What Happened to Eric Clapton’s Son? Inside the Tragic Accident That Happened Over 30 Years Ago

As one of rock’s most legendary artists, famed singer and guitarist Eric Clapton has entertained audiences with his music since the early 1960s. The 18-time Grammy Award winner and three-time inductee into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, experienced an unthinkable tragedy in the early 1990s that resulted in the death of his young son.

So what exactly happened to Conor Clapton? Let’s unravel the tragic accident that changed Eric Clapton’s life forever.

On March 20, 1991, Conor Clapton died after falling to his death out of an open bedroom window on the 53rd floor of an apartment building in Manhattan. He was only 4 years old, per the New York Times.

Following the death of Conor, Eric released the touching tribute song, “Tears in Heaven” in 1992. The song was an instant success and remains his biggest-selling hit, also earning a host of awards, including three Grammys, and ranking among Rolling Stone’s 500 Greatest Songs of All-Time.

In a 2006 interview with ABC News, Eric shared that writing the song was healing for him to deal with such a great loss. "I almost subconsciously used music for myself as a healing agent, and lo and behold, it worked," he said at the time. "I have got a great deal of happiness and a great deal of healing from music."

In Eric Clapton Unplugged … Over 30 Years Later, which dropped on Paramount+ in February 2025, Eric’s comments about his late son were included.

“It was really needed to illustrate loss because of what happens in the movie, and it was a good opportunity for me to write about my son, about the loss of my son, and also have somewhere to put it, to channel it,” he said of writing the song that was also included on the soundtrack to the 1991 film Rush, per People.

“And I really wanted to say something about what had happened to me, and the opportunity the movie gave me was excellent, because it meant I could write this song for the film and express my own feelings,” Eric said.

“I do intend to make these things known, and I will play them in concert and put them on record,” he continued. “And it is, for me, a healing process, and I think it’s important that you share that with people that love your music.”

In the resurfaced footage, Eric also shares that the 1998 song “My Father’s Eyes” was about his father but was also inspired by Conor.

“It’s a very personal matter, but I never met my father, and I’d realized it when I was with my son — the closest I ever came to looking in my father’s eyes was when I looked in my son’s eyes,” he revealed. “So I wrote a song about that. It was kind of a strange, like a strange cycle thing that occurred to me, and another thing that I felt I would like to share.”