Eric Clapton is a rock and blues superstar from Ripley, United Kingdom. Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door and Layla are among his most well-known tunes.
Eric was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame three times: once as a solo artist and twice as a member of his bands Yardbirds and Cream.
Eric met Lory Del Santo, a well-known Italian model, in 1985, and the two of them welcomed a son, Conor, the following year. Conor’s birth transformed Eric’s life for the better. Eric understood he needed to clean up his drug and alcohol use. “I couldn’t bear the idea that, as he experienced enough of life to form a picture of me, it would be a picture of the man I was then,” Eric says in his memoir.
Eric became sober and stayed that way. While Eric and Lory’s relationship did not work out, Conor remained the apple of his father’s eye. However, tragedy later became the basis for Eric’s famous song, ‘Tears In Heaven’.
Tragic Story Behind ‘Tears in Heaven’
When Conor was four years old, he was playing hide and seek with his Nanny in the NYC apartment where he was residing with his mother while waiting for his father’s arrival. Eric and Conor had planned to go to lunch and to the Central Park Zoo for the day. Conor and Eric were looking forward to spending the day together.
A janitor was wrapping up maintenance work in the apartment when he momentarily stopped the Nanny to warn her about an open window. Tragic events occurred at that exact moment.
Lory recalls hearing a terrifying scream: “But it wasn’t Conor. It was the nanny. I entered the room, shouting furiously, ‘Where’s Conor, where’s Conor?’ When I saw the open window, I understood immediately. I felt all of my strength leave me and sank on the floor.
Conor, four, died after falling from a window on the 53rd floor. The ambulance arrived, but there was no hope for the young youngster.
“The first thing I knew was a phone call from their apartment,” Clapton explained. “Lory was on the other end of the phone, and she was hysterical, stating he had died. And I couldn’t believe it.
Grief Pours Into Song.
The burial was held in Eric’s hometown two days before the singer turned 46. Famous musicians like Phil Collins and George Harrison came to pay their respects.
After the funeral, Eric got a letter from Conor. It informed him how much Conor missed Eric and wanted him to visit.
To cope with his enormous pain, Eric first withdrew himself for a while. Then he turned to music. He sought solace in making music. He never intended to share the songs; they were his method of coping. However, two songs he penned for Conor during this period were finally published.
One was ‘Circus Left Town,’ a song inspired on an outing he had with Conor the night before his death. The other song was ‘Tears In Heaven.’
Eric’s song “Tears From Heaven” initially appeared in the 1991 film Rush. The song went on to win the Grammy Award for Song of the Year. Eric will also win two Grammys that year for ‘Record of the Year’ and ‘Best Male Pop Vocal Performance.’
Would you know my name?
What if I saw you in heaven?
Will it be the same?
What if I saw you in Heaven?
WATCH: Eric Clapton’s Story Behind ‘Tears In Heaven’
