Eric Clapton Biography

Clapton once dated Sheryl Crow and has had children with Lori Del Santo, Yvonne Kelly, Melia McEnery and Patti-Boyd Harrison, about whom he wrote the song “Layla”.

His son Connor, with Lori Del Santo, died in a fall from a 53rd floor apartment in March 1991. Clapton's Grammy-winning song “Tears in Heaven” was dedicated to the memory of his son.

He received an OBE in 1995, and a CBE in the Queen’s 2003 New Year’s Eve Honours List, for his services to music. Clapton was also on the short list of guitarists to replace Brian Jones, formerly of the Rolling Stones.

Clapton gave his seat on a helicopter to Chicago to Stevie Ray Vaughan. The helicopter tragically crashed and Vaughan, along with Clapton's manager, was killed.

He was voted the 53rd Greatest Rock 'n' Roll Artist of all time by Rolling Stone magazine.

While many believe that his nickname "Slow Hand(s)" appeared because his fingers are slow on the guitar, it is actually because once he played his guitar so hard that a string broke, and he took a while to re-string it. As he did so, the audience began a "slow hand" clap.