Photo From the September 24, 1971 issue of LIFE

THE ROCK FAMILY AFFAIR

Photography by
JOHN OLSON

ERIC CLAPTON

Eric Clapton, 26, who may be the worlds greatest rock guitarist (Cream, Blind faith, Derek and the Dominoes), grew up with his grandparents, a family called Clapp, and called them Mum and Dad. John Charles Clapp, a plasterer, died last year and his widow, Rose, lives alone now in this house Eric brought them in Surrey. She visits her "son" once a month in his large villa nearby.

"I had planned to be a stained glass designer," Eric says, "but I got thrown out of school when I was 17 for fooling around with the guitar. I didn't know what to do, so I asked my family to buy me an electric guitar, which they had to get on the hire purchase. It became clear that I would have to make a go for it."

"He just sat and practiced all day long," Mrs. Clapp remembers, "and it rather annoyed me at the time."

Two generations removed, Rose Clapp really seems to understand Eric. "I used to have sleepless nights. But the life he has chosen, so why should I disapprove? I can sit and cry when he plays the blues. He was always a lonely boy and his music stills gives me that feeling about him. We all loved him so much, there's no need for him to be lonely ."

Click on a name below and see these rock legends with their parents back in 1971

FRANK ZAPPA      ELTON JOHN      ERIC CLAPTON

THE JACKSON FIVE      GINGER BAKER      JOE COCKER

GRACE SLICK      DAVID CROSBY      RICHIE HAVENS




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