A biography has shed light on the terrible death of music legend Eric Clapton’s little son in 1991.
It was supposed to be the start of a fresh beginning on a heartbreaking day in 1991, when the little boy of music legend Eric Clapton died at the age of four.
However, the painful moment inspired two of the artist’s most well-known songs.
Conor was the son of 73-year-old Clapton and Italian actress, Lory del Santo. Clapton took Conor on a special trip to the Long Island circus the day before he died.
According to Philip Norman’s biography Slowhand: The Life And Music Of Eric Clapton, it was the first time the legendary guitarist brought his son out by himself.
Clapton, according to Norman, “wanted to be a proper father.”
Clapton was on his way to pick up Conor for another day trip, this time to the Bronx Zoo and lunch at an Italian restaurant, when the tragedy occurred.
Conor was rushing around the 53rd-floor apartment in New York City that his mother lived with Italian film producer Silvio Sardi.
A janitor had repaired one of the windows in the living room, but Norman recalls that it was still open.
The author said that Conor rushed by the nanny and leaped up on the low window ledge, where he would periodically press his nose against the glass to gaze out before disappearing. “He yelled to the nanny to keep an eye on the toddler, but before she could react, Conor vanished,” he wrote.
Sadly, the four-year-old fell and died.
In response to the horrific disaster, Clapton wrote his legendary chart-toppers Circus Left Town and Tears in Heaven, the latter of which contains some of classic music’s most recognized lyrics:
If I saw you in heaven, would you recognize me? If I were to see you in paradise, would it be the same? Because I am aware that I do not belong in heaven, I must remain courageous and persevere.
Clapton bid Conor farewell during his son’s burial, two days before he turned 46.
“The one thing in my life that may turn out positive,” Clapton famously said, was his son.
