Sonic Editions

“Clapton is God” - scrawled across a brickwork wall in Islington, 1967.

Born to his sixteen-year-old mother and a temporarily stationed Canadian soldier, Clapton grew up with his grandparents - where he would discover the blues on the strings of a second-hand Hoyer Guitar. Weaving styles from old town Chicago blues and artists like Buddy Guy, Muddy Waters, and B.B King, Clapton was soon recognised as the real deal; a blues prodigy. He was picked up by The Yardbirds, moved to form the Bluesbreakers and from there became one of the most sought-after guitar players for every supergroup in the circuit. Eric ‘Slowhand’ Clapton. ‘God’. The greatest blues player in the world. Relentlessly successful collaborations aside - Cream, Blind Faith, and Derek and the Dominos - Clapton’s personal life suffered. Despite a hiatus and recovery, difficulty would continue to haunt Clapton -- arguably reaching its nadir with the death of his young son Connor. It’s perhaps emblematic of Clapton’s relationship with success that ‘Tears in Heaven’ - a song born from the loss and grief Clapton experienced - came to be the most successful single of his career.