Eric Clapton

Eric Clapton’s music career really began when he took the lead guitar role in The Yardbirds in 1963. Clapton was heavily influenced by the blues and brought a Chicago blues style similar to guitarists such as Freddie King and Buddy Guy. Clapton left The Yardbirds in 1965 after he felt the band had gone too commercial and was playing too much “pop” music.

Eric then joined John Mayall and The Bluesbreakers and recorded one of the most influential guitar albums commonly referred to as the “Beano Album” because Clapton can be seen reading a copy of the comic “Beano” on the cover of the album. It was on the “Beano” album that Clapton brought together the Gibson Les Paul and a Marshall amplifier – a combination that today is still considered one of the best rock setups.

Clapton then formed Cream in 1966 with Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker and recorded a string of commercially successful albums. Clapton was also a part of a short-lived supergroup called Blind Faith that included Steve Winwood, but only recorded one album and the band dissolved in less than seven months.

From there Clapton spent time as a side-man in Delaney and Bonnie and Friends which lead to the formation of Derek and The Dominos. Eric Clapton recorded one of his most recognized albums, Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs, with Derek and The Dominos.

In 1974 Clapton released his first solo album, “461 Ocean Boulevard” which included Eric’s first #1 hit “I Shot The Sheriff” that helped popularize reggae music. “There’s One In Ever Crowd” was released in 1975 and was followed by the live album “E.C. Was Here” and in 1976 Clapton released “No Reason To Cry” and included the hit “Cocaine”.

In the 1980s Clapton worked with Phil Collins on two albums Behind The Sun and August which produced the hit It’s In The Way That You Use It that was featured in the film The Color of Money. Toward the end of the 1980s Eric Clapton released one of his best albums Journeyman which included the hits Running On Faith and Bad Love, the latter earning Clapton a Grammy Award. Clapton’s biggest album came from a live performance on MTV’s Unplugged TV show, title simply Unplugged and featured a tribute to his lost son called Tears in Heaven. Following the success of that show, in 1996 the Martin Guitar company released the Martin 000-28EC signature model which Clapton has called “utilitarian…in the very BEST sense of the word.”

Clapton shifted back toward more of his blues roots doing updated versions of some classic blues numbers on “From The Cradle”. Clapton won another Grammy Award for the hit song “Change The World” and released his first recording featuring brand new material with “Pilgrim”. At turn of the century Clapton released “Reptile”, a reflective album partially inspired by the death of Eric’s uncle and won a Grammy for Best Pop Instrumental Performance on the title track.

Eric then did a tribute album to Robert Johnson, re-recording his catalog on “Me and Mr. Johnson”. Clapton then released “Back Home” followed by “The Road To Escondido”, an album done in conjunction with J.J. Cale. Eric Clapton has a forthcoming album that he’s working on with Robbie Robertson.

Sources: Martin Guitar