Eric Clapton

A love letter to another man's wife, disguised as a rock song and now considered one of the greatest albums ever recorded.

With Derek and the Dominos, Clapton recorded "Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs" in 1970. The title track, driven by Clapton's anguished vocals and Duane Allman's slide guitar, became one of the most recognisable rock songs ever written. Inspired by the Persian love story of Layla and Majnun, the song was Clapton's coded declaration of love for Pattie Boyd, then married to his close friend George Harrison. The album was a commercial disappointment on release but is now considered one of the greatest rock records of all time.

A Bob Marley cover took Clapton to number one; survival, it turned out, suited him beautifully.

The early 1970s were dark years. Clapton retreated from public life, battling heroin addiction. His comeback album, "461 Ocean Boulevard", arrived in 1974 and reached number one in the US, driven by his cover of Bob Marley's "I Shot the Sheriff". The record marked a shift towards a more laid-back, less virtuosic style. Clapton had survived, and the music that followed was warmer, more reflective, and arguably more honest than anything he had done before.

Over 200 concerts at a single venue; the Royal Albert Hall did not merely host Clapton, it became his home.

In 1987, Clapton played his first run of concerts at the Royal Albert Hall, beginning an annual residency that would eventually span over 200 shows at the venue. The Albert Hall became Clapton's spiritual home, a place where he could stretch out across blues, rock, and acoustic sets in front of an audience that knew every note. These residencies became some of the most sought-after tickets in London.

Twenty-six million copies sold; grief, it turns out, is the most universal language of all.

In March 1991, Clapton's four-year-old son Conor died after falling from a 53rd-floor window in New York. The tragedy produced "Tears in Heaven", released in 1992, and the "Unplugged" album recorded for MTV. Both became massive commercial successes. "Unplugged" sold over 26 million copies worldwide and won six Grammy Awards, including Album of the Year and Record of the Year. It remains one of the best-selling live albums in history.

Three Hall of Fame inductions. No other artist has managed that.

By the turn of the millennium, Clapton had been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame three times: with the Yardbirds in 1992, as a solo artist in 2000, and with Cream in 1993. No other artist has achieved this. He had also won 18 Grammy Awards, a CBE, and the Ivor Novello Award for Lifetime Achievement. His Crossroads Guitar Festival, launched in 2004, became a celebration of the instrument he had done more than almost anyone to elevate.

Tickets vanished in under a minute; nearly 37 years of silence distilled into four Royal Albert Hall nights.

In May 2005, Clapton, Jack Bruce, and Ginger Baker reunited as Cream for four concerts at the Royal Albert Hall, nearly 37 years after their farewell shows at the same venue. Tickets sold out in under a minute. The performances were raw, loud, and occasionally shambolic in the best possible way. Three further shows followed at Madison Square Garden in October. It was the last time the trio would play together before Bruce's death in 2014 and Baker's in 2019.

Seventy years old, two sold-out nights at the Garden, and his hands still doing the talking.

Clapton marked his 70th birthday with two sold-out concerts at Madison Square Garden in May 2015, featuring guest appearances from John Mayer, Jimmie Vaughan, and others. Despite publicly discussing peripheral neuropathy in his hands and hearing loss, he continued to tour and record. His 2016 album "I Still Do", produced by Glyn Johns, was a quiet, reflective record that proved his touch on the instrument remained unmistakable.

Two hundred nights at the Royal Albert Hall, and Slowhand still has more to say.

At 78, Clapton embarked on a world tour in 2023 that included dates across Europe, North America, and Japan. He played the Royal Albert Hall once again, bringing his total number of performances at the venue past 200. The setlists drew from every era: Cream deep cuts alongside "Wonderful Tonight", "Cocaine", and the inevitable "Layla". For an artist who has been performing for over sixty years, the guitar still speaks with the same authority it always did.