Slowhand: The Life and Music of Eric Clapton
CBC Books | | Posted: December 5, 2018 4:21 PM | Last Updated: December 5, 2018
Philip Norman
For half a century Eric Clapton has been acknowledged to be one of music's greatest virtuosos, the unrivalled master of an indispensable tool, the solid-body electric guitar. His career has spanned the history of rock, and often shaped it via the seminal bands with whom he's played: the Yardbirds, John Mavall's Bluesbreakers, Cream, Blind Faith, Derek and the Dominoes. Winner of 17 Grammys, the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame's only three-time inductee, he is an enduring influence on every other star soloist who ever wielded a pick.
Now, with Clapton's consent and access to family members and close friends, rock music's foremost biographer returns to the heroic age of British rock and follows Clapton through his distinctive and scandalous childhood, early life of reckless rock 'n' roll excess, and twisting & turning struggle with addiction in the 1960s and 1970s. Readers will learn about his relationship with Pattie Boyd — wife of Clapton's own best friend George Harrison — the tragic death of his son, which inspired one of his most famous songs, Tears in Heaven, and even the backstories of his most famed, and named, guitars. (From Little, Brown and Company)
From the book
It's December 1969, and lunchtime in a busy motorway cafeteria a few miles south of Leeds. Standing in the self-service queue are half a dozen young men whose shoulder-length hair, biblical beards and homespun clothes give them the look of nineteenth-century evangelists. Their fellow customers recognise them as rock musicians, pick up their mostly American accents and stare with curiosity or hostility, but no one yet realises that they include George Harrison.
Since the time of America's Moon landing in July, it has been clear the Beatles are headed for break-up and that, with the saddest synchronicity, they and the 1960s may come to an end together. But every press report has the fractious four battling behind closed doors in London's Mayfair. How can one of them — especially the most private, fastidious one — possibly be 170 miles to the north, in this unsympathetic environment of harsh strip-lights, clashing trays and greasy smells?
From Slowhand by Philip Norman ©2018. Published by Little, Brown and Company.