The Daily Telegraph (27-03-1998)
by Barbue Dutter
Eric Clapton, the rock guitarist, is to learn more about the father he never knew and his survaving relatives.
The Daily Telegraph has found that Clapton, 53, has a half-sister in Florida, and a half-brother and another
half-sister, believed to be in Canada.
Clapton's mother, Patricia, became pregnant at the age of 16 by edward Fryer, a Canadian soldier stationed in England
during the war.
Fryer was a musical drifter, who made his living by singing and playing the piano in hotel bars. He was given a
dishonourable discharge after going AWOL at the end of the war, and spent his life roaming, latterly living on a boat.
He died of leukaemia in 1985.
Eva Jane Fryer, 30, said last night from her home in Florida : "I was speechless when I was told that Eric Clapton was
my brother. I have been listening to his music all my life and I never had an inkling."
Clapton was yesterday travelling to America for a three-month tour. His latest single, My father's eyes, prompted
a Canadian journalist to search for details of Mr Fryer.
A compelling portrait of the Father of Eric Clapton never knew has come to light, depicting him as a musical drifter
who made his living playing the piano in hotel bars after being discharged from the Canadian army.
The rock superstar's latest single, My father's eyes, which hints at regret at his lack of contact with his father,
now assumes added poignancy as he discovers that he paternal relatives in America and Canada.
One, a 30-year-old half-sister, lives in a trailer park in Florida with her daughter aged nine.
Until a few days ago she did not know that she shared a father with one of her favourite musician.
Only scant detail about Clapton's father has been documented to date. He was know to be Edward Fryer, a canadian serviceman,
who met Clapton's mother, Patricia, while stationed in England during the Second World War.
Patricia became pregnant at the age of 16 and her son was born in March 1945, by which time Mr Fryer had left. Clapton was
brought up by his grandparent in Ripley, Surrey, and believed for many years that his natural mother was his elder sister.
Now, as Clapton embarks on a three-month tour of America with his new album, Pilgrim, a much more intricate picture of
his father has been built up through Canadian armed forces records and interviews with Mr Fryer's relatives.
He was born Edward Walter Fryer, on March 21, 1920 in Montreal and left home at 14. He learned to play the piano and earned
a living singing and playing in bars and nightclubs in Montreal before enlisting in the army on July 17, 1940.
While stationed with the Canadian contingent in England, Mr Fryer continued to make extra money singing and playing in pubs.
When the regiments were order home in 1945, he failed to arrive at the boat and was listed AWOL. On Spetember 4, 1946, he was
given a dishonourable discharge.
Mr Fryer who died from leukaemia in 1985, is believed to have had numerous marriages or long-term relationships. Two of
these women have now been traced by Michael Woloschuck, a reporter with the Canadian newspaper the Ottawa citizen,
who unearthed details of Clapton's father after hearing My father's eyes on the radio.
Yvonne Colson was married to Mr Fryer between 1965 and 1971 and now lives in Winterhaven, Florida. The couple's daugher, Eva
Jane Fryer, is aged 30 and lives in a trailer park 20 miles from her mother in Lakeland.
Clapton also has a half-brother, Edward Jnr, and a half-sister, Sandra, from a relationship between Mr Fryer and a singer.
They are thought to be in their 40s and living in Canada.
Clapton, 53, who beat his drug depedency and alcoholism ad now helps recovering addicts, said he "went off the edge of the world"
after his five-year-old son Conor fell to his death from a high-rise apartment block in New York.
He recorded his desolation with the hugely succesful song, Tears in heaven, and has recently begun to build a
relationship with his 13-year-old daughter - born after a brief liaison in 1984.
In a recent interview, he spoke of his family, saying : "I'm still trying to find things out. I would like to know where he
is buried, or if there is a surviving family and how we are connected."
It is believed that Clapton knew his father's name, but little less about him.
Miss Fryer has no idea that she was related Clapton until Mr Woloschuck arrived at her trailer this month.
"It was a complete shock," she said yesterday. "I have been listening to his music all my life and I have never been had an
inkling. It is all so wonderful, because I have never had a brother and I would love to get to know him. I lve his music. I
have always loved his music. To think that I'm related to him - it's just mind-blowing. But I wan't to know that I am not after
his fame. I would like to have some physicla evidence, like a blood test, to be absolutely sure that we are rekated If he
is my brother, he is part of me and I'm part ofhim. I would just like to know him and maybe be part of his life".
Miss Fryer was born in Sainte Marie, Ontario, where her parents ran a teen dance club. She played the saxophone in her high
school band.
Mr Fryer continued to play i piano bars, where his repertoire was based on middle-of-the-road classics such as My way
and Raindrops keep falling on my head.
Mrs Colson, 67, who is only distnantly aware of Eric Clapton's music, said she was "overhelmed" by the ressembleance between
Clapton and his father. "In the pictures of Eric as he is now I could see Ted - in the eyes especially", she said. "It was
uncanny. I have been listening recently to the words of some of his songs and I feel that he is searching of information. I
can't tell him a lot about his father, but I would like to sit down and talk to him and tell him the good and bad things, so
that at least he knows."
Mrs Colson said that, while she had idolised her former husband, he was a selfish and lonely man. She said she was tot alk to
Clapton's mother in an effort to help both of them to resolve theri feelings towards Mr Fryer.
Mr Fryer was also gifted artist and sign-painter, which help him to pay the bills and funded his travelling lifestyle.
He spent his later years living on a boat, Jupiter IV, with his common-law wife, Sylvia Nickason, who now receives a military
widow's pension. He would dock the boat in Port Darlington, on the shores of Lake Ontario, in the summer, then sail down the
east coast fo America to Florida fro the winter months.
Miss Nickason, 79, told the Ottawa citizen : "I remember my first time
on the boat. all w had to eat was bread and jar of peanut butter. But we had
a nice sunset to watch that night and Ted took me in his arms and said, 'I wonder
what the poor people are doing right now?'"
He died on May 15, 1985. Miss Nickason added : "We had Ted cremated and I danced
with his ashes on the boat. then we scattered his ashes in the water."
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