Happy birthday Eric Clapton: photos of the guitar prodigy on & offstage

Today March 30th is the 75th birthday of Eric Patrick Clapton. A true guitar master, Clapton was part of a big number of bands such as The Roosters, Casey Jones and the Engineers, John Mayall's Bluesbreakers, Yardbirds, Cream, and Derek and the Dominos, with whom he recorded Layla, one of the most celebrated songs of his setlist every time he goes onstage.

The three-time inductee into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame got everyone worried after his interview with BBC Radio 2 where he talked about his health problems, "the only thing I’m concerned with now is being in my seventies and being able to be proficient", he revealed about not being able to perform in the near future. "I mean, I’m going deaf, I’ve got tinnitus, my hands just about work, I have to get on the bottom of the ladder every time I play guitar, just to tune it, then I have to go through the whole threshold of getting calluses [on the fingers] back, coordination".

Truth is 'slowhand' has got a lot of rock and blues left planned. Following the Covid-19 health advisors, he was forced to move his European tour, but he already rescheduled next year and will start a series of shows that begin in Munich and end up in Moscow, through cities like Amsterdam, Bologna, Copenhagen and Helsinki.

We hope you enjoy this set of photographs as much as we do, especially the one where he's enjoying a pint of Guinness during an interview (his moustache can't lie!).