Eric Clapton was born on March 30th, 1945 in Ripley, a small village outside of London. He was raised by his grandparents and thought they were his parents until he was 9 years old.The shock of this discovery sent him on a search of trying to figure out who he was. Through his misfortune of discovering such pain, we have been aloud to see the many sides of his talents.The first band Clapton joined was the R&B band The Roosters. The Roosters only lasted a few months, but the bassist, Tom McGuinness, would be the one that turned Clapton onto the blues guitarist Freddie King. The Roosters would play John Lee Hooker and Muddy Waters tunes,which sharpened Claptons playing. This is when it was apparent that he had something special to offer. After a brief stay with "Casey Jones and the Engineers", Clapton joined the "Yardbirds". Claptons personal preferance in music style clashed with that of the Yardbirds, and he ended up leaving them to pursue his love of black music. This would lead him to the "Bluesbreakers" which he joined in 1965. They would release the "John Mayall with Eric Clapton LP". Clapton would do his first lead vocal song on that LP,and it was "Ramblin On MY Mind". Clapton developed a following of fans that started the phrase "Clapton Is God",which boosted Claptons ego in the beginning. He then took a short break from the band and when he returned, was introduced to a new member, Jack Bruce. Bruce added a jazz flair to the band and Clapton liked the sound. From that experience "Cream" emerged. Clapton would open up new doors in the Rock and Roll world. Before this, most of the audience that bands would play for were screaming teeny-boppers. Now, adults would fill the audience and viewed "Cream" in a way that only Blues and Jazz had been seen and analyzed. This was when Clapton took the role of guitar hero. After a bad review from Rolling Stones magazine,in which they said that the bands performance was boring and repetitious, Clapton agreed and the band dissolved six months later. This opened the door for developing another band,and "Blind Faith" would emerge in early 1969 and desolved in late 1969. Following this.."Derek and the Dominoes were created. Clapton avoided using his own name in this period. Although they were a great success the band desolved yet again in 1971. After that, Claptons drug habit worsened and kept him out of the pubic for the rest of 1971. Then in 1973 Pete Townshend organized a concert in London's Rainbow Theatre for Clapton's return. Later that year he over came his drug addiction. He then released the 461 Ocean Boulevard LP, which was his great comeback LP.Since that time Bob Dylan, Bob Marley, J.J. Cale,and country singer Don Williams, along with the blues idiols that influenced Clapton is behind is most notable work of the late Seventies and Eighties. This is only a small protion of what makes up Eric Clapton...but want a gift it has all resulted in for all of us to enjoy such talent.