Eric Clapton

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British musician, a strong lead vocalist who has played blues guitar in various bands. Starting guitar at 17, his early career was in John Mayall's "Bluesbreakers," "The Yardbirds," "Cream," "Blind Faith" and "Derek and the Dominoes." With an easygoing, commercial style, he regularly sells gold, making the Top Ten in 1981 with "I Can't Stand It." Clapton won Best Rock Instrumental Performance at the Grammy's, 2/24/2000 and received his third indictment into the Rock'n'Roll Hall of Fame. Abandoned by his parents when young, he grew up a nasty kid, getting into drugs and trouble. His heroin habit became a burden from which he withdrew in 1971-1972, and kicked in 1973 with the help of becoming a confirmed Christian. He married Patti Boyd Harrison in 1979. His son Conor, born with Italian actress Lory Del Santo, was killed 3/21/1991 when he fell from a 53rd story window, New York. "Tears in Heaven" is a tribute to Conor. The top floor of Clapton's West London home was almost completely destroyed by fire 5/25/1996. In April 1998, Clapton announced building an alcohol and drug rehab facility in the West Indies island of Antigua. A recovering addict himself, the center is modeled after the Betty Ford Clinic. On 6/24/1999, a collection of 100 Clapton guitars sold for $5,072,350 at auction in New York City. The amount the guitars sold for was approximately four times what most thought they would fetch at auction. The proceeds from the guitars went to the Crossroads Centre, Clapton's above-mentioned rehab facility on Antigua. Clapton, 57, and his girlfriend, Melia McEnery, 25, welcomed daughter Julie Rose on 6/12/2001, Columbus, OH. They married at the time of her christening in early January 2002 in the Surrey village of Ripley. In October 2009 Clapton underwent gall bladder surgery which forced him to cancel his performances at a Hall of Fame concert on October 30th. Link to Wikipedia biography Link to Astrodienst discussion forum