This biography is a summary of Georges Lang's RTL sagas and Benoit Felter's Clapton de Benoit Felier (Albin Michel).

     Eric Clapton (E.C) is one of the rare guitar virtuosos for whom the qualifier of genie seems indisputable. All along his 40-year career, he has registered or participated to a hundred of albums, a lot of masterpiece them, which give him the title of an incontestable rock and blues monument.

    EC, also known as Eric Patrick Clapp for birth registers, was born on March 30, 1945, in Ripley in Surrey at 30 miles from London. Left by his mother, EC will be bring up by his grand-parents. His grand-parents offered him his first guitar for his thirteenth birthday, a Spanish Hoya, with which he learnt playing the guitar after his studies at Kingston College of Arts.

" The first guitar I had was an acoustic one with cat bowels, and it never suits me. I really tried, but after one and half year I gave up. I get interested in guitars after listening Muddy Waters, I got the impression that what he did was easy to play. I was wrong. I wanted an electric guitar and my grand-parents bought it. "

  But EC quickly left his studies and lives in London like a bohemian. He' just 16 and discovers Muddy Waters, Bill Big Bronzy and Robert Johnson whom he affects particularly.

" After my arrival, we finalized some of these little tricks which give to blues classics some interest. The one which best worked was "Rave Up", a parallel rise of all the instruments, louder and louder; once at the top, we down together and took the theme again. It was our specialty. "

    They produced them at The Marquee (mythical place for the beginning of the success of The Rolling Stones) and at the Crawdaddy.

"The Yardbirds were right now popular. We even made the first parts of the Beatles for three weeks, for 1964 Christmas show, in Hammersmith. As Hammersmith was our predilection place, our fans came in mass and assure themselves that The Yardbirds were as applauded as The Beatles."

   EC recorded two live albums : "Five live Yardbirds" (10.03.1963 at The Marquee) and "Sonny Boy Williamson and the Yardbirds" , a 4 track LP, and 3 singles including "For your love". He then used a Fender Telecaster.
   "For your love" is a turning point for the Yardbirds. With this song (second in the UK charts and sixth in the Amercian ones), the y had chosen to leave the traditional blues for a more commercial pop-rock. For EC, it is a treason and leave the group on March 1995 before the release of the disc.