Q: What is Clapton's personal relationship with George Harrison?
A: The two men have a long-standing friendship, based on mutual affection and admiration for each other's work — and hampered by the most famous love triangle in rock music. They have jokingly referred to themselves as "ex-husbands-in-law".

Q: How did the two become friends?
A: The two met when The Yardbirds were one of the support acts for The Beatles Christmas Show at the Hammersmith Odeon in London. The show ran for three weeks from 24 December 1964 to 16 January 1965.

Q: What musical work have they done together?
A: The list of their musical collaborations is extensive:

• Clapton was asked by Harrison to play lead guitar on "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" during the sessions for The Beatles (a.k.a The White Album) in 1968.
• That same year, Clapton appeared on Harrison's Wonderwall Music under the pseudonym Eddie Clayton.
• The two wrote "Badge" together in 1969 (with some help from Ringo Starr), and Harrison joined Cream in the studio to record it.
• Harrison joined Delaney & Bonnie & Friends for a few live dates in December 1969 while Clapton was with the band.
• Clapton and the rest of his band, Derek And The Dominos, were the backing band for a substantial portion of Harrison's 1971 triple album All Things Must Pass. To repay the favor, Harrison contributed his own guitar work and his current producer, Phil Spector, to the Derek And The Dominos' first single ("Tell The Truth" / "Roll It Over"). The single failed to chart.
• Clapton joined Harrison's charity band for the Concert For Bangladesh in 1971 at New York's Madison Square Garden.
• Clapton played on the 1979 album George Harrison and on four tracks on Cloud 9 from 1987. (The tracks are "Cloud 9", "That's What It Takes", "Devil's Radio", and "Wreck Of The Hesparus".)
• The two performed "That Kind Of Woman" and Harrison's composition "Run So Far" together during the sessions for Clapton's 1989 album Journeyman; the former was not included on the album, but was released on the benefit album Nobody's Child: Romanian Angel Appeal.
• In 1991, Clapton and his band backed Harrison on his Japanese tour, which was captured on the CD release Live In Japan.

Q: Didn't Clapton play on Harrison's 1974 album Dark Horse?
A: Marc Roberty (the author of several books on Clapton) swears that Clapton did not play on that album, despite the fact that he is credited in the album liner notes for the song "Bye Bye Love".

Q. Who is Pattie Boyd?
A. Patricia Anne Boyd was born on March 17, 1945 in Hampstead, England. She has two younger sisters, Paula and Helen (known as Jenny). The family lived in Kenya for several years during the 1950s and returned to England when Pattie was in her late teens. In 1962, both she and Jenny launched successful modeling careers. Director Richard Lester, who worked with Pattie on the Smith's Crisps advertising campaign, offered her a small role in The Beatles' first film, A Hard Days Night. During the filming, George Harrison asked her out on a date.

Q: How does Pattie fit into all of this?
A: Pattie Boyd began dating George Harrison during the filming of A Hard Day's Night in 1964. By early 1965, they were living together in Harrison's Esher bungalow, Kinfauns. They married on 21 January 1966 at the Epsom Registry Office in Surrey, England. Pattie gave up her successful modeling career after her marriage. George introduced Pattie to Clapton shortly after their wedding. In 1967, Pattie introduced The Beatles to Maharishi Mahesh Yogi and meditation. George fell deeply in love with India, all things Indian and became very spiritual. This would be a major factor in the breakup of the Harrison's marriage. George's infidelities also increased. Harrison and Clapton started spending more time together during 1968. With her marriage falling apart, Pattie started flirting with Clapton in an attempt to get her husband's attention. The plan backfired and Clapton ended up in love with his friend's wife. Clapton and Pattie embarked on a brief affair but Pattie soon ended the relationship. Her rejection would contribute to Clapton's severe depression and subsequent heroin addiction. George and Pattie eventually separated and were divorced on 9 June 1977.

Pattie Boyd was interviewed by the London Telegraph in March 1999. The following account was given about the start of her relationship with Clapton:
By 1970, Clapton was making no secret of the fact that he was besotted with his friend's wife, nor of his anger at her refusal to leave her husband. One day, he turned up at the home she shared with Harrison in Henley-On-Thames and proceeded to deliver an ultimatum. She recalls: "Eric showed me this packet of heroin and said: 'Either you come away with me or I will take this.' I was appalled. I grabbed at it and tried to throw it away, but he snatched it back. I turned him down - and for four years, he became a drug addict." The conclusion she draws might seem over-simplistic, even arrogant. But Boyd long ago ceased to feel flattered by any man's obsession with her. "At first, I felt guilt. Then I felt anger because it was totally irrational of him to blame me for something he was probably going to do anyway; it was very selfish and destructive."

Q. When did Pattie and Eric finally get together?
A. By 1974, Pattie had become very disillusioned with George. Eric had gotten off heroin and renewed his quest. During the filming of The Who's Tommy, Clapton talked his friend, Pete Townshend, into going with him to the Harrison's home. That evening, Clapton had a long, honest talk with Pattie about his feelings for her.Clapton then left on his American Tour in support of 461 Ocean Boulevard. Shortly after that, Pattie decided the marriage was over as George didn't seem concerened whether she left him or not. Three weeks after Eric's visit, Pattie flew to Los Angeles to stay with her sister, Jenny and her husband, Mick Fleetwood. Clapton called her and asked her to join him on tour. She flew to Buffalo, New York to be with him and they would embark on a tumultuous 14 year relationship.

In her 1999 interview with the London Telegraph, Pattie commented: "In my naivety, I believed everything was all right. He wasn't taking heroin, which I thought was the main addiction for him. But, as it turned out, his drug of choice turned out to be alcohol."

Q: What are the details of Clapton's marriage to Pattie Boyd Harrison?
A: In 1979, Clapton embarked on a brief affair with model, Jenny McLean. Pattie on learning about Clapton's infidelity, left him and flew to America. In an attempt to get Eric and Pattie back together, Clapton's manager, Roger Forrester took a gamble. He made a bet with Eric that he could get his name and photo in the next day's newspapers. Clapton took the bet and Forrester called a gossip columnist with the following item: "Rock Star Eric Clapton will marry Pattie Boyd in Tucson, Arizona next Tuesday." The item appeared in the next day's Daily Mail. Forrester had forced Clapton to decide whether or not he really wanted to be with Pattie. Clapton telephoned Pattie in Los Angeles to propose. The two were married on 27 March 1979 at the Apostolic Assembly of Faith in Christ Jesus in Tucson, Arizona by the Reverend Daniel Sanchez. To ensure privacy, Forrester booked six different churches for the occasion. A small reception was held that night at the hotel. The night after their wedding, Clapton brought Pattie on stage in Tucson so he could sing "Wonderful Tonight" to her. By the end of April, he sent Pattie home to England. When Clapton returned to England, they had a wedding party at their home, Hurtwood Edge on 19 May 1979. The invitation read:

Clapton had a small stage built in his garden in case anyone felt like jamming. That night in Clapton's garden, a re-united Cream, Mick Jagger, Bill Wyman, Elton John, David Bowie, Lonnie Donegan, and three-fourths of The Beatles (George Harrison, Paul McCartney, and Ringo Starr) ended up playing. John Lennon later told Clapton that he would have been there if he had known about it. This remained the closet thing to a "Beatles Reunion" until 1995 when McCartney, Harrison and Starr got together to record two new songs for The Beatles Anthology.

Q: How did the Clapton's marriage go after that?
A: The next five years were filled with marital ups and downs due in large part to Clapton's alcoholism. When Clapton returned from his tour of Australia and Hong Kong in the autumn of 1984, he discovered that Pattie had moved out. The two agreed to a separation, which helped Clapton understand how strong of a bond they really had. They got back together in February 1985. But, Clapton's affairs had taken a toll on the marriage. The couple had tried to have a family with no success. It was the birth of his second child outside their marriage that was the final straw. (Conor Clapton was born on 21 August 1986. His mother was Italian model / actress, Lori del Santo). Clapton engineered another brief reconciliation but Pattie moved out for good the winter of 1987. Their divorce was finalized in 1988. Pattie has said of the situation: "It was the most difficult thing I ever did in my life. I loved him deeply, but knowing he was still seeing Conor's mother, I felt there was no role for me. Because he loved me, he believed I would be pleased and happy for him that he had a baby. It was as if I was his best friend; that he could tell me everything without realizing how deeply painful this was for me." (London Telegraph, 17 March 1999).

Q: What is Pattie up to now?
A: After her relationship with Clapton ended, Pattie became a professional photographer. In 1991, she co-founded SHARP (an organization that assists alcoholics and drug addicts) with Barbara Bach (wife of Ringo Starr), Lucy Ferry (wife of Bryan Ferry) and Christabel Durham (Jool's Hollands' significant other). Pattie remains heavily involved in drug rehabilitation charity work. She has revealed that she is also a recovering alcoholic. Pattie has been seeing Rod Weston, a real estate developer, since 1991. Pattie, Clapton, and Harrison are reportedly still friendly. For more information about Pattie, try the Pattie Boyd website.

Q: How does Pattie view her relationship with Clapton?
A: In the past, she has said: "Being an inspiration to musicians was a great tribute. But it's not enough". In her 1999 London Telegraph interview, she said, "I was a very shy person and, I suppose, easily manipulated. Of course, it's flattering to feel someone desperately wants you, but looking back, it's quite uncomfortable to realize that you were the object of desire. That's quite a passive thing to be." She says she speaks with Clapton on the phone occassionally and sometimes they meet up.

Q: How does Clapton view his relationship with Pattie?
A: For many years and in countless interviews, Clapton maintained that Pattie was the love of his life. This was true even after their divorce. However, in an interview with Ed Bradley of CBS Television's 60 Minutes (airdate April 2, 2000), Clapton switched gears. Bradley asked him if it was true that Pattie was the great love of his life. Clapton replied, "I don't know, Ed. I don't know if I was capable of knowing what love was then. I was obsessed with this woman. That's why I say I don't know if I loved her. Because, as a practicing drunk, which I was then, I just wanted something very badly."

Q: How does Harrison view his relationship with Clapton?
A: From an interview in the magazine Crawdaddy from 1977: "We both love Eric, still do, but there were a few funny things. I pulled his chick once. That's happened, and now you'd think he was trying to get his own back on me. Pattie and he got together after we'd really split, and actually we'd been splitting up for years. That was a funny thing, you know. I thought that was the best thing to do, for us to split, and we should've done it much sooner. I didn't have any problems about it; Eric had the problem. Every time I'd go and see him he'd really be hung up about it, and I'd be saying, 'Fuck it, man, don't be apologizing,' and he didn't believe me. I was saying, 'I don't care'."

Q: How does Clapton view his relationship with Harrison?
A: From an interview in Q magazine: "Well, we've approached it and I think the wounds were, and are, pretty deep. And sadly, the damage done, I don't know if it can ever be repaired." And in the April 1998 issue of Mojo, Clapton had this to say: "We get on fine. We both put quite a lot of work into our relationship. We go out of our way to touch base and see one another, and I love him dearly. Someone like George has a very deep meaning for me in my life."

All of the files comprising the EC FAQ are © 2001 by  Steve Horowitz.
© 2001 by  Steve Horowitz
Revised: December 04, 2001
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