Eric Clapton shares heartbreaking message after mentor’s death: ‘I love you, and I’ll see you soon’
Rock legend Eric Clapton took to social media Wednesday with an emotional message following the death of John Mayall on Tuesday.
Mayall, 90, who was selected to enter the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame this year, was a British blues legend. And it was in Mayall’s band, Bluesbreakers, that Clapton truly got his career going.
“I want to say a few words about my friend John, who I learned passed last night or sometime yesterday,” Clapton said in the video he posted to X, formerly Twitter. “I want to say, ‘Thank you, chiefly, for rescuing me from oblivion and God knows what. When I was a young man around the age of 18, 19, when I decided I was going to quit music, he found me and took me into his home and asked me to join his band, and I stayed with him and learned from him.
“And I learned all that I really have to draw on today in terms of technique and desire to play the kind of music I love to play,” he continued. “I did all my research in his home, in his record collection, the Chicago blues that he was such an expert on. And I played with his band for a couple of years with Huey and John, and it was a fantastic experience. He taught me that it was OK just to play the music you wanted to play without dressing up or making anyone else like it. To listen to myself, to my inner motivations, and he was my mentor, and a surrogate father, too.
Clapton kept the heartfelt compliments coming.
“He taught me all I really know, and gave me the courage and enthusiasm to express myself without fear or without limit,” he said. “And all I gave him in return was how much fun it was to drink and womanize when he was already a family man, and I wish to make amends for that. That I did that while he was alive, and I have obviously since learned that is not the best way to carry on.
“I shall miss him,” he added. “I shall miss him, but I hope to see him on the other side. So, thank you John. I love you, and I’ll see you soon, but not yet, not yet. As they say in the Gladiator movie. God bless you. Thank you.”
You can see his post here.
Per Rolling Stone, Clapton released one album with Mayall’s band in 1966 — “Blues Breakers With Eric Clapton” — before moving on to Cream.
Mayall’s death was announced Tuesday on his Instagram account.
“John Mayall passed away peacefully in his California home yesterday, July 22, 2024, surrounded by his loving family,” the post read. “Health issues that forced John to end his epic touring career have finally led to peace for one of this world’s greatest road warriors.”
