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Title details for Clapton by Eric Clapton - Wait list

Clapton

The Autobiography

by Eric Clapton
Simon Vance
Audiobook
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With striking intimacy and candor, Eric Clapton tells the story of his eventful and inspiring life. More than a rock star, Eric Clapton is an icon, a living embodiment of the history of rock music. Well known for his reserve in a profession marked by self-promotion, flamboyance, and spin, he now chronicles, for the first time, his remarkable personal and professional journeys.
Born illegitimate in 1945 and raised by his grandparents, Eric never knew his father and, until the age of nine, believed his actual mother to be his sister. In his early teens his solace was the guitar. With the formation of Cream, the world’s first supergroup, he became a worldwide superstar. During the decades that followed, he would go on to play as a guest with Jimi Hendrix and Bob Dylan, as well as the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, and longtime friend George Harrison. He would overcome despair, self-imposed seclusion, drug addiction, and alcoholism. He would become a father.
But just as his life was coming together, he was struck by a terrible blow: His beloved four-year-old son, Conor, died in a freak accident. At an earlier time Eric might have coped with this tragedy by fleeing into a world of addiction. But now a much stronger man, he took refuge in music. CLAPTON is the powerful story of a survivor, a man who has achieved the pinnacle of success despite extraordinary demons. It is one of the most compelling memoirs of our time.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    October 9, 2007

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9781415943465
      • File size: 303419 KB
      • Duration: 10:32:07

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • AudioFile Magazine
      A loner by nature, virtuoso guitarist and rock legend Eric Clapton took refuge in the blues as a teenager growing up in post-war Britain. This bestselling memoir shows how his own emotional ups and downs were well suited to the tortured temperament of the music. Rejected by his mother, and an outcast until he became a musician, Clapton's life has been anything but an easy ride. Simon Vance tells his story with a somber eloquence usually reserved for great theatrical presentations. In a quintessentially British way, the result is an emotion-fueled soliloquy with a slightly mournful air that matches Clapton's own tortured notes on the guitar. A revealing look at the man behind the myth. J.S.H. (c) AudioFile 2008, Portland, Maine
    • Publisher's Weekly

      August 20, 2007
      Readers hoping for sex and drugs and rock 'n' roll won't be disappointed by the legendary guitarist's autobiography. As he retraces every step of his career, from the early stints with the Yardbirds and Cream to his solo successes, Clapton also devotes copious detail to his drug and alcohol addictions, particularly how they intersected with his romantic obsession with Pattie Boyd. His relationship with the woman for whom he wrote “Layla” culminated in a turbulent marriage he describes as “drunken forays into the unknown.” But he genuinely warms to the subject of his recovery, stressing its spiritual elements and eagerly discussing the fund-raising efforts for his Crossroads clinic in Antigua. His self-reckoning is filled with modesty, especially in the form of dissatisfaction with his early successes. He professes ambivalence about the famous “Clapton is God” graffiti, although he admits he was grateful for the recognition from fans. At times, he sounds more like landed gentry than a rock star: bragging about his collection of contemporary art, vigorously defending his hunting and fishing as leisure activities, and extolling the virtues of his quiet country living. But both the youthful excesses and the current calm state are narrated with an engaging tone that nudges Clapton's story ahead of other rock 'n' roll memoirs.

    • AudioFile Magazine
      That's why they call it the blues. Guitar legend Eric Clapton looks back at his life in this self-inflicted account of painful memories. Clapton, a veteran of such legendary bands as the Yardbirds, Cream, Blind Faith, and Derek and the Dominos, is ruthless with himself. He holds nothing back, nor does he ask forgiveness for a life of selfishness and excess. Bill Nighy becomes Clapton in this first-person narrative. With dignity and humility coming through in his performance, Nighy talks about Clapton's decades of cheating, philandering, drug use, selfishness, and outright stupidity. But he's so brutally honest and guilty it feels like he is too hard on himself. We have to wonder if a more dispassionate chronicler might have wielded a kinder pen. M.S. (c) AudioFile 2008, Portland, Maine
    • Publisher's Weekly

      Starred review from November 26, 2007
      Clapton's heartfelt memoir is given the perfect gift in its reader: acclaimed actor and fellow Brit Bill Nighy (Pirates of the Caribbean
      ; Love, Actually
      ). Nighy reads Clapton's tender, dignified remembrance of his legendary career as if it had all truly happened to him. He is simply a cut above the run-of-the-mill reader and ably handles the unvarnished first-person recounting of Clapton's rise to fame, his struggles with addiction and relationship problems, and his return to sobriety and musical success. Clapton picks through the wreckage of his past, including the tragic death of his son, Conor, and Nighy reads with vigor and restraint. Clapton's tone is apologetic and nostalgic, and Nighy admirably conveys both sentiments. Joining the two together is an audio match made in heaven. Simultaneous release with the Broadway Books hardcover (Reviews, Aug. 20).

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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