Here are some nice Facts about Eric Clapton, there may be some unknown details about this guitar legend for you
1- Eric Clapton was a so-called illegitimate child. In 1945, Clapton’s mother, Patricia Clapton, gave birth to Eric and then left him with his grandparents. Later Patricia had another family with another man, though she would come and visit Eric, who, for many years, thought Patricia was his older sister.
2- Like many other rock musicians such as John Lennon, Clapton attended art school, actually Kingston School of Art, where he did quite well until his love of playing the blues superseded his love of art.
3- During Clapton’s early playing days, he would often break the number one string on his guitar and have to re-string it while the audience waited. Often the audience would break into a slow handclap, so one of Eric’s bandmates dubbed him “Slowhand,” a nickname that’s stuck ever since..
4- When Clapton was only 20 years old, many people already thought of him as a guitar virtuoso. Somebody wrote on the wall of the Islington subway station: “Clapton is God.” And then many others began scrawling this graffiti all over London.
5-In London late in 1966, guitarist Jimi Hendrix came to town. (Hendrix had come from the U.S. to England, hoping to be discovered.) Clapton and Hendrix became quick friends and would go from nightclub to nightclub and jam with the musicians in the bands, blowing away everybody.
6-In 1967, Clapton took his first psychedelic drug. This was actually STP, a very potent hallucinogen, which would reportedly keep a person stoned for up to three days. (Clapton wrote that he actually stayed inebriated for this long.) While tripping, Clapton recalls listening to one of the first acetates of the Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, which the Beatles had supposedly written while on LSD.
7- Late in 1968, the disbanding of Cream, often considered rock’s first supergroup, may have surprised many people, but Clapton wrote that he, Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker had grown complacent, self-centered and arrogant. In fact, Clapton thought the band was nothing but a con. Once Clapton listened to The Band’s album, Music from Big Pink,which showed the influence of various styles of music and was very communicative, he wanted out of Cream.
8- Clapton became good friends with George Harrison. About the time Harrison showed Clapton his new song, “Here Comes the Sun,” Clapton realized he was falling in love with George’s wife, Pattie Boyd-Harrison.
9- After the demise of Cream, Clapton formed Blind Faith, his first collaboration with Steve Winwood. But this group only lasted a period of months and produced only one album. Clapton thought the group was short-lived because he refused to be the front man, and also because he was falling under the spell of their backup band, Delaney & Bonnie, his next musical liaison.
10- Derek and the Dominos, another of Clapton’s groups, didn’t last long either, though it produced “Layla,” one of the greatest love songs in the history of rock ‘n’ roll. Clapton had written “Layla” with Pattie Boyd-Harrison in mind, that is to say his – as yet – unrequited love for her.
11- Clapton started his heroin habit in 1970. While Clapton was watching George Harrison put together his group, Badfinger, Clapton often used a dealer who, when he sold cocaine to people, required they also take a certain amount of smack, as it was called in those days. Afraid of needles, Clapton wrote that he never injected heroin, he snorted it instead.
12-In September 1970, Clapton bought a left-handed Stratocaster, hoping to give it to Jimi Hendrix, but Jimi passed on before Eric could give it to him.
13 – In order to beat Clapton’s heroin addiction, which lasted for about three years, he tried acupuncture using an electrical stimulator attached to his ears. This treatment, combined with abstinence from the drug, helped Clapton beat the addiction. Unfortunately, Clapton ended up replacing one drug with another, in this case, alcohol.
14 – While flying to Tulsa, Oklahoma for a gig, Clapton got drunk and had an altercation with another passenger. Then, after leaving the plane, the Tulsa police questioned Clapton about the argument and he began yelling at the cops until they threw him in jail.
15- In Frankfurt, Germany in November 1978, since Clapton had built a reputation as an inveterate drunk, when his manager canceled a show because of technical reasons, the headlines in national papers the next day read: ERIC CLAPTON – TOO DRUNK TO PLAY.
16- Clapton wrote the song “Wonderful Tonight” with Pattie Boyd (now divorced from George Harrison) in mind. And, on March 27, 1979 Clapton married Pattie, whom he often called Nell. Alas, Eric and Pattie were unable to have children, because Pattie had a medical condition which made her unable to conceive.
17 – Clapton entered Hazelden, a drug rehabilitation facility in Center City, Minnesota and was successfully treated for alcoholism and then released. However, just months later he relapsed and continued drinking for years, eventually hitting bottom again, when he composed a song entitled “Holy Mother,” in which he asked for help from God.
source : https://spinditty.com/artists-bands/23-Things-to-Know-about-Rock-Guitarist-Eric-Clapton