Saturday, September 19, 2009

Eric Clapton - A Legendary Musical Genius

By John Newcomb

Eric Clapton is one of the most famous guitar players in the world. He is known for his very unique, bluesy guitar style that has earned him the nickname of "Slowhand". He has released several chart topping albums both alone, and with the bands Cream, the Yardbirds, and Derek and the Dominos.

Eric Clapton was born on March 30, 1945 in Ripley, Surrey, England. He picked up the guitar at an early age and his musical prowess was soon evident. He was deeply influenced by blues music, and his musical genres as an artist spanned across rock, blues rock, blues and psychedelic rock. Clapton has been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame three times.

Clapton started his professional music career with the rock band, The Yardbirds in 1963. He soon left the band in 1965 since he believed their sound to be very pop oriented. As a blues guitarist, Clapton was uncomfortable with the overtly pop nature of the Yardbirds.

After quitting the Yardbirds, Clapton joined John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers. This stint had a tremendous influence on him and helped him become the preeminent blues guitartist that we know today. But within an year, Clapton left the Bluesbreakers to form the band, Cream in 1966. At the helm of Cream, Clapton started developing his skills as a singer and a songwriter along with handling lead guitar duties. The band Cream was very successful since its inception, but broke up within two years in 1968.

Eric Clapton has been playing with a number of bands and solo ever since, releasing a number of albums spanning across the genres of rock, blues rock, and psychedelic. Some of his best known songs include 'Layla', 'Tears in Heaven', 'Crossroads', 'Cocaine' and 'Wonderful Tonight'.

John has been writing online for over 3 years. His most recent entry was about Gressoney hotel after he visited the Italian ski resort. This blog is maintained at Hotel Gressoney.

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