Before Eric Clapton was dubbed “Slowhand,” and before “Clapton is God” was famously scrawled on a London subway, Clapton was an introspective English school boy who was more interested in listening to the blues than doing homework.

According to the Eric Clapton Biography, Clapton was the result of an affair between a 16-year-old girl and a Canadian soldier stationed in England during Wold War II, Clapton was raised by his grandparents in a musical household. His grandfather played piano in several dance bands and his grandparents bought him his first guitar, a German made acoustic when he was 13. When Clapton was 16-years-old his grandparents chipped in to help him buy his first electric guitar – a semi-hallow clone of a Gibson ES-335. While Clapton was an above-average student as a child, as he grew up the blues started to consume every waking moment of his life, eventually causing him to be expelled from Kingston College of the Arts for poor academic performance.

Clapton played the R&B pub circuit, quickly becoming the most talked about guitarist on the scene before being skyrocketed to fame with the Yardbirds. Clapton left the band when the Yardbirds became too commercial for him with their single “For Your Love.”

Through his 40-plus-years as a professional musician, Eric Clapton Songs have drawn from his love of the blues and his personal life. Some of his best known songs stem from personal tribulations - “Layla,” his well known hit with Derick and the Dominoes, was inspired by his unrequited love for his friend George Harrison’s wife, Patty Harrison, and his 1992 Grammy-winning single “Tears in Heaven” drew from his personal tragedy of loosing his young son Connor.

Though Clapton has stayed true to his love of the blues, he has also explored other genres. In the 1980s he wrote film scores, and throughout his career he has work with a large number of artists from Steve Winwood to Aretha Franklin, Bob Dylan, Roger Waters, and Elton John. While his heart has always been for the blues, which he explored with projects such as “Cradle to Grave,” and “Me and Mr. Johnson,” Clapton has also explored rock with Cream, soul with his solo album “Pilgrim,” and electronica with “Retail Therapy.”

Eric Clapton Tour Dates bring him on solo performances through the U.K. and then to the United States with Steve Winwood for the summer.