Eric Clapton’s ‘Tears In Heaven’ is inspired by a tragic event that occurred with his 4-year-old son, Connor Clapton. While the music is lovely, the story behind its creation is tragic. Eric Clapton is a rock and blues legend from Ripley, England. Knockin On Heaven’s Door and Layla are two of his best-known tunes. Eric was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame three times, once as a solo performer and twice as a member of the Yardbirds and Cream.

Eric met Lory Del Santo, a prominent Italian model, in 1985, and the two had a son, Conor, a year later. Eric’s life was forever altered with Conor’s birth. Eric understood he needed to change his drug and alcohol-addicted lifestyle. “I couldn’t stomach the thought that if he had enough life experience to construct an image of me, it would be a picture of the guy I was then,” Eric writes in his autobiography.

Eric became and remained sober. While Eric and Lory’s relationship did not work out, Conor remained the apple of his father’s eye. However, a tragedy would eventually form the inspiration for Eric’s renowned song, ‘Tears In Heaven.’ Conor was four years old when he was playing hide and seek with his Nanny in the NYC apartment where he was living with his mother while waiting for his father to arrive.

Eric and Conor had planned a day trip to the Central Park Zoo and lunch. Conor and Eric were both excited for their day together. A janitor was doing some maintenance work in the residence and temporarily stopped the Nanny to warn her about an open window. Tragedy struck at the very moment. Lory recalls hearing a terrifying scream “It wasn’t, however, Conor. It had to be the babysitter. I stormed into the room, yelling wildly, ‘Where’s Conor, where’s Conor?’ Then I saw the open window and realized what was going on.

I dropped on the floor as all of my power left me.” Conor, four, died after falling from the 53rd storey window. The ambulance came, but the young child was out of luck. “The first thing I knew was a phone call from their flat,” Clapton said. “Lory was on the other end of the phone, and she was in tears, claiming that he had died. And I couldn’t get myself to believe it.” Eric’s funeral was place two days before his 46th birthday in his hometown. Famous musicians such as Phil Collins and George Harrison showed their support.

Conor sent Eric a letter after the funeral. It expressed Conor’s longing for Eric and invited him to visit. Eric first sequestered himself to cope with his enormous sadness. Then he switched to singing. He sought consolation in his music. He never planned to release the songs since they were a means for him to cope. However, two songs he penned for Conor during this time period were finally released. One of them was ‘Circus Left Town,’ a song inspired on a trip he took with Conor the night before Conor died.

‘Tears In Heaven’ was the other tune. The song “Tears From Heaven” by Eric was originally heard in the 1991 film Rush. The song would go on to win a Grammy for Song of the Year. Eric also won two Grammys that year, for ‘Record of the Year’ and ‘Best Male Pop Vocal Performance.’