It is a sad yet well-known circumstance that tragedy often strikes within the music world. With the myriad of dangers during touring as well as the availability of substances to rising rockstars, it is no wonder that terrible things happen to great performers. This time, however, it was not the artist himself who experienced a horrifying end, but rather his son, an innocent four-year-old boy, gone too soon from the world because of a casual mistake.
In 1990, Eric Clapton was riding the heights of fame and fortune all the while battling depression and alcoholism. He is an English singer and songwriter, best known for his songs “Layla” and “Crossroads.” He is also the only three-time inductee to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Clapton has also received eighteen Grammy Awards and is the founder of the Crossroads Centre on Antigua, a recovery center for substance abusers. But in 1990, none of that mattered to Clapton. He had a son, Conor, with his former girlfriend, Lory Del Santo.
It took Clapton some years to get sober and come to terms with being a father to Conor, but in the days before the accident, he finally felt he was taking steps in the right direction. Del Santo tells the story of how they had gone out to spend the day at a carnival, and how the night before his death, Conor could only talk about how much fun he had with his father. They had spent the whole day riding the carousel and roller coasters, and just having a great time together. But the father and son bonding was soon to end, for the very next day, Conor fell from an open window on the 53rd floor…
Del Santo describes how the janitor was in the apartment that day cleaning and had opened the glass to get some fresh air. She instructed the nanny not to take her eyes off of Conor even for a moment, as she went to look over a fax that had just come through the line. About 15 minutes later, she heard Conor running around, and then the janitor speaking to the nanny to take caution because the window was open. And then Del Santo heard the nanny scream. In the split second the nanny had stopped to listen to the janitor, Conor, likely believing the window was still closed, had hopped up onto the short sill, and fallen to his death.
Del Santo recalls collapsing on the floor, and then Clapton arriving five minutes later, looking for Conor. Upon hearing that his son was dead, his eyes glazed over and something in Clapton died as well. A few days later, directly after Conor’s funeral, Clapton was to receive yet another shock. A letter had arrived, addressed to him, from Conor. It was the first letter he had ever written, and it simply said, “I love you.”
Del Santo remembers how Conor had just learned to write a few letters, and how he approached her asking for help. Conor asked his mother what he should write to his father, and together they wrote it and mailed it off in the post box. Clapton was heartbroken all over again when he received it. Later, Clapton would go on to write the now famous song, Tears in Heaven, as a tribute to his son. He now has remarried and has three daughters, and a grandson, but he will never forget his first child and the letter he wrote just for his daddy. Conor is buried in the town of Ripley, in Surrey, which is also Clapton’s hometown.