Remembering Conor Clapton: The Tragic Story of Eric Clapton's Son

On March 20, 1991, Eric Clapton and his former wife, Lory Del Santo, suffered the greatest loss of their lives: their four year old son, Conor Clapton.

Source: Richard Young/Rex/Shutterstock

In the midst of a game of hide and seek with the nanny, Conor ran through a window that was slid open for cleaning at his mother's 53rd floor New York City apartment and fell. Clapton, who had no idea at the time, arrived five minutes later to pick his son up for a trip to the zoo, but was instead met by Del Santo screaming, "He's dead!" 

Clapton hadn't spent much time with his son, and had finally agreed to shoulder his responsibilities as a parent the previous day when the trio had gone to see the Long Island Circus together following a several year long series of disappearances. He was known to avoid his family both during and post pregnancy, often leaving for long periods of time starting three months before Conor's birth on August 21, 1986. 

This event inspired the song "Tears in Heaven". It was written not only for Conor, but as part of the soundtrack for the movie Rush, released in December of 1991.

Conor is buried in the graveyard of St. Mary's Church located in Ripley, England. 

Hey there! I'm Olive, and I'm a part-time blog writer hoping to share my love of older music and countercultural history. I started this blog during my freshman year of college as a means to get a head start doing what I love most - writing. I've always loved writing and music, and wanted to do something that would involve doing both. Now, I've got this cool (totally not biased) blog page!

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