THE legendary song-maker is behind some of the biggest hits of all time but harboured a hidden private life.
Here’s everything you need to know about the icon, the musician and the man…
Eric Clapton CBE was born in Surrey on the 30th March in 1945 – making him 75.
His mother was just 16-years-old when he was born and his father was a Canadian soldier who was shipped off to war before his birth and then returned to Montreal.
Until he was nine, he believed his grandparents Rose and Jack Clapp were his mother and father, and his mum Patricia his sister. When he learned the truth, Patricia did not want to know.
He said: “I felt hurt, I was a mess. It seemed my life had been a lie.”
His father Edward Fryer, whom he never met, was said to have been a talented musician.
Eric had his first introduction to music at the age of thirteen when he was given a Hoyer guitar but he found it difficult to use and refused to play it.
But it wasn’t until two years later that little Eric picked it back up and never put it back down again.
Since then Eric has gone on to become one of the most acclaimed musicians of all time.
He’s the only person ever to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame three times – once with the Yardbirds, once with Cream and the third time as a solo artist.
Besides his number one hit Tears In Heaven – Eric has had a slew of smash hits.
He’s responsible for some of the most well-known and loved songs of all time, including –
Eric married Melia McEnery in 2002 and shares three daughters with her – Julie rose, b. 2001, Ella May, b. 2003 and Sophie Belle b. 2005.
He was previously married to model Patti Boyd from 1979-1988.
His daughter Ruth, born in 1985, is from an affair with married studio manager Yvonne Kelly in 1984.
And he had son Conor in 1986 with Italian model Lory del Santo in an extra-marital affair.
Four-and-a-half year old Conor tragically died in 1991 when he fell from an open bedroom window from the 53rd floor of a Manhattan apartment building.
He had been playing a game of hide-and-seek with his nanny.
Eric only discovered the tragedy when he arrived to pick his young son up and take him to the zoo.
His hits Tears In Heaven and Circus Left Town were written about Conor.
Eric became a grandfather when his daughter Ruth gave birth to her son Isaac in 2013.
The documentary ‘Eric Clapton: Life in 12 Bars?’ will air on BBC Two at 9:15pm this evening.
The two-hour special charts the life of the iconic musician through family videos, archive footage and sets out to show what lay behind the scenes of his public life.
Included in the production is a look back on the vile racist rant he made during a 1970s gig while off his head on drink and drugs.
And there’s plenty here for the music fan to savour, with rare footage of multi-tracks being unearthed from many of his guises.
Ahead of the film’s release Eric admitted: “When I saw it I thought, ‘I don’t know if I can handle this’ — and I still don’t know if I can.”
Life In 12 Bars does not shy away from anything, or gloss over any past bad behaviour by the guitar hero nicknamed Slow Hand.
He also opens up about his heroin abuse, alcoholism, womanising, being rejected by his birth mother, the death of his son Conor and how he tempted model Pattie Boyd away from his best pal George Harrison.
Eric asked his good friend Lili Fini Zanuck to tell his life story without him exerting any editorial control.
The subsequent documentary shows. incredible archive footage and amazingly candid interviews.
Her film shows how the once shy “nice guy” had become a raging maniac in the mid 1970s, threatening his fans and screaming at then-girlfriend Pattie.
In a typical day he would down a bottle of cognac before lunch, then snort cocaine from a knife. In some footage he looks totally wasted.
