Motherless child - Paul Scott

From the Yardbirds to Cream, Blind Faith to Derek and the Dominos, and a hugely-successful solo career, Eric Clapton's fifty years in the music business can look like an uninterrupted rise to become one of the greatest guitar players who ever lived. But his story is as complicated as it is fascinating.

Clapton's god-like skill with a guitar was matched by an almost equal talent for self-destruction. He has never shied away from telling the truth about his battles with drink and drugs - or the sometimes catastrophic impact they had on the other people in his life, including his first wife Pattie Boyd. And without those deep personal lows we may never have had the musical highs that won him millions of fans. His story is also one of a long but successful road to sobriety, redemption and happiness.

Motherless Child chronicles Clapton's remarkable journey: the music, the women, the drugs, the cars, the guitars, the heartbreak and the triumphs are all here. The book includes interviews with some people close to Clapton who have never spoken on the record before. It explores his musical legacy as one of the most influential musicians of his generation, and as the keeper of the flame for the blues.