Eric Clapton: A Life in Music

(Book). Eric Clapton: A Life in Music tells the story a man who is arguably the world’s greatest guitar player. Written by Clapton expert Marc Roberty, author of the incredibly detailed two-volume music chronicle Eric Clapton, Day by Day (Backbeat Books), this book covers the entirety of Clapton’s impressively long career (the artist celebrated his fiftieth year in music in 2013). Clapton’s own autobiography was light on music, concentrating more on the hardships in his life and how he overcame them, but Roberty’s biography goes beyond that, with special emphasis on Clapton’s music, making this biography a critical companion to Clapton’s own book. Roberty starts with Clapton’s early days in the Roosters and moves on to the artist’s years with the Yardbirds through to John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers, Cream, Blind Faith, Derek and the Dominos, and a highly successful solo career that is still going strong. The volume looks in-depth at his relationships with band members and why he left them all to pursue a solo career and includes details about all of Clapton’s major musical endeavors.