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Clapton Recounts Pain, Triumph

Addictions, death of son brought guitar legend to his knees

By Emily Roysdon, Newser User

Posted Oct 28, 2007 1:01 PM CDT

(Newser) – "Slowhand" takes up a pen in Clapton: The Autobiography. Sex, drugs, and rock ‘n’ roll—it’s all there in guitar legend Eric Clapton’s memoir. There’s also the death of a child and more than one journey to sobriety. Vanity Fair excerpts the poignant tale of the man who started the road to recovery one day by falling to his knees.

Clapton’s rehab stays and relapses are interspersed with musical triumphs such as Live Aid. His son Conor, whose fall from a window of a high-rise New York apartment building could have tossed him back into addiction, instead inspired “Tears in Heaven.” The music that came after Conor’s death, Clapton says, “kept me alive through the darkest period of my life.”

[Images (5)]

[Videos (1)]

Eric Clapton performs at the Rock'N'Roll Hall of Fame 20th anniversary induction gala dinner, held at the Waldorf Astoria in New York, March 14, 2005. (KRT Photos)

Eric Clapton at the Pavarotti and Friends Concert. (Getty Images)

Eric Clapton performs at the Crossroads Guitar Festival in Chicago, Saturday, July 28, 2007. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast) (Associated Press)

Rock legend Eric Clapton performs his sixties classic "Crossroads" as part of ABC's "Good Morning America" summer concert series in Bryant Park, Friday, July 20, 2007, in New York. (AP Photo/ Louis Lanzano) (Associated Press)

Eric Clapton (Archive Photos)

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Eric Clapton sings an acoustic version of "Tears in Heaven." (kakasaka (YouTube))

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Clapton Recounts Pain, Triumph