Five Interesting facts about Eric Clapton
Updated | By Poelano Malema
Eric Clapton recently celebrated his 50th anniversary in the music industry. We bring you five interesting facts about the legendary guitarist.
Ranked among the greatest rock and roll guitarists of all time, and being the only artist who’s been inducted in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame three times, below are five interesting facts about the legendary guitarist.
- Clapton used to think his mother was his sister.
Clapton's mother, Patricia Molly Clapton, was only 16 at the time of Clapton's birth and was impregnated by a Canadian soldier who happened to be married. Because of Patricia's young age, Clapton was raised by his grandmother and step grandfather. This lead him to believe that his mother was his sister.
- Clapton took his grandfather's last name
Clapton's father is Edward Walter Fryer, but Clapton never took the Fryer surname, instead he used his mother's maiden surname. Clapton's father was 24 at the time of Clapton's birth and he took part in World War II.
- Clapton received his first acoustic Hoyer guitar as a birthday gift
Clapton's first acoustic guitar was given to him when he turned 13. He, however, bought himself a guitar for the first time in 1965 while he was in The Yardbird. It was a cherry red ES-335.
- In 1961, Clapton was expelled from college because he was too focused on music
Clapton was studying stained-glass design at the Kingston College of art when he got expelled because of being too focused on music. He was only 16 years of age at the time.
- Clapton once hit actress Shirley MacLaine in the face with a pie
Shirley MacLaine and Clapton were both part of the Circasia film cast. During one of the shootings, Clapton hit MacLaine in the face with a cream pie. That resulted in MacLaine not speaking to him for a reported six months.
- Clapton loves motor races and collects Ferraris
Clapton owns a number of Ferraris and one of the most expensive Ferraris he owns is estimated to cost around $4.7million! It was custom made for him in 2010.
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