GEORGE TERRY

SLOWHAND’S RIGHT-HAND MAN

FROM 1974 TILL very late in the decade, George Terry was the second guitarist to Clapton, and sometimes his understudy. “There were live concerts back then when Eric would be too drunk to play,” says Chuck Kirkpatrick, who was a childhood friend of Terry’s. “As a guitar player, George is technically perfect. There’s his intonation, his sense of time, his ability to learn parts. But he was not in Eric’s league in terms of blues guitar.”

“He was the perfect number two for Eric,” Albhy Galuten adds. “It was like the Don FelderJoe Walsh [Eagles] relationship — Don being absolutely meticulous, Joe playing whatever strikes him in the moment.”

Terry, an in-demand session guitarist who worked with the Bee Gees, ABBA and Joe Cocker, first met Clapton in 1970. Four years later, he was invited to the studio for the recording of 461 Ocean Boulevard.

“George was a hustler,” Clapton told

Rolling Stone. “He was good for me that way because I’m very lazy. I need the help.”

It was also Terry who lobbied for “I Shot the Sheriff” during the 461 sessions. “I gave Eric the Bob Marley record Burnin’ and did my best hype on reggae music, telling him to play along and have fun,” Terry said.

Terry would go on to contribute more material, writing “Mainline Florida” and co-writing “Don’t Blame Me” with Clapton and “Lay Down Sally” with Clapton and Marcy Levy. Another Clapton/ Terry composition, “Let Me Stay,” turned up on Terry’s 2004 album, Guitar Drive.

While Terry was recording the album that would become 1981’s Life, Clapton called to say he needed him for a few dates. “George flat out told Eric, ‘No’,” Kirkpatrick says. “That didn’t sit well. Eric said, ‘Fine. Pack up all the cases and guitars that belong to me and ship them back. You’re done.’ George had been through a lot with Eric, and I think it had run its course.”