Skip to content 
View this post on Instagram
A post shared by Adrian Reyes (@beaniegee94)
”That sawdust-scented afternoon showed him what he’d been missing,” wrote biographer Philip Norman, author of Slowhand: The Life and Music of Eric Clapton.
”When they returned to the apartment, with Conor chattering excitedly about the clowns and elephants, Eric told Lory that, from now on, he intended to be a proper father.”
Clapton also had hopes of bringing both Conor and Del Santo to London to live with him. The rock star was looking ahead, eager to share more time with his son. He had promised him a trip to the Bronx Zoo the next day, followed by lunch at a nearby Italian restaurant. That morning, as Lory got ready and Conor played excitedly around the apartment, filled with the pure joy of a child, tragedy struck.
But sadly, tragedy struck.
Stepped away from the public eye
Devastated by grief, Clapton stepped away from the public eye. In the painful days following Conor’s death, Eric Clapton brought his son’s body home from New York, accompanied by Conor’s maternal family from Italy, to prepare for the funeral.
Conor was laid to rest in Clapton’s hometown of Ripley, a small village in Surrey, England. Located about 25 miles southwest of London, Ripley is where Clapton grew up and has remained a deeply personal place for him.
After the service, overwhelmed by grief, Clapton escaped to Antigua, renting a small cottage where he spent nearly a year in isolation. He described how he barely spoke to anyone, instead losing himself in music as a way to cope.
Georges DeKeerle/Sygma via Getty Images