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By the time
Eric Clapton launched his solo career with the release of his self-titled
debut album in mid-1970, he was long established as one of the world's
major rock stars due to his group affiliations — the Yardbirds,
John Mayall's Bluesbreakers, Cream, and Blind Faith — affiliations
that had demonstrated his claim to being the best rock guitarist of
his generation. That it took Clapton so long to go out on his own, however,
was evidence of a degree of reticence unusual for one of his stature.
And his debut album, though it spawned the Top 40 hit "After Midnight,"
was typical of his self-effacing approach: it was, in effect, an album
by the group he had lately been featured in, Delaney & Bonnie &
Friends.
Not surprisingly, before his solo debut had even been released, Clapton
had retreated from his solo stance, assembling from the D&B&F
ranks the personnel for a group, Derek and the Dominos, with which he
played for most of 1970. Clapton was largely inactive in 1971 and 1972,
due to heroin addiction, but he performed a comeback concert at the
Rainbow Theatre in London on January 13, 1973, resulting in the album
Eric Clapton's Rainbow Concert (September 1973).
But Clapton did not launch a sustained solo career until July 1974,
when he released 461 Ocean Boulevard, which topped the charts and spawned
the number one single "I Shot the Sheriff."
The persona Clapton established over the next decade was less that of
guitar hero than arena rock star with a weakness for ballads. The follow-ups
to 461 Ocean Boulevard, There's One in Every Crowd (March 1975), the
live E.C. Was Here (August 1975), and No Reason to Cry (August 1976),
were less successful. But Slowhand (November 1977), which featured both
the powerful "Cocaine" (written by JJ Cale, who had also written
"After Midnight") and the hit singles "Lay Down Sally"
and "Wonderful Tonight," was a million-seller. Its follow-ups,
Backless (November 1978), featuring the Top Ten hit "Promises,"
the live Just One Night (April 1980), and Another Ticket (February 1981),
featuring the Top Ten hit "I Can't Stand It," were all big
sellers.
Clapton's popularity waned somewhat in the first half of the '80s, as
the albums Money and Cigarettes (February 1983), Behind the Sun (March
1985), and August (November 1986) indicated a certain career stasis.
But he was buoyed up by the release of the box set retrospective Crossroads
(April 1988), which seemed to remind his fans of how great he was. Journeyman
(November 1989) was a return to form.
It would be his last new studio album for nearly five years, though
in the interim he would suffer greatly and enjoy surprising triumph.
On March 20, 1991, Clapton's four-year-old son was killed in a fall.
While he mourned, he released a live album, 24 Nights (October 1991),
culled from his annual concert series at the Royal Albert Hall in London,
and prepared a movie soundtrack, Rush (January 1992). The soundtrack
featured a song written for his son, "Tears in Heaven," that
became a massive hit single.
In March 1992, Clapton recorded a concert for MTV Unplugged that, when
released on an album in August, became his biggest-selling record ever.
Two years later, Clapton returned with a blues album, From the Cradle,
which became one of his most successful albums, both commercially and
critically. Crossroads 2: Live in the '70s, a box set chronicling his
live work from the '70s, was released to mixed reviews. In early 1997,
Clapton, billing himself by the pseudonym "x-sample," collaborated
with keyboardist/producer Simon Climie as the ambient new age and trip-hop
duo T.D.F. The duo released Retail Therapy to mixed reviews in early
1997.
Clapton retained Climie as his collaborator for Pilgrim, his first album
of new material since 1989's Journeyman. Pilgrim was greeted with decidedly
mixed reviews upon its spring 1998 release, but the album debuted at
number four and stayed in the Top 10 for several weeks on the success
of the single "My Father's Eyes." In 2000, Clapton teamed
up with old friend BB King on Riding With the King, a set of blues standards
and material from contemporary singer/songwriters. Another solo outing
entitled Reptile followed in early 2001. Three years later, Clapton
issued Me and Mr. Johnson, a collection of tunes honoring the Mississippi-born
bluesman Robert Johnson. 2005's Back Home, Clapton's 14th album of original
material, reflected his ease with fatherhood.
This
bio courtesy www.allmusic.com
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