Ray Coleman’s authorized biography probes the career and private life of Eric Clapton long shielded from prying eyes; pressures which culminated in heroin addiction; seven years lost to alcoholic torpor. Slowly and painfully Clapton kicked drugs and drink – a true survivor, and an incomparable guitarman.

          British music journalist Coleman, longtime Melody Maker editor and author of the biography Lennon, has captured the "life, work and pulse” of the blues/rock guitarist and songwriter, tracing Clapton’s turbulent career with a number of groups (Yardbirds, Cream, Blind Faith, etc.). The musician’s life, Coleman notes, "evokes the ingredients of a novel rather than a biography”: he was raised by his grandparents and had a troubled childhood, was expelled from college and began performing professionally at 18, and kicked both heroin and alcohol addiction. His obsessive pursuit of George Harrison’s wife, Pattie, led to a clandestine affair and their 1979 marriage. Coleman tracks the details of Clapton’s life with an intensity equal to his subject matter, and his extensive research is evident.