“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 it’s 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.

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