Eric Clapton’s Drug Addiction
Eric Clapton is one of the most talented and well known musical artists of all time. He is also well known for his heroin use and heavy drinking. One does not take away from the other. His music is pure talent. His drug addiction is simply that; addiction.
While we may not be able to pinpoint his exact beginning of heroin or alcohol use (although he states he remembers waking up in the woods at sixteen after getting drunk), we do know that Eric Clapton battled both addictions throughout the 70s. He was born in England and raised by his grandparents, actually believing that his mother was his sister until his grandmother confessed the truth to him around the age of nine.
It is said that the best novels written have an almost autobiographical ring to them, that the greatest songs are inspired by true life. Creative artists such as Eric Clapton show us this to be true as his own life has inspired some of the greatest songs of all time. His song Tears in Heaven is for his son Conor who died when he fell forty-nine stories from a Manhattan apartment.
Eric Clapton has known firsthand the joy of being one of the greatest rock stars in the world, the money and the fame, but he has also known firsthand the heartbreak of confusion as he was raised believing his mother to be his sister, disappointment as he had job problems on a musical level in several bands from Yardbirds to Bluesbreakers to Cream. Known as one of the greatest guitar players of all time, this writer would not doubt that Clapton would trade it all for Conor to return.
An irony associated with Eric Clapton is that some people complain his music suffered after he quit heroin. Maybe he is not sitting around using heroin and drinking heavily these days, but he is today what he was not then and that is a legend. Perhaps some of those who state this say so out of jealousy. Whatever the reason, Eric Clapton is synonymous with rock music, guitars and the 60s and 70s.
There are not too many people who can say they have been a tried and true favorite of three generations.. Even with his drug addiction, Eric Clapton will always be known as the original “Guitar Hero”. Even as he could fade into the sunset as being the only person ever inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame three times, he still began a recovery center to help others addicted to drugs and alcohol. When we give of ourselves because of lessons learned, we are doing the greatest thing ever asked of us and being good to one another. Eric Clapton was addicted to drugs and alcohol. Eric Clapton recovered and he wants you to recover, too.
