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Early years

Clapton was born in Ripley, Surrey, England the son of 16 year old Patricia Molly Clapton and Edward Walter Fryer, a 24-year-old soldier from Montreal, Canada; the two were not married. Fryer shipped off to war prior to Clapton's birth and then returned to Canada.

Clapton grew up with his grandmother, Rose, and her second husband Jack, believing they were his parents and that his mother was his older sister. Their surname was Clapp, which has given rise to the widespread but erroneous belief that Clapton's real surname is Clapp (Clapton is the name of Rose's first husband, Eric Clapton's biological maternal grandfather). Years later, his mother married another Canadian soldier, moved to Canada and left Eric with his grandparents. When Clapton was nine years old, he discovered the true situation when his mother and six year old half-brother, Brian, returned to England for a visit. The experience became a defining moment in his life. He stopped applying himself at school and became moody and distant from his family. Brian died in 1974 in a road accident. Clapton also has two half-sisters from his mother's marriage: Cheryl (born in May 1953) and Heather (born in September 1958).

Clapton grew up quiet, shy, lonely and in his words a "nasty kid", who was very serious about his musical goals. However he is also known to have had a sense of humour.

Clapton spent his secondary school years at the Hollyfield School in Surbiton. His first job was as a postman. Clapton received an acoustic Spanish Hoya guitar for his 13th birthday. He found learning the instrument very difficult and nearly gave up. He was influenced by the blues from an early age and practiced long hours to learn chords and copy the music of black blues artists that he listened to on his Grundig Cub tape recorder.

After leaving school, Clapton completed a one-year foundation art course in 1962 at the Kingston College of Art but he did not go on to undertake an art degree. Around this time Clapton began busking around Kingston, Richmond and the West End of London. When he was 17 years old Clapton joined his first band. It was an early British R&B group called The Roosters. He stayed with this band from January through August in 1963. Clapton did a seven-gig stint with Casey Jones and the Engineers in October 1963.