Not many people are aware of the fact that Eric Clapton, who is 79 years old, endured a heartbreaking loss when his little son passed away as a result of a sad freak accident.
On the other hand, the artist may not be aware of the fact that he made a fatal final vow to his son, who was only four years old.
It is possible that he would still be alive if I hadn’t checked the fax.
When Eric Clapton’s son, Conor, who was only four years old at the time, passed away in a terrible accident on March 20, 1991, his life was irrevocably altered into something that could never be the same again.
At the time of his fall from a 53rd-floor apartment window in Manhattan, Conor was in New York with his mother, the Italian actress Lory Del Santo. When Conor went past an open window that had been left unlatched, he was tragically killed by falling to his death. The housekeeper had just completed cleaning the house when he raced past the window.
We discovered that the window had been left open. It was Lory who informed Eric that he was on his way to pick up Conor.
Before I went to check on Conor, I discovered that the fax machine had been heard and investigated it. It was only a quarter of a minute after the scheduled time that I arrived. He had already left. In the event that I hadn’t reviewed the fax, he would still be alive today.
While Conor was only a few weeks away from turning five years old, his life was cut short in one of the most tragic and heartbreaking ways that could possibly be imagined. Clapton, who was in another part of New York at the time, is said to have rushed to the location as soon as he became aware of the developments.
“When I told Eric what had occurred, he became completely iced over immediately. It appeared as though he had all of a sudden ceased functioning. There was no sound coming from him. Everything was really unbelievable. When Conor passed away, the friendship that Eric and I had with each other came to an end,” Lory explained.
Tickets for the circus were purchased.
Eric Clapton and Lory Del Santo were not together at the time of the tragedy that occurred. The two of them travelled to New York to spend Easter with Clapton, and Lory was the only legal guardian of their kid.
It was the first time that Clapton and Conor had spent an entire day together, and it was on March 19, the day before the tragedy, that they went to the circus on Long Island.
Despite the fact that Clapton had purchased tickets to the circus with great enthusiasm, he was looking forward to creating unforgettable memories with his kid. He had no idea that this would be the last day that they would spend together.
His biographer, Philip Norman, who is also the author of Slowhand: The Life and Music of Eric Clapton, noted that “that sawdust-scented afternoon showed him what he’d been missing.”
Upon their return to the flat, Eric informed Lory that, from this point on, he meant to be a responsible parent. Conor was giggling gleefully over the elephants and clowns that they had seen.
In addition, Clapton had the intention of bringing both Conor and Del Santo to London so that they could come and live with him. The rock singer was looking forward to spending more time with his son and was excited about the prospect. It was his promise that the following day, he would take him to the Bronx Zoo, and then he would have lunch at an Italian restaurant in the neighbourhood. At that moment, tragedy struck when Lory was getting ready for the day and Conor was playing around the flat with the gleeful enthusiasm of a child.
Unfortunately, a terrible event occurred.
Removed themselves from the scrutiny of the public
Clapton, crushed by his loss, withdrew from the public eye and retreated from the spotlight. Eric Clapton transported his son’s body back from New York along with Conor’s maternal relatives from Italy in order to get ready for the funeral in the days that followed Conor’s passing, which were filled with anguish.
Clapton’s hometown of Ripley, which is located in the county of Surrey in England, was chosen as the location for Conor’s burial. Clapton spent his childhood in Ripley, which is situated approximately 25 miles southwest of London. This town has remained a very particular place for Clapton throughout his life.
In the aftermath of the funeral service, Clapton, overcome with sadness, fled to Antigua, where he rented a little cottage and remained there for over a year with no contact with anybody else. In order to deal with the situation, he explained how he rarely communicated with other people and instead immersed himself in music.
I had this small Spanish string guitar with me when they departed, and I’ve developed a strong attachment to it. “I went to Antigua and rented a small cottage there in a community. I just swatted mosquitoes all day and played this guitar. I stayed there for almost an entire year, without much contact with the outside world, and I tried to heal myself,” he recounted. “All I did was try to keep myself from getting sick.”
Music turned became his safe haven throughout that period of time. In an effort to find a way to express his feelings, he repeatedly performed and rewrote songs from scratch. “All I could do was play and write these songs and I re-wrote and re-performed them again and again and again and again until I felt like I had made some sort of move towards the surface of my being and then I was able to come out,” Clapton recalled.
This is a letter from Conor.
Will Jennings and he collaborated on the composition of Tears in Heaven, which was the result of him eventually channelling his anguish into music. Originally composed for a film soundtrack, the song evolved into one of his most emotionally charged and deeply personal works. It served as a means for him to cope with his loss and to ensure that Conor’s legacy is not forgotten.
Another thing that destroyed Clapton all over again was a letter from Conor, which he got in the midst of this heartbreaking loss. Along with the assistance of his mother, Lory Del Santo, the young youngster had just a few days before to the disaster penned his very first letter to his father. Tragically, the note did not reach at Clapton’s residence in London until after Conor had passed away. It had been mailed the previous day.
The baby had learnt to write a few words, and he said to me, “Oh, mummy, I want to write a letter to daddy, what shall I write?” Lory vividly recalled that terrible moment: “The baby had learnt to write a few words.” It was then that I told him, “Well, write, I love you.” That was written by him, and we went ahead and sent it out like a regular letter.
“Eric and I arrived in London soon after Conor passed away in order to attend the funeral. When Eric opened his mail shortly after the burial, he discovered that it contained a letter from Conor. I was present so that he could reveal the contents of the letter. That is a moment that I will never be able to forget.
