Eric Clapton recalls son's death in new autobiography

In his new autobiography, Eric Clapton goes into detail about the 1991 death of his four year-old son Conor, who inspired his Grammy award winning "Tears In Heaven."

In Eric Clapton: The Autobiography, Clapton recalls the night prior to Conor's death, having taken him to the circus alone for their first father-son outing alone. Clapton writes that the joy of being able to care for his son alone made him decide that when in New York he wanted to spend more one-on-one time with Conor.

Clapton went on to say, "The following morning I was up early, ready to walk crosstown from my hotel to pick up (Conor's mother, model Lori del Santo) and Conor to take them to the Central Park Zoo... The phone rang and it was Lori. She was hysterical, screaming that Conor was dead. I thought to myself, 'This is ridiculous. How can he be dead?' and I asked her the silliest question, 'Are you sure?' And then she told me that he'd fallen out of the window. She was beside herself. Screaming. I said, 'I'll be right there.'"

After witnessing the emergency scene outside the luxury apartment building where Conor had fallen 49 floors, he spared Del Santo the horror of identifying the boy in the morgue: "I had to go and identify him on my own. Whatever physical damage he had suffered in the fall, by the time I saw him they had restored his body to some normality. As I looked at his beautiful face in repose, I remember thinking, 'This isn't my son. It looks a bit like him, but he's gone.'"

Clapton went on to say that Keith Richards made a concerted effort to be there for him while in mourning: "There were thousands of letters for me to read, written from all over the world. One of the first I opened was from Keith Richards; it just said, 'If there's anything I can do, just let me know.' I'll always be grateful for that."

In 1992, "Tears In Heaven," which was featured on the 1992 Rush film soundtrack, peaked at Number Two on the Billboard Hot 100. The next year, "Tears In Heaven" went on to win three Grammy awards for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance, Record Of The Year, and Song Of The Year.

On Clapton's 1998 album Pilgrim, he wrote about his final night with Conor on the song "Circus."

In addition to Connor, Clapton has three daughters.

Eric Clapton: The Autobiography will be released tomorrow (Tuesday, October 9th).

A companion compilation album called Classic Clapton will be released tomorrow, featuring 36 hits from the course of his career, including Cream's "Sunshine Of Your Love," Blind Faith's "Presence Of The Lord," and Derek and the Dominos' "Layla," and such solo hits as "After Midnight," "Let It Rain," "Lay Down Sally," "Wonderful Tonight," and "Tears In Heaven," among others.

Eric Clapton will appear on CNN's Larry King Live! on Friday (October 12th). Check your local listings for stations and times.
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