Eric Clapton
At the age of 13, Eric Clapton became interested in music. His favorite artists were Chuck Berry and Buddy Holly. Already as a student of the school of fine arts, Clapton began to play the guitar imitating his then blues idols: B. B. King, Big Bill Broonzy, and Muddy Waters. In 1963, he began working with the rhythm and blues group The Roosters. The next formation is Casey Jones And The Engineers. In the same year, Clapton started to play with The Yardbirds. After 18 months, he abandoned The Yardbirds and began working with Bluesbreakers.
In 1966, Clapton, along with Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker, founded a supergroup – the legendary band Cream. During three years of existence, they recorded some great albums, including “Fresh Cream,” “Disraeli Gears,” “Wheels Of Fire,” or “Goodbye” and concert records. After the closure of Cream in 1969, Clapton played Blind Faith for a year and then joined Delaney And Bonnie And Friends, with whom he recorded the album “Delaney And Bonnie And Friends.”
Eric Clapton solo career in the seventies
In 1970, Clapton decided to start a solo career and released the album “Eric Clapton.” Unfortunately, the record did not find recognition in the eyes of fans, and therefore a new formation was created – Derek And The Dominos. With this band, he recorded one of Clapton’s most famous songs – the composition “Layla.”
In August 1974, the album “461 Ocean Boulevard” was released on the market, which included, among others, Clapton’s great hit single promoting the album – “I Shot the Sheriff” – a cover of Bob Marley’s song. The next records are a real success story – “There’s One in Every Crowd” (1975), “E.C. Was Here” (1975), “No Reason to Cry” (1976).
In 1977, Clapton released one of his best albums – “Slowhand.” The songs include “Cocaine,” “Lay Down Sally” and “Wonderful Tonight.” The 1980s belonged to Clapton, each of his albums brought another great hit that conquered the listings. Despite this “commercial course,” the artist was still able to please fans of his earlier, more ambitious incarnation, proposing excellent releases such as “August” (1987) or “Journeyman” (1989).
Unplugged
In 1991, a series of professional successes was interrupted by the tragic death of his son. Under the influence of this sad event, he wrote the song “Tears In Heaven.” Clapton recorded it during the performance for MTV, entitled “Unplugged.”
In 2000, the musician paid tribute to his idol B.B. King. Both great artists decided to play songs that they once recorded on their own. The result of their cooperation was the album “B.B. King And Eric Clapton – Riding With The King.” A year later, the album “Reptile” was released. In 2002, the concert records “One More Car, One More Rider” hit the market, consisting of two C.D.s and a DVD. There were both newer Clapton songs like “My Father’s Eyes,” and “Tears In Heaven” as well as great hits – “Cocaine,” “Layla.”
Jeff Beck
Jeff Beck was born in Wellington on June 24, 1944. He started playing the guitar at the age of ten, despite the displeasure of his mother who preferred Jeff to play the piano. Jimi Hendrix was the inspiration for his work.
He began his career in earnest by joining The Tridents in 1964, as well as working with Screaming Lord Sutch and The Savages. A year later, he joined The Yardbirds, replacing Clapton, which made him popular. In 1966, he was replaced by Jimmy Page, Jeff took up a solo career – he recorded the album “Hi-Ho-Slver lining”. In the late 1960s, he founded the Jeff Beck Group with Rod Stewart and Ron Wood. They recorded two albums – “Truth” and “Beck-ola”. After Rod’s departure, two more albums “Rough and Ready” and “Jeff Beck Group” were released. This made Jeff Beck one of the best rock guitarists in the world. After the band’s suspension, Beck began working with Vanilla Fuga, recording the album “Beck Bogert Appice”. In 1975 he recorded two more albums “Blow by Blow” and “Wired”.
The eighties brought three more Beck’s albums. In 1983 he performed with Eric Clapton and Jimmy Page played at a charity concert, a year later he was asked to play solos on Mick Jagger’s album “She’s The Boss”. The album Guitar Shop won a Grammy Award in 1990. This decade has focused mainly on touring and occasional recording. He returned to making music at the end of the decade with the album “Who else!”, On which he experimented with mixing rock and techno genres, receiving a Grammy nomination for it.
In 2000 he started working on new albums, in this decade he released “Jeff”, “Blue Wind”, “You had it doming”, and “Emotion and commotion“. In 2003, he was named fourteenth on Rolling Stone’s “100 Greatest Guitarists All Time” list. Six years later, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
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