Bluesman Eric Clapton
Life in 12 Bars, A New Doc About the Legend
Eric Clapton is a living legend. His smooth guitar licks and unmistakable, genre-defining tones are a cornerstone of rock and roll history. He’s right up there with B.B. King, Muddy Waters, and Buddy Guy in the pantheon of the all-time greatest guitar gods.
The 72-year-old Brit is taking a look back on his life and music with a new documentary, directed by Lili Fini Zanuck. Eric Clapton: Life in 12 Bars explores his youth in rural England, to his self-affirming discovery of American Blues music, to his sky-high success in the 1960s, in bands like The Yardbirds, Cream, and Derek & The Dominoes. The film also highlights his dogged pursuit of Pattie Boyd, who was the wife of George Harrison. It wasn’t exactly a storybook romance, but perhaps the rules are just different among rock icons. For his part, Harrison was known for his numerous extramarital affairs.
While his star continued to rise in the 1970s, so to did his dependence on drugs and alcohol, which led to crippling addictions, all while experiencing major commercial and critical success with albums like Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs, 461 Ocean Boulevard, and Eric Clapton’s Rainbow Concert, one of the most iconic live albums of the ’70s.
Not many drug-addled rock stars survived their decades of excess with their minds and skills intact, but Clapton survived to make music through the 80s, 90s, and into the 21st century. His life was marked with controversy, tragedy, and brief respites of calm in between the various storms, and it’s all covered in this epic film. For fans of music, biographical documentaries, and just the history of the last 50 years in general, this one is not to be missed.
Eric Clapton: Life in 12 Bars airs February 10 on Showtime.
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