jeff Beck, JJ Cale, and Joe Bonamassa.[126] In March 2011 Clapton raised more than US$2.15 million when he auctioned off key items, including a 1984 Gibson hollow body guitar, a Gianni Versace suit from his 1990 concert at the Royal Albert Hall, and a replica of the famous Fender Stratocaster known as "Blackie", which fetched more than $30,000. All proceeds from the auction were donated to Clapton's Crossroads drug and rehabilitation centre in Antigua.
Woman tone
The "woman tone" is the informal term used by Clapton to refer to his distinctive mid- to late-1960s electric guitar sound, created using his Gibson SG solid body guitar (with Humbucker pick-ups) and a Marshall tube amplifier,[127] with the treble boosted by a Dallas Rangemaster. The sound is described as "thick yet piercing, overdriven yet smooth, distorted yet creamy".[128]
Other media appearances
Clapton frequently appears as a guest on the albums of other musicians. For example, he is credited on Dire Straits 's Brothers in Arms album, as he lent Mark Knopfler one of his guitars. He played lead guitar and synthesiser on The Pros and Cons of Hitch Hiking, Roger Waters' debut solo album. Other media appearances include the Toots & the Maytals album True Love, where he played guitar on the track "Pressure Drop". He played on Paul Brady's 1985 album Back to the Centre on the track "Deep in your Heart". He can also be heard at the beginning of Frank Zappa's album, We're Only in It for the Money, repeating the phrase, "Are you hung up?" over and over again. In 1985, Clapton appeared on the charity concert Live Aid in Philadelphia with Phil Collins, Tim Renwick, Chris Stainton, Jamie Oldaker, Marcy Levy, Shaun Murphy, and Donald 'Duck' Dunn. In 1988 he played with Dire Straits and Elton John at the Nelson Mandela 70th Birthday Tribute at Wembley Stadium and the Prince's Trust rock gala at the Royal Albert Hall. On 30 June 1990, Dire Straits, Clapton and Elton John made a guest appearance in the Nordoff-Robbins charity show held at Knebworth.[129] In 1991 Clapton was featured on Richie Sambora's album, Stranger in This Town, in a song dedicated to him, called "Mr. Bluesman". He contributed guitar and vocals to "Runaway Train", a duet with Elton John on the latter's The One album the following year.
On 12 September 1996 Clapton played a party for Armani at New York City's Lexington Armory with Greg Phillinganes, Nathan East and Steve Gadd. Sheryl Crow appeared on one number, performing "Tearing Us Apart", a track from August, which was first performed by Tina Turner during the Prince's Trust All-Star Rock show in 1986. It was Clapton's sole US appearance that year, following the open-air concert held at Hyde Park.[130] The concert was taped and the footage was released both on VHS video cassette and later, on DVD.[130]
Clapton was featured in the movie version of Tommy, the first full length rock opera, written by The Who. The movie version gave Clapton a cameo appearance as The Preacher, performing Sonny Boy Williamson's song, "Eyesight to the Blind". He appeared in Blues Brothers 2000 as one of the Louisiana Gator Boys. In addition to being in the band, he had a small speaking role. Clapton has appeared in an advertisement for the Mercedes-Benz G-Wagen. In March 2007 Clapton appeared in an advertisement[131] for RealNetwork's Rhapsody online music service. In 2010 Clapton started appearing as a spokesman for T-Mobile, advertising their MyTouch Fender cell phone. In 2011 Clapton made a guest appearance on Paul Wassif's album Looking Up Feeling Down, where he played alongside legendary folk guitarist Bert Jansch for the first time.[132]
Eric Clapton was compared to God's image in the episode "Holy Crap!" of season two of That '70s Show when characters Eric Forman and Steven Hyde are asked by their minister to draw a picture of God.
Eric Clapton appeared on Top Gear in 2013, during Series 19 Episode 4 and was involved in testing the new Kia Cee'd. He was called upon to test the Cee'd's auxiliary input, which he tested by plugging in one of his guitars and playing several bars of his most famous hits. He was announced by Jeremy Clarkson as a "local guitarist".[133]
Personal life
Relationships and children
Clapton and Pattie Boyd married in 1979. They had no children. In 1984 while recording Behind The Sun, Clapton began a relationship with Yvonne Kelly, the manager of the recording studio in Montserrat. Both married but not to each other, the two had a daughter in January 1985. She was named Ruth Kelly Clapton, but her existence was kept from the public until the media realised she was his child in 1991.[134][135]
Clapton and Boyd tried unsuccessfully to have children, even trying in vitro fertilisation in 1984, but were faced instead with miscarriages.[136] They divorced in 1988 following his affair with Italian model Lory Del Santo, who gave birth to their son, Conor, on 21 August 1986. Conor died in 1991, at the age of four and a half, when he fell out of an open bedroom window on the 53rd floor of a Manhattan apartment building.[137] The death of his son was the inspiration for Clapton's song, "Tears in Heaven".
Clapton married Melia McEnery in a low-key church ceremony in January 2001. They have three daughters - Julie Rose (born June 2001), Ella May (born 2003) and Sophie Belle (born 2005).[138] His grandson Isaac Eric Owen Bartlett was born in June 2013 to Eric's oldest daughter Ruth and her husband Dean Bartlett.[139]
Political views
Clapton is a supporter of the Countryside Alliance, has played in concerts to raise funds for the organisation and publicly opposed the Labour Party’s ban on fox hunting with the 2004 Hunting Act. A spokesperson for Clapton said, "Eric supports the Countryside Alliance. He doesn't hunt himself, but does enjoy rural pursuits such as fishing and shooting. He supports the Alliance's pursuit to scrap the ban on the basis that he doesn't agree with the state's interference with people's private pursuits".[140]
In 2008, he donated a song to Aid Still Required's CD to assist with the restoration of the devastation done to Southeast Asia from the 2004 tsunami.
Controversy over remarks on immigration
On 5 August 1976,Clapton provoked an uproar and lingering controversy when he spoke out against increasing immigration during a concert in Birmingham. Visibly intoxicated, Clapton voiced his support of controversial political candidate Enoch Powell, and announced on stage that Britain was in danger of becoming a "black colony". Clapton was quoted as saying, "I think Enoch's right ... we should send them all back. Throw the wogs out! Keep Britain white!"[141] The latter phrase was at the time a British National Front slogan.[142] Clapton continued:
I used to be into dope, now I'm into racism. It's much heavier, man. Fucking wogs, man. Fucking Saudis taking over London. Bastard wogs. Britain is becoming overcrowded and Enoch will stop it and send them all back. The black wogs and coons and Arabs and fucking Jamaicans and fucking [indecipherable] don't belong here, we don't want them here. This is England, this is a white country, we don't want any black wogs and coons living here. We need to make clear to them they are not welcome. England is for white people, man. We are a white country. I don't want fucking wogs living next to me with their standards. This is Great Britain, a white country, what is happening to us, for fuck's sake? We need to vote for Enoch Powell, he's a great man, speaking truth. Vote for Enoch, he's our man, he's on our side, he'll look after us. I want all of you here to vote for Enoch, support him, he's on our side. Enoch for Prime Minister! Throw the wogs out! Keep Britain white![143]
This incident, along with some controversial remarks made around the same time by David Bowie, as well as uses of Nazi-related imagery by Sid Vicious and Siouxsie Sioux, were the main catalysts for the creation of Rock Against Racism, which occurred on 30 April 1978.[144]
In response to the comments, rock photographer Red Saunders and others published an open letter in NME, Melody Maker, Sounds, and the Socialist Worker. It read "Come on Eric... Own up. Half your music is black. You're rock music's biggest colonist". It concluded, "P.S. Who shot the Sheriff, Eric? It sure as hell wasn't you!"[144]
In an interview from October 1976 with Sounds magazine, Clapton remarked, "I thought it was quite funny actually. I don't know much about politics. I don't even know if it would be good or bad for him to get in. I don't even know who the Prime Minister is now. I just don't know what came over me that night. It must have been something that happened in the day but it came out in this garbled thing... I thought the whole thing was like Monty Python. There's this rock group playing on-stage and the singer starts talking about politics. It's so stupid. Those people who paid their money sittin' listening to this madman dribbling on and the band meanwhile getting fidgety thinking 'oh dear'".[145]
In a 2004 interview with Uncut, Clapton referred to Powell as "outrageously brave", and stated that his "feeling about this has not changed", because the UK is still "... inviting people in as cheap labour and then putting them in ghettos". In 2004, Clapton told an interviewer for Scotland on Sunday, "There's no way I could be a racist. It would make no sense".[146] In his 2007 autobiography, Clapton called himself "deliberately oblivious to it all" and wrote, "I had never really understood or been directly affected by racial conflict ... when I listened to music, I was disinterested in where the players came from or what colour their skin was. Interesting, then, that 10 years later, I would be labelled a racist ... Since then, I have learnt to keep my opinions to myself. Of course, it might also have had something to do with the fact that Pattie had just been leered at by a member of the Saudi royal family".[147] In a December 2007 interview with Melvyn Bragg on The South Bank Show, Clapton reiterated his support for Enoch Powell and again denied that Powell's views were "racist".[148]
Wealth and assets
In 2009, Surrey Life Magazine ranked Eric Clapton as number 17 in their list of richest Surrey residents, estimating Clapton's fortune at £120 million in assets. This was a compilation of property and income which include a £9 million yacht, "Va Bene" (previously owned by Bernie Ecclestone), his back music catalogue, his touring income, and his Marshbrook holding company, which had earned him £110 million since 1989.[149] In 2003, he purchased a 50 percent share of gentleman's outfitters Cordings Piccadilly.[150] At the time, owner Noll Uloth was trying to save the shop from closure and thought 'I will go and talk to my best client". He is reported to have contacted Clapton and within five minutes he had a reply saying 'I can't let this happen".[150]
Charitable work
In 1993, Clapton was appointed a director of Clouds House, a treatment centre for drug and alcohol dependence, and served on their board until 1997.[151] Clapton also served on the board of directors for The Chemical Dependency Centre from 1994 until 1999.[152] Both charities subsequently merged to become Action on Addiction in 2007.
In 1998, he established the Crossroads Centre in Antigua to help others overcome their addictions to drugs and alcohol and is active in its management oversight and fundraising to the present day.[153][154] Clapton has organised the Crossroads Guitar Festival in 2004, 2007, 2010 and 2013 to raise funds for this centre.[155]
Awards and honours
Year Award / Recognition
1983
Presented the Silver Clef Award from Princess Michael of Kent for outstanding contribution to British music.[156]
1985
Presented with BAFTA for Best Original Television Music for Score of Edge of Darkness with Michael Kamen.[157]
1993
"Tears in Heaven" won three Grammy awards for Song of the Year, Record of the Year, and Male Pop Vocal Performance. Clapton also won Album of the Year and Best Rock Vocal Performance for Unplugged and Best Rock Song for "Layla".[158]
1994
Awarded the OBE for services to music.[159]
2000
Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame for the third time, this time as a solo artist. He was earlier inducted as a member of the bands Cream and The Yardbirds.[160]
2004
Promoted to CBE, receiving the award from the Princess Royal at Buckingham Palace as part of the New Year's Honours list.[161][162]
2006
Awarded the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award as a member of Cream.[163]
Football
In 1982 he performed a concert before West Bromwich Albion player John Wile's testimonial game at The Hawthorns. It has been reported that the club rejected his offer to invest cash in the club around this time, and that he has since expressed more of an interest in Chelsea.[164]
Clapton's music in film and TV
Clapton's music has appeared in dozens of movies and television shows as far back as 1973's Mean Streets which featured the song "I Looked Away". Other appearances in media include in the Miami Vice series ("Wonderful Tonight", "Knock on Wood", "She's Waiting", and "Layla"), Back to the Future ("Heaven Is One Step Away"), The Color of Money ("It's In The Way That You Use It"), Lethal Weapon 2 ("Knockin' On Heaven's Door"), Goodfellas ("Layla" and "Sunshine of Your Love"),[165] the Friends episode "The One with the Proposal, Part 2" ("Wonderful Tonight"), and Men in Black III ("Strange Brew"). Also, Opel and Vauxhall used the guitar riff from "Layla" in their advertising campaigns throughout 1987–95. In addition to his music appearing in media, Clapton has contributed to several movies by writing or co-writing the musical scores or contributing original songs. These movies include Lethal Weapon (co-written with Michael Kamen), Communion, Rush, Phenomenon ("Change the World"), and Lethal Weapon 3 (co-wrote and co-performed "It's Probably Me" with Sting and "Runaway Train" with Elton John).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3FE70D5mRp0
Eric Clapton: Slowhands at 70 - Live at Royal Albert Hall | October 2015 | PBS
ERIC CLAPTON - Royal Albert Hall - 20th May 2015 - CROSS ROAD BLUES - STUNNING HD!
Sonny Boy Williamson I. *30.03.1914
John Lee Curtis Williamson
John Lee „Sonny Boy“ Williamson I. (* 30. März 1914 in Madison County, südwestlich von Jackson, Tennessee; † 1. Juni 1948 in Chicago) war ein US-amerikanischer Bluesmusiker und Mundharmonikaspieler.
Williamson etablierte die Mundharmonika zum Melodie-Instrument im Blues und gilt als „Vater der modernen Blues Harp“. Sein Stil hat viele Bluesmusiker beeinflusst, darunter Billy Boy Arnold, Sonny Terry und Muddy Waters. In den 1940ern war er so populär, dass sich der Bluesmusiker Aleck „Rice“ Miller Sonny Boy Williamson II. nannte.
Seine wohl bekanntesten Songs sind Shake the Boogie und Good Morning, Little Schoolgirl.
Williamson kam am 1. Juni 1948 bei einem Raubüberfall ums Leben. 1990 stiftete seine Plattenfirma einen Grabstein, um seiner zu gedenken.
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonny_Boy_Williamson_I.
Sonny Boy Williamson I - Springtime Blues
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sQX-RVNs5fg
https://northcotesc.ticketscout.com.au/gigs/3988-dc-bellamy
John Lee Curtis "Sonny Boy" Williamson (March 30, 1914 – June 1, 1948) was an American blues harmonica player and singer, and the first to use the name Sonny Boy Williamson.
Biography and career
Williamson was born in Madison County, Tennessee, near Jackson, in 1914.[1] His original recordings were considered to be in the country blues style, but he soon demonstrated skill at making harmonica a lead instrument for the blues, and popularized it for the first time in a more urban blues setting. He has been called "the father of modern blues harp". While in his teens he joined Yank Rachell and Sleepy John Estes playing with them in Tennessee and Arkansas, and in 1934 settled in Chicago.[1]
Early recordings
Sonny first recorded for Bluebird Records in 1937 and his first recording, "Good Morning, School Girl", became a standard.[1] He was hugely popular among black audiences throughout the southern United States as well as in the midwestern industrial cities such as Detroit and his home base in Chicago, and his name was synonymous with the blues harmonica for the next decade. Other well-known recordings of his include "Sugar Mama Blues", "Shake the Boogie", "You Better Cut That Out", "Sloppy Drunk", "Early in the Morning" and "Stop Breaking Down" and "Hoodoo Hoodoo" aka "Hoodoo Man Blues". In 1947 "Shake the Boogie" made #4 on Billboard's Race Records chart.[1] Williamson's style influenced a large number of blues harmonica performers, including Billy Boy Arnold, Junior Wells, Sonny Terry, Little Walter, and Snooky Pryor among many others. He was the most widely heard and influential blues harmonica player of his generation. His music was also influential on many of his non-harmonica playing contemporaries and successors, including Muddy Waters (who had played guitar with Williamson in the mid-1940s) and Jimmy Rogers (whose first recording in 1946 was as a harmonica player, performing an uncanny imitation of Williamson's style); Rogers later recorded Williamson's songs "My Little Machine" and "Sloppy Drunk" on Chess Records, and Waters recorded "Good Morning Little Schoolgirl" in September 1963 for his Chess Folk Singer LP and again in the 1970s when he moved to Johnny Winter's Blue Sky label on CBS.
1940s
He was popular enough that by the 1940s, another blues harp player, Aleck/Alex "Rice" Miller, from Mississippi, began also using the name Sonny Boy Williamson. John Lee is said to have objected to this, though no legal action took place, possibly due to the fact that Miller did not release any records during Williamson's lifetime, and that Williamson played mainly around the Chicago area, while Miller seldom ventured beyond the Mississippi Delta region until after Williamson's death. In 1942, John Lee allegedly confronted Miller, but according to Miller's friend and guitarist Robert Lockwood, "Big Sonny Boy [Miller] chased Little Sonny Boy [Williamson] away from there. He couldn't play with Rice. Rice Miller could play Sonny Boy's stuff better than he could play it!"[2]
Death and musical legacy
Williamson recorded prolifically both as a bandleader and a sideman over the entire course of his career, mainly for the Bluebird record label. Before Bluebird moved to Chicago, where it eventually became part of RCA Records, many early sessions took place at the Leland Tower, a hotel in Aurora, Illinois. The top-floor nightclub at the Leland, known as "The Sky Club", was used for live big band broadcasts on a local radio station, was utilized during off-hours as a recording studio for Williamson's early sessions, as well as those of other Bluebird artists.
Death and legacy
Williamson's final recording session took place in Chicago in December 1947, backing Big Joe Williams. On June 1, 1948, Williamson was killed in a robbery on Chicago's South Side, as he walked home from a performance at The Plantation Club at 31st St. and Giles Avenue, a tavern just a block and a half away from his home at 3226 S. Giles. Williamson's final words are reported to have been "Lord have mercy".[3]
His legacy has been somewhat overshadowed in the post-war blues era by the popularity of the musician who appropriated his name, Rice Miller, who after Williamson's death went on to record many popular blues songs for Chicago's Checker Records label and others, and toured Europe several times during the 'blues revival' in the 1960s.
Williamson is buried at the former site of The Blairs Chapel Church, southwest of Jackson, Tennessee. In 1991, a red granite marker was purchased by fans and family to mark the site of his burial. A Tennessee historical marker, also placed in 1991, indicates the place of his birth and describes his influence on blues music. The historical marker is located south of Jackson on TN Highway 18, at the corner of Caldwell Road.
Biography and career
Williamson was born in Madison County, Tennessee, near Jackson, in 1914.[1] His original recordings were considered to be in the country blues style, but he soon demonstrated skill at making harmonica a lead instrument for the blues, and popularized it for the first time in a more urban blues setting. He has been called "the father of modern blues harp". While in his teens he joined Yank Rachell and Sleepy John Estes playing with them in Tennessee and Arkansas, and in 1934 settled in Chicago.[1]
Early recordings
Sonny first recorded for Bluebird Records in 1937 and his first recording, "Good Morning, School Girl", became a standard.[1] He was hugely popular among black audiences throughout the southern United States as well as in the midwestern industrial cities such as Detroit and his home base in Chicago, and his name was synonymous with the blues harmonica for the next decade. Other well-known recordings of his include "Sugar Mama Blues", "Shake the Boogie", "You Better Cut That Out", "Sloppy Drunk", "Early in the Morning" and "Stop Breaking Down" and "Hoodoo Hoodoo" aka "Hoodoo Man Blues". In 1947 "Shake the Boogie" made #4 on Billboard's Race Records chart.[1] Williamson's style influenced a large number of blues harmonica performers, including Billy Boy Arnold, Junior Wells, Sonny Terry, Little Walter, and Snooky Pryor among many others. He was the most widely heard and influential blues harmonica player of his generation. His music was also influential on many of his non-harmonica playing contemporaries and successors, including Muddy Waters (who had played guitar with Williamson in the mid-1940s) and Jimmy Rogers (whose first recording in 1946 was as a harmonica player, performing an uncanny imitation of Williamson's style); Rogers later recorded Williamson's songs "My Little Machine" and "Sloppy Drunk" on Chess Records, and Waters recorded "Good Morning Little Schoolgirl" in September 1963 for his Chess Folk Singer LP and again in the 1970s when he moved to Johnny Winter's Blue Sky label on CBS.
1940s
He was popular enough that by the 1940s, another blues harp player, Aleck/Alex "Rice" Miller, from Mississippi, began also using the name Sonny Boy Williamson. John Lee is said to have objected to this, though no legal action took place, possibly due to the fact that Miller did not release any records during Williamson's lifetime, and that Williamson played mainly around the Chicago area, while Miller seldom ventured beyond the Mississippi Delta region until after Williamson's death. In 1942, John Lee allegedly confronted Miller, but according to Miller's friend and guitarist Robert Lockwood, "Big Sonny Boy [Miller] chased Little Sonny Boy [Williamson] away from there. He couldn't play with Rice. Rice Miller could play Sonny Boy's stuff better than he could play it!"[2]
Death and musical legacy
Williamson recorded prolifically both as a bandleader and a sideman over the entire course of his career, mainly for the Bluebird record label. Before Bluebird moved to Chicago, where it eventually became part of RCA Records, many early sessions took place at the Leland Tower, a hotel in Aurora, Illinois. The top-floor nightclub at the Leland, known as "The Sky Club", was used for live big band broadcasts on a local radio station, was utilized during off-hours as a recording studio for Williamson's early sessions, as well as those of other Bluebird artists.
Death and legacy
Williamson's final recording session took place in Chicago in December 1947, backing Big Joe Williams. On June 1, 1948, Williamson was killed in a robbery on Chicago's South Side, as he walked home from a performance at The Plantation Club at 31st St. and Giles Avenue, a tavern just a block and a half away from his home at 3226 S. Giles. Williamson's final words are reported to have been "Lord have mercy".[3]
His legacy has been somewhat overshadowed in the post-war blues era by the popularity of the musician who appropriated his name, Rice Miller, who after Williamson's death went on to record many popular blues songs for Chicago's Checker Records label and others, and toured Europe several times during the 'blues revival' in the 1960s.
Williamson is buried at the former site of The Blairs Chapel Church, southwest of Jackson, Tennessee. In 1991, a red granite marker was purchased by fans and family to mark the site of his burial. A Tennessee historical marker, also placed in 1991, indicates the place of his birth and describes his influence on blues music. The historical marker is located south of Jackson on TN Highway 18, at the corner of Caldwell Road.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sQX-RVNs5fg
D.C. Bellamy *März 1949*
* Der genaue Geburtstag ist dem Autor unbekannt
After many years as a sideman to singers like Betty Everett, Donny Hathaway, Gene "Duke of Earl" Chandler, Brook Benton, and many other prominent classic R&B singers, guitarist and singer/songwriter D.C. Bellamy released his debut album for the Rooster Blues label, Water to Wine, with America's Most Wanted, in the fall of 2000.
Gregory "D.C." Bellamy was born on Chicago's West Side in March 1949. He grew up in a household surrounded by musical talent, as his half brother was the late Curtis Mayfield, who would often hold rehearsals for his group, the Impressions, in the family's living room. Bellamy's grandmother purchased a piano for the family to use, and the children were all encouraged to play it. At age nine, Bellamy got his first guitar as a Christmas gift, and he began playing by ear and singing and playing along with Elvis Presley recordings. Even though he was raised in Chicago, a home for the blues, Bellamy was fascinated with rock & roll as he watched firsthand the success of Mayfield's group. But growing up on the West Side, it was hard to ignore the great abundance of blues talent in his own neighborhood, so by the time he was 14 or 15, everyone knew Bellamy was on his way to making a name for himself as a guitarist. Bellamy's mother, impressed by his earliest efforts at writing his own songs, took measures to ensure that he found people to help copyright his songs and put them into commercial format.
When he was 17, he followed the rising popularity of the Impressions, Jerry Butler, Lou Rawls, and other great vocalists. He was introduced to singer Betty Everett, whose career was clearly on the rise. After hearing a short demonstration of his guitar-playing skills, Everett hired Bellamy for her tour, which developed into a ten-year tenure accompanying Everett on her tours around the world. During times back home, Bellamy freelanced, accompanying the likes of Donny Hathaway, Gene Chandler, Brook Benton, and others. Also back home, Bellamy began working with guitarist and singer Jimmy Reed, and the endless songwriting and guitar-playing possibilities of the art form began to blossom in his mind. His band became the house band at a Chicago club, Beale Street, after singer Bobby Rush left a long residency there. Bellamy's various bands worked Beale Street for eight years, and he had a chance to play with everyone in Chicago or passing through Chicago at that time, including Artie "Blues Boy" White, Otis Clay, Cicero Blake, Lefty Dizz, and Z.Z. Hill. During this period, he was constantly writing more of his own songs and working on developing his own distinctive vocal and guitar style.
In early 2000, Bellamy returned to the recording studio to record an album under his own name for the then newly relaunched Rooster Blues label. Water to Wine was recorded at Blue Heaven Studios in Salina, KS, not far from his new home base of Kansas City, KS. During this time, Bellamy held a residency at the Kansas City venue Club Paradox. Bellamy is accompanied on Water to Wine, a fine collection of Chicago-styled originals, by drummer James "Spoon" Wilson, keyboardists Harrison Irons and Ray Hopper, lead guitarist Jimmy D. Lane, bassists Louis Villeri and Ben Shult, and harmonica player Dan "Juice" Hettinger. The results are stellar, a fine collection of original songs that don't sound like anyone else you've ever heard in modern blues. Songs like "Water to Wine," "Next Door Neighbor's Woman," and "I Won't Be Around You" are written in a style that is influenced by his famous half brother, Curtis Mayfield. But on Water to Wine, Bellamy and his band also serve up inspiring cover versions of Peter Chatman's "If You See Kay" and John Lee Hooker's "Dimples."
Gregory "D.C." Bellamy was born on Chicago's West Side in March 1949. He grew up in a household surrounded by musical talent, as his half brother was the late Curtis Mayfield, who would often hold rehearsals for his group, the Impressions, in the family's living room. Bellamy's grandmother purchased a piano for the family to use, and the children were all encouraged to play it. At age nine, Bellamy got his first guitar as a Christmas gift, and he began playing by ear and singing and playing along with Elvis Presley recordings. Even though he was raised in Chicago, a home for the blues, Bellamy was fascinated with rock & roll as he watched firsthand the success of Mayfield's group. But growing up on the West Side, it was hard to ignore the great abundance of blues talent in his own neighborhood, so by the time he was 14 or 15, everyone knew Bellamy was on his way to making a name for himself as a guitarist. Bellamy's mother, impressed by his earliest efforts at writing his own songs, took measures to ensure that he found people to help copyright his songs and put them into commercial format.
When he was 17, he followed the rising popularity of the Impressions, Jerry Butler, Lou Rawls, and other great vocalists. He was introduced to singer Betty Everett, whose career was clearly on the rise. After hearing a short demonstration of his guitar-playing skills, Everett hired Bellamy for her tour, which developed into a ten-year tenure accompanying Everett on her tours around the world. During times back home, Bellamy freelanced, accompanying the likes of Donny Hathaway, Gene Chandler, Brook Benton, and others. Also back home, Bellamy began working with guitarist and singer Jimmy Reed, and the endless songwriting and guitar-playing possibilities of the art form began to blossom in his mind. His band became the house band at a Chicago club, Beale Street, after singer Bobby Rush left a long residency there. Bellamy's various bands worked Beale Street for eight years, and he had a chance to play with everyone in Chicago or passing through Chicago at that time, including Artie "Blues Boy" White, Otis Clay, Cicero Blake, Lefty Dizz, and Z.Z. Hill. During this period, he was constantly writing more of his own songs and working on developing his own distinctive vocal and guitar style.
In early 2000, Bellamy returned to the recording studio to record an album under his own name for the then newly relaunched Rooster Blues label. Water to Wine was recorded at Blue Heaven Studios in Salina, KS, not far from his new home base of Kansas City, KS. During this time, Bellamy held a residency at the Kansas City venue Club Paradox. Bellamy is accompanied on Water to Wine, a fine collection of Chicago-styled originals, by drummer James "Spoon" Wilson, keyboardists Harrison Irons and Ray Hopper, lead guitarist Jimmy D. Lane, bassists Louis Villeri and Ben Shult, and harmonica player Dan "Juice" Hettinger. The results are stellar, a fine collection of original songs that don't sound like anyone else you've ever heard in modern blues. Songs like "Water to Wine," "Next Door Neighbor's Woman," and "I Won't Be Around You" are written in a style that is influenced by his famous half brother, Curtis Mayfield. But on Water to Wine, Bellamy and his band also serve up inspiring cover versions of Peter Chatman's "If You See Kay" and John Lee Hooker's "Dimples."
Dana Gillespie (eigentlich Richenda Antoinette de Winterstein Gillespie; * 30. März 1949 in London) ist eine englische Schauspielerin und Sängerin.
Sie ist die Tochter von Baron De Winterstein Gillespie, einem deutsch-österreichischen Arzt in London. Gillespie ist Schauspielerin in diversen Filmen und hat im Laufe ihrer Karriere auch in verschiedenen Musikstilrichtungen über 50 Alben produziert. Ihren größten Hit hatte sie in den 1980er Jahren mit der Single Move Your Body Close To Me, die europaweit auf Platz 1 vorstieß. In dieser Zeit war sie auch Mitglied der österreichischen Mojo Blues Band und moderierte einige Jahre lang eine Sendung für World Music bei Blue Danube Radio.
Gillespie singt und produziert heute im Genre Blues und Boogie-Woogie, aber auch unter dem Pseudonym „Third Man“ mit Musik im indischen Stil in Sanskrit. Für das jährlich stattfindende Mustique Blues Festival macht sie das Programm.
Gillespie singt und produziert heute im Genre Blues und Boogie-Woogie, aber auch unter dem Pseudonym „Third Man“ mit Musik im indischen Stil in Sanskrit. Für das jährlich stattfindende Mustique Blues Festival macht sie das Programm.
Dana Gillespie (born Richenda Antoinette de Winterstein Gillespie,[2] 30 March 1949)[1] is an English actress, singer and songwriter.[3] Originally performing and recording in her teens, over the years Gillespie has been involved in the recording of over 45 albums,[3] and appeared in stage productions (Jesus Christ Superstar) and several films. Her musical output has progressed from teen pop and folk in the early part of her career, to rock in the 1970s and, more latterly, the blues.[1]
Career
Gillespie was born in Woking, Surrey. She was the British Junior Water Skiing Champion for four years, in 1962.[4]
She recorded initially in the folk genre in the mid-1960s. Some of her recordings as a teenager fell into the teen pop category, such as her 1966 single "Thank You Boy", written by John Carter and Ken Lewis and produced by Jimmy Page.[5] Her acting career got under way shortly afterwards, and it overshadowed her musical career in the late 1960s and 1970s. After performing backing vocals on the track "It Ain't Easy" from David Bowie's Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars,[6] she recorded an album produced by Bowie and Mick Ronson in 1973, Weren't Born a Man.[1] Subsequent recordings have been in the blues genre, appearing with the London Blues Band. She is also notable for being the original Mary Magdalene in the first London production of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice's Jesus Christ Superstar,[1] which opened at the Palace Theatre in 1973. She also appeared on the Original London Cast album. During the 1980s Gillespie was a member of the Austrian Mojo Blues Band.
She is a follower of the Indian spiritual guru Sri Sathya Sai Baba.[7] She performed at his Indian ashram on various occasions, and has also recorded thirteen bhajan-based albums in Sanskrit.[8]
Gillespie is the organiser of the annual Blues festival at Basil's Bar on Mustique in the Caribbean, for fifteen days at the end of January and it is now in its eighteenth year.[1] The house band is the London Blues Band, which consists of Dino Baptiste (piano), Jake Zaitz (guitar), Mike Paice (saxophone), Jeff Walker (bass), and Evan Jenkins (drums) but there are also many other acts. In 2005, Mick Jagger appeared as a guest and sang songs such as: "Honky Tonk Women", "Dust My Broom" and "Goin' Down" but also many other Blues artists have appeared there through the years, such as Big Joe Louis, Joe Louis Walker, Billy Branch, Shemekia Copeland, Ronnie Wood, Donald Fagen, Rolf Harris, Ian Siegal, Larry Garner, Eugene Bridges, Big Jay McNeeley, Earl Green, and Zach Prather.
Career
Gillespie was born in Woking, Surrey. She was the British Junior Water Skiing Champion for four years, in 1962.[4]
She recorded initially in the folk genre in the mid-1960s. Some of her recordings as a teenager fell into the teen pop category, such as her 1966 single "Thank You Boy", written by John Carter and Ken Lewis and produced by Jimmy Page.[5] Her acting career got under way shortly afterwards, and it overshadowed her musical career in the late 1960s and 1970s. After performing backing vocals on the track "It Ain't Easy" from David Bowie's Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars,[6] she recorded an album produced by Bowie and Mick Ronson in 1973, Weren't Born a Man.[1] Subsequent recordings have been in the blues genre, appearing with the London Blues Band. She is also notable for being the original Mary Magdalene in the first London production of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice's Jesus Christ Superstar,[1] which opened at the Palace Theatre in 1973. She also appeared on the Original London Cast album. During the 1980s Gillespie was a member of the Austrian Mojo Blues Band.
She is a follower of the Indian spiritual guru Sri Sathya Sai Baba.[7] She performed at his Indian ashram on various occasions, and has also recorded thirteen bhajan-based albums in Sanskrit.[8]
Gillespie is the organiser of the annual Blues festival at Basil's Bar on Mustique in the Caribbean, for fifteen days at the end of January and it is now in its eighteenth year.[1] The house band is the London Blues Band, which consists of Dino Baptiste (piano), Jake Zaitz (guitar), Mike Paice (saxophone), Jeff Walker (bass), and Evan Jenkins (drums) but there are also many other acts. In 2005, Mick Jagger appeared as a guest and sang songs such as: "Honky Tonk Women", "Dust My Broom" and "Goin' Down" but also many other Blues artists have appeared there through the years, such as Big Joe Louis, Joe Louis Walker, Billy Branch, Shemekia Copeland, Ronnie Wood, Donald Fagen, Rolf Harris, Ian Siegal, Larry Garner, Eugene Bridges, Big Jay McNeeley, Earl Green, and Zach Prather.
Dana Gillespie - Where Blues Begins
Breezy G Peyton *30.03.
http://www.bigdamnband.com/
The Reverend Peyton's Big Damn Band is a three-piece American country blues[1] band from Brown County, Indiana, living in a rural area north of Nashville, Ind., and south of Bean Blossom.[2] They play more than 250 dates per year[3] at venues ranging from bars to festivals. To date, they have released seven albums and one EP. On February 17, 2015 they released their next album So Delicious on the newly revived Yazoo Records label.[4]
Members
Reverend J. Peyton – guitar, lead vocals, and principal songwriter
On stage he plays a rusty 1930 steel bodied National guitar, a 1934 wood bodied National
Trojan Resonator guitar and a 1994 reproduction of a 1929 Gibson acoustic.[5] He has
recently added a 3 string cigar box guitar to his stage collection. Peyton uses no outboard
gear other than a three input switch box between his guitars and the amplifier.[6] He is a
noted proponent of Fingerstyle guitar, playing the bass line of songs with his thumb while
simultaneously playing the melody, the melody of a different song or a round.[7]
"Washboard" Breezy Peyton – Washboard
She plays the washboard using golf gloves, to which thimbles have been attached.[8] Her
aggressive playing style results in the band selling fragments of broken and burnt
washboard at the merchandise table at their concerts.
Ben "Bird Dog" Bussell – drums
He plays a small drum kit, augmented with a five gallon plastic bucket fitted with drum
hardware. The band claims they are the only rock band with a bucket endorsement
deal.[9]
History
Josh "The Reverend" Peyton was born April 12, 1981, Eagletown, Indiana. Original member and Rev's brother, Jayme, was born in 1983. Their father was a concrete man who performed odd jobs during the winter months for extra money, from plowing snow and chopping wood, to fur trapping. Rev Peyton's first introduction to music was via his father's record collection of blues-oriented rock, including Jimi Hendrix, Neil Young and Bob Dylan. At age 12, Rev Peyton's father gave him a red Kay "State of the Art" model guitar,[10] eventually purchasing a Gorilla amplifier once he learned to play. Shortly after, younger brother Jayme Peyton started playing the drums and, with a bass player, formed a band called "Drive-Thru" and played parties. A friend pointed out the blues sound of Rev Peyton's guitar playing, sending Peyton off on an exploration of the blues of BB King, Muddy Waters and B.B. King's cousin Bukka White. Further exploration led to pre-World War II "country blues", and a desire to learn the finger-picking style of artists like Charlie Patton. At the time Peyton was unable to master it, instead playing more pick-oriented blues.
Peyton played a party following his high school graduation, and the next morning suffered excruciating pain in his hands. Doctors told Peyton he'd never be able to hold his left hand in fretting position again. At that point, he gave up on music and spent a year working as the desk clerk in a hotel.[11] During the period when he couldn't physically play guitar, he spent hours imagining playing guitar.[12]
Eventually Peyton sought other medical advice. The Indiana Hand Center operated on his left hand removing a mass of scar tissue which gave him a new flexibility and greater control in his fretting hand that enabled him to play in the "finger" style that had long eluded him.[13] While recovering from surgery, Rev Peyton met Breezy. He played her the music of Charley Patton, and she played him Jimbo Mathus' album Plays Songs For Rosetta, a benefit for his childhood caretaker - Patton's daughter, Rosetta. Their first date was at the Indiana State Fair, where Peyton won a stuffed animal they named the "Big Damn Bear", which gave them a name for their band.[14]
Breezy took up the washboard, and the pair started writing songs. A trip to Clarksdale, Mississippi inspired them to resume playing music, and their first gigs were at Melody Inn Tavern in Indianapolis, Indiana. The band played blues festivals, headlined two nights at actor Morgan Freeman's Ground Zero Blues Club in Clarksdale, and toured as the opening act for Mary Prankster. Eventually, a 40-hour drive from Indiana to El Centro, California to open for the Derek Trucks Band and Susan Tedeschi convinced the band to devote themselves to music and touring full-time. They received an offer from a blues record label, but discovered that they had sold more copies of their independently pressed CD "The Pork'n'Beans Collection" at their concerts than the label had managed to sell of any of their other artists. They married on June 14, 2003.
The Big Damn Band has toured constantly in the United States, Canada and Europe,[15] steadily building popularity and sales of their albums.
In September 2007, drummer Jayme Peyton was unable to enter Canada to play a concert due to a "youthful indiscretion". His brother and sister-in-law had to leave him at a Greyhound bus station to play the date with local substitute drummer Josh Contant. ( Jayme had to hide in the woods near the truck stop to avoid being arrested as a vagrant.)[16]
The band survived the departure of founding member Jayme Peyton in December 2009, who was replaced by Aaron 'Cuz' Persinger, who debuted at their annual homecoming show in Indianapolis at the Vogue Theatre. Persinger was replaced with Ben 'Bird Dog' Bussell.[17]
Rev Peyton is a Kentucky Colonel.[18]
In June 2008, they signed with Los Angeles-based SideOneDummy Records, a label they shared with Flogging Molly. They released The Whole Fam Damily on August 5, 2008 through the label, and it entered the Billboard Blues Chart at #4.[19] They released three additional albums with SideOneDummy - The Wages, Payton on Patton and Between The Ditches.
September 18, 2014 the band announced that they signed with Shanachie Entertainment's recently revived Yazoo Records label, which previously had specialized in reissues. The label announced that "The release of this album marks the first time that a contemporary artist has been released on Yazoo". Their next album So Delicious will be released on February 17, 2015.[20][4]
Touring
The Big Damn Band plays more than 250 dates per year,[3] principally in the United States and Canada, but they have toured Europe and the United Kingdom as well. The majority of their dates are headlining, but they have opened for an eclectic mix of other artists, and played festivals. Their 2007 and 2008 tours included opening dates for the Celtic punk band Flogging Molly,[21] progressive bluegrass band Hot Buttered Rum and the Dirty Dozen Brass Band.
In 2009, they toured opening for Clutch, an extensive headlining tour of Europe and began their relationship with the Van's Warped Tour, playing played 12 dates in 2009 on the Kevin Says stage. They were on the entire 2010 Van's Warped Tour[22] on the Alternative Press stage and their song Clap Your Hands is on disc one of the 2010 Warped Tour compilation CD. They received the Best Band of Warped Tour award, voted by the crew, bands, and promoters.
The band has played other festivals such as Austin City Limits,[23] Telluride, and the Bonnaroo Festival on June 9, 2011.[24] They have also played blues festivals and venues in Italy, Switzerland and Austria, and spent the fall of 2011 touring Europe.[25]
The band played the 2011 Sturgis Motorcycle Rally for five consecutive evenings, August 7 through August 11 at the Full Throttle Saloon, the "World's Largest Biker Bar" that is only open ten days per year.
On March 6, 2013 they launched the Big Damn Blues Revolution Tour with Jimbo Mathus & Grammy Winner Alvin Youngblood Hart in Columbia, Missouri.[26]
Media appearances
The Reverend Peyton's Big Damn Band has been featured on Sirius Satellite Radio, has played multiple showcases at the South by Southwest music conference, and has been the musical guest on Michael Feldman's Whad'Ya Know?. Their music is featured in the award-winning film Mississippi Cold Case by Canadian documentarian David Ridgen. Their song "Your Cousin's On Cops" led to a gig as the house band on a Jerry Springer Pay-Per-View special.[27] In 2008 the band was featured in the Bikes, Blues and Barbecue motorcycle festival in Fayetteville, Arkansas.
The band was featured in a cover story of the April/May 2009 issue of Blues Review magazine, and has appeared in a feature on CNN.[28]
On January 10, 2013 the Indianapolis Star newspaper reported that the band had licensed four songs to the US cable television network Showtime series Shameless. The first song was used in the soundtrack of the 8th episode of the 3rd series, which premiered on March 10, 2013.[29] Their song Something For Nothing appears on the series soundtrack album, released April 15, 2014.[30]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Reverend_Peyton%27s_Big_Damn_Band Members
Reverend J. Peyton – guitar, lead vocals, and principal songwriter
On stage he plays a rusty 1930 steel bodied National guitar, a 1934 wood bodied National
Trojan Resonator guitar and a 1994 reproduction of a 1929 Gibson acoustic.[5] He has
recently added a 3 string cigar box guitar to his stage collection. Peyton uses no outboard
gear other than a three input switch box between his guitars and the amplifier.[6] He is a
noted proponent of Fingerstyle guitar, playing the bass line of songs with his thumb while
simultaneously playing the melody, the melody of a different song or a round.[7]
"Washboard" Breezy Peyton – Washboard
She plays the washboard using golf gloves, to which thimbles have been attached.[8] Her
aggressive playing style results in the band selling fragments of broken and burnt
washboard at the merchandise table at their concerts.
Ben "Bird Dog" Bussell – drums
He plays a small drum kit, augmented with a five gallon plastic bucket fitted with drum
hardware. The band claims they are the only rock band with a bucket endorsement
deal.[9]
History
Josh "The Reverend" Peyton was born April 12, 1981, Eagletown, Indiana. Original member and Rev's brother, Jayme, was born in 1983. Their father was a concrete man who performed odd jobs during the winter months for extra money, from plowing snow and chopping wood, to fur trapping. Rev Peyton's first introduction to music was via his father's record collection of blues-oriented rock, including Jimi Hendrix, Neil Young and Bob Dylan. At age 12, Rev Peyton's father gave him a red Kay "State of the Art" model guitar,[10] eventually purchasing a Gorilla amplifier once he learned to play. Shortly after, younger brother Jayme Peyton started playing the drums and, with a bass player, formed a band called "Drive-Thru" and played parties. A friend pointed out the blues sound of Rev Peyton's guitar playing, sending Peyton off on an exploration of the blues of BB King, Muddy Waters and B.B. King's cousin Bukka White. Further exploration led to pre-World War II "country blues", and a desire to learn the finger-picking style of artists like Charlie Patton. At the time Peyton was unable to master it, instead playing more pick-oriented blues.
Peyton played a party following his high school graduation, and the next morning suffered excruciating pain in his hands. Doctors told Peyton he'd never be able to hold his left hand in fretting position again. At that point, he gave up on music and spent a year working as the desk clerk in a hotel.[11] During the period when he couldn't physically play guitar, he spent hours imagining playing guitar.[12]
Eventually Peyton sought other medical advice. The Indiana Hand Center operated on his left hand removing a mass of scar tissue which gave him a new flexibility and greater control in his fretting hand that enabled him to play in the "finger" style that had long eluded him.[13] While recovering from surgery, Rev Peyton met Breezy. He played her the music of Charley Patton, and she played him Jimbo Mathus' album Plays Songs For Rosetta, a benefit for his childhood caretaker - Patton's daughter, Rosetta. Their first date was at the Indiana State Fair, where Peyton won a stuffed animal they named the "Big Damn Bear", which gave them a name for their band.[14]
Breezy took up the washboard, and the pair started writing songs. A trip to Clarksdale, Mississippi inspired them to resume playing music, and their first gigs were at Melody Inn Tavern in Indianapolis, Indiana. The band played blues festivals, headlined two nights at actor Morgan Freeman's Ground Zero Blues Club in Clarksdale, and toured as the opening act for Mary Prankster. Eventually, a 40-hour drive from Indiana to El Centro, California to open for the Derek Trucks Band and Susan Tedeschi convinced the band to devote themselves to music and touring full-time. They received an offer from a blues record label, but discovered that they had sold more copies of their independently pressed CD "The Pork'n'Beans Collection" at their concerts than the label had managed to sell of any of their other artists. They married on June 14, 2003.
The Big Damn Band has toured constantly in the United States, Canada and Europe,[15] steadily building popularity and sales of their albums.
In September 2007, drummer Jayme Peyton was unable to enter Canada to play a concert due to a "youthful indiscretion". His brother and sister-in-law had to leave him at a Greyhound bus station to play the date with local substitute drummer Josh Contant. ( Jayme had to hide in the woods near the truck stop to avoid being arrested as a vagrant.)[16]
The band survived the departure of founding member Jayme Peyton in December 2009, who was replaced by Aaron 'Cuz' Persinger, who debuted at their annual homecoming show in Indianapolis at the Vogue Theatre. Persinger was replaced with Ben 'Bird Dog' Bussell.[17]
Rev Peyton is a Kentucky Colonel.[18]
In June 2008, they signed with Los Angeles-based SideOneDummy Records, a label they shared with Flogging Molly. They released The Whole Fam Damily on August 5, 2008 through the label, and it entered the Billboard Blues Chart at #4.[19] They released three additional albums with SideOneDummy - The Wages, Payton on Patton and Between The Ditches.
September 18, 2014 the band announced that they signed with Shanachie Entertainment's recently revived Yazoo Records label, which previously had specialized in reissues. The label announced that "The release of this album marks the first time that a contemporary artist has been released on Yazoo". Their next album So Delicious will be released on February 17, 2015.[20][4]
Touring
The Big Damn Band plays more than 250 dates per year,[3] principally in the United States and Canada, but they have toured Europe and the United Kingdom as well. The majority of their dates are headlining, but they have opened for an eclectic mix of other artists, and played festivals. Their 2007 and 2008 tours included opening dates for the Celtic punk band Flogging Molly,[21] progressive bluegrass band Hot Buttered Rum and the Dirty Dozen Brass Band.
In 2009, they toured opening for Clutch, an extensive headlining tour of Europe and began their relationship with the Van's Warped Tour, playing played 12 dates in 2009 on the Kevin Says stage. They were on the entire 2010 Van's Warped Tour[22] on the Alternative Press stage and their song Clap Your Hands is on disc one of the 2010 Warped Tour compilation CD. They received the Best Band of Warped Tour award, voted by the crew, bands, and promoters.
The band has played other festivals such as Austin City Limits,[23] Telluride, and the Bonnaroo Festival on June 9, 2011.[24] They have also played blues festivals and venues in Italy, Switzerland and Austria, and spent the fall of 2011 touring Europe.[25]
The band played the 2011 Sturgis Motorcycle Rally for five consecutive evenings, August 7 through August 11 at the Full Throttle Saloon, the "World's Largest Biker Bar" that is only open ten days per year.
On March 6, 2013 they launched the Big Damn Blues Revolution Tour with Jimbo Mathus & Grammy Winner Alvin Youngblood Hart in Columbia, Missouri.[26]
Media appearances
The Reverend Peyton's Big Damn Band has been featured on Sirius Satellite Radio, has played multiple showcases at the South by Southwest music conference, and has been the musical guest on Michael Feldman's Whad'Ya Know?. Their music is featured in the award-winning film Mississippi Cold Case by Canadian documentarian David Ridgen. Their song "Your Cousin's On Cops" led to a gig as the house band on a Jerry Springer Pay-Per-View special.[27] In 2008 the band was featured in the Bikes, Blues and Barbecue motorcycle festival in Fayetteville, Arkansas.
The band was featured in a cover story of the April/May 2009 issue of Blues Review magazine, and has appeared in a feature on CNN.[28]
On January 10, 2013 the Indianapolis Star newspaper reported that the band had licensed four songs to the US cable television network Showtime series Shameless. The first song was used in the soundtrack of the 8th episode of the 3rd series, which premiered on March 10, 2013.[29] Their song Something For Nothing appears on the series soundtrack album, released April 15, 2014.[30]
The Reverend Peyton's Big Damn Band - Full Show - Reggie's Rock Club
Full show by the Reverend Peyton's Big Damn Band at Reggie's Rock Club in Chicago IL, March 15, 2014.
Julien Kasper *30.03.1962
"Soul,
groove, melody, tone, and the element of surprise are my priorities as a
composer and an improviser... as a guitarist I am coming equally from
the schools of rock, jazz, and blues." (Guitar World, October 2007) The
subject was Julien Kasper’s 2006 CD The New Imperial and with the
release of his latest effort Trance Groove, Julien has upped the ante
while remaining true to his vision.As with The New Imperial (Nugene Records, 2006) and Flipping Time (Toulcat Records, 2003), on Trance Groove Julien's guitar is the nuanced, expressive singing voice of this all instrumental journey. Funky grooves, catchy melodies, psychedelic soundscapes, soulful gospel blues, epic rock guitar, and a stunning acoustic ballad coexist with rare, natural continuity.
Trance Groove features a guest appearance by Hammond B3 organist T Lavitz of the Dixie Dregs, Widespread Panic, and Jazz is Dead. Live and on record Julien’s choice of rhythm section reflects his aesthetic of groove and group interaction. Bassist Jesse Williams and drummer Zac Casher have, between them, performed and/or recorded with a who’s who of American roots and groove masters: Johnny Adams, Duke Robillard, Mighty Sam McClain, Immani Coppala, Mighty Sam McClain, D’Angelo, Jay McShann, Henry Butler, and countless others.
The international community of blues and jazz fans became aware of Julien through his work with pianist and Hammond B-3 organist Bruce Katz on their extensive tours throughout the US and Europe. He recorded two CDs with the Bruce Katz Band on Audioquest: Mississippi Moan and Three Feet off the Ground. Julien has also recorded with Mighty Sam McClain: Journey and Soul Survivor on Telarc.
Julien was born in France in 1962 to American parents and spent his youth as an army child moving around the American south. Inspired by Bob Dylan and the Beatles, he took up the guitar at the age of eight. In 1978 at sixteen, while living in Tallahassee, Florida, Julien began touring with the legendary blues/rock band Crosscut Saw featuring harmonica virtuoso and singer Pat Ramsey. After several years and one album (recently reissued on Akarma), Julien decided to seek more challenging musical terrain. He moved to the fertile music town of Austin, TX where he gigged constantly, honing his skill among the city’s heavy hitting players for four years.
Despite the great musicians in Austin, Julien was frustrated by the lack of a vibrant jazz scene so he accepted a scholarship to attend the jazz program at the University of Miami. He put himself through school playing with IKO IKO, the house band at Tobacco Road, Miami’s blues and roots mecca, which allowed him to share the stage with a who’s who of blues legends and touring artists. An improvisational blues/jam band, IKO IKO gave Julien the opportunity to develop and organically integrate the advanced concepts he was learning in school into his virtuosic blues/rock sound. After graduating from UM Julien received another offer too good to refuse - a jazz guitar fellowship at University of North Texas - which brought him back to Texas in 1992 to complete his Master’s degree. While in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area Julien expanded his musical boundaries by gigging in country, blues, rock, and jazz groups and launching the first edition of the Julien Kasper Band with drummer Keith Carlock (Steely Dan, Sting, Wayne Krantz).
Julien is now based in Boston, Massachusetts where, in addition to writing, performing, and recording his original music, he is a professor on the guitar faculty at Berklee College of Music and an avid all-season surfer. “The Berklee gig is ideal in that I can impart my values and extensive performance experience to younger generations of talented musicians while interacting with a faculty of renowned international artists. The school encourages me to tour and record as my professional profile serves to enhance the reputation of the college and my own artistry. Surfing brings me into elemental contact with nature. Riding a wave is interaction with pure energy and the closest thing I can find to musical improvisation in that technique, knowledge, and experience all are at play but, ultimately, one must improvise and react to the purity of each passing moment.”
Edwin Kimmler wurde am 30.03.1962 in Landshut / Bayern geboren und begann bereits im Alter von zehn Jahren intensiv Musik zu machen.
Ohne Lehrer und ohne Noten erarbeitete er sich nach und nach seine musikalischen Grundlagen und absolvierte 1978 seine ersten Konzerte.
Seit dieser Zeit stand er mehr als 2000 mal auf den Podien von Kleinkunstbühnen oder Festivals und ist bekannt dafür, daß er sich bei jedem Konzert bis zur Erschöpfung verausgabt. Die Musik Edwins kann wohl am ehesten als eine Mixtur aus Blues, Soul, Boogie Woogie und Swing beschrieben werden, wobei er regelmäßige Ausflüge in andere Stilbereiche wie z.B. Rumba, Bossa Nova oder Calypso immer gerne mal unternimmt.
Virtuos und gefühlvoll setzt er seinen Stilmix mit den Instrumenten Klavier, Gitarre und Mundharmonika um. Außerdem verfügt er über eine sehr kräftige Stimme, die er ausdrucksstark und variationsreich einsetzt.
Edwins Konzertprogramm besteht aus Eigenkompositionen und sehr eigenwilligen Bearbeitungen von Titeln anderer Künstler. Es ist und war ihm immer sehr wichtig, eigenständige Musik zu machen, was sich mittlerweile in einem unverkennbaren, sehr persönlichen Stil ausdrückt. In seinen eigenen Texten verarbeitet der Künstler immer Eindrücke von Begebenheiten, die er selber erlebt hat. In ganz Deutschland, Österreich, der Schweiz und in Tschechien hat der puplikumsnahe Musiker schon gespielt und die Konzertgäste haben immer getobt.
Edwin will, daß es den Leuten gut geht bei seiner Musik – so wie er es für sich selbst auch empfindet getreu der Aussage eines eigenen Songs:
Edwin Kimmler TAKE ME BACK TO SAVANNAH
Edwin Kimmler plays, 'You Talk Too Much,' 6 Dez 2015
Edith Wilson (September 2, 1896 – March 30, 1981) was an American blues singer and vaudeville performer.[1][2]
Biography
Born Edith Goodall in Louisville, Kentucky, Wilson's first professional experience came in 1919 in Louisville's Park Theater.[2] Lena Wilson and her brother, Danny, performed in Louisville; Edith married Danny and joined their act as a trio. Danny, a pianist who had trained at a conservatory in Charleston, South Carolina, encouraged Lena and Edith to sing not just blues but other song forms as well.[3] Together the trio performed on the East Coast in 1920-21, and when they were in New York City Wilson was picked up by Columbia, who recorded her in 1921 with Johnny Dunn's Jazz Hounds.[4] She signed with Columbia in 1921 recorded 17 tunes with Dunn in 1921-22. In 1924 she worked with Fletcher Henderson in New York, where she was slated to sing with Coleman Hawkins, but Hawkins refused to perform because he wanted additional compensation for the performance. She remained a popular Columbia artist through 1925.[2]
Wilson recorded far less than other female blues stars of the 1920s like Bessie Smith (after she left Columbia in 1925, she recorded one record for Brunswick in 1929 and a handful of sides for Victor in 1930); she remained a nightclub and theater singer, working for years on the New York entertainment scene. She sang with Florence Mills in the Lew Leslie Plantation Review in Harlem, and made several trips to England, where she was well received. She sang with The Hot Chocolates revue, performing alongside Louis Armstrong and Fats Waller, and made appearances with Bill Robinson, Duke Ellington, Alberta Hunter, Cab Calloway, and Noble Sissle.[2]
Wilson also did extensive work as an actress, appearing on radio with Amos and Andy and on film in To Have and Have Not (1944). Shortly after World War II Wilson became the face of Aunt Jemima pancake mix. She retired from active performance in 1963, becoming executive secretary for the Negro Actors Guild, but made a comeback in 1973 to play with Eubie Blake, Little Brother Montgomery, and Terry Waldo.[2] Her last live show was given at the 1980 Newport Jazz Festival.[2]
Wilson died in Chicago in March 1981.
Biography
Born Edith Goodall in Louisville, Kentucky, Wilson's first professional experience came in 1919 in Louisville's Park Theater.[2] Lena Wilson and her brother, Danny, performed in Louisville; Edith married Danny and joined their act as a trio. Danny, a pianist who had trained at a conservatory in Charleston, South Carolina, encouraged Lena and Edith to sing not just blues but other song forms as well.[3] Together the trio performed on the East Coast in 1920-21, and when they were in New York City Wilson was picked up by Columbia, who recorded her in 1921 with Johnny Dunn's Jazz Hounds.[4] She signed with Columbia in 1921 recorded 17 tunes with Dunn in 1921-22. In 1924 she worked with Fletcher Henderson in New York, where she was slated to sing with Coleman Hawkins, but Hawkins refused to perform because he wanted additional compensation for the performance. She remained a popular Columbia artist through 1925.[2]
Wilson recorded far less than other female blues stars of the 1920s like Bessie Smith (after she left Columbia in 1925, she recorded one record for Brunswick in 1929 and a handful of sides for Victor in 1930); she remained a nightclub and theater singer, working for years on the New York entertainment scene. She sang with Florence Mills in the Lew Leslie Plantation Review in Harlem, and made several trips to England, where she was well received. She sang with The Hot Chocolates revue, performing alongside Louis Armstrong and Fats Waller, and made appearances with Bill Robinson, Duke Ellington, Alberta Hunter, Cab Calloway, and Noble Sissle.[2]
Wilson also did extensive work as an actress, appearing on radio with Amos and Andy and on film in To Have and Have Not (1944). Shortly after World War II Wilson became the face of Aunt Jemima pancake mix. She retired from active performance in 1963, becoming executive secretary for the Negro Actors Guild, but made a comeback in 1973 to play with Eubie Blake, Little Brother Montgomery, and Terry Waldo.[2] Her last live show was given at the 1980 Newport Jazz Festival.[2]
Wilson died in Chicago in March 1981.
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