"Tears in Heaven" is a ballad written by Eric Clapton and Will Jennings about the pain and loss Clapton felt following the death of his four-year-old son,^[1] Conor. Conor fell from a window of the 53rd-floor New York apartment of his mother's friend on March 20, 1991. Clapton, who arrived at the apartment shortly after the accident,^[2] was visibly distraught.^[1] This is one of Clapton's most successful songs, reaching #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart in the U.S., featuring a classical guitar as the lead instrument.^[3] The song also stayed three weeks as #1 on the American adult contemporary chart in 1992.

Will Jennings, who worked with Clapton on the song, was reluctant at first to help him write a personal song.^[1] The song was initially featured on the soundtrack to the film Rush, followed by Unplugged, and it won three Grammy Awards for Song of the Year, Record of the Year and Male Pop Vocal Performance at the 1993 Grammy Awards.^[4] It also won an MTV Video Music Award for Best Male Video in 1992.^[5]

Clapton stopped playing it in 2004, as well as the song "My Father's Eyes", with Clapton stating; "I didn't feel the loss anymore, which is so much a part of performing those songs. I really have to connect with the feelings that were there when I wrote them. They're kind of gone and I really don't want them to come back, particularly. My life is different now. They probably just need a rest and maybe I'll introduce them for a much more detached point of view."^[6]

Shortly after his single was released, he went on to the MTV Unplugged series and recorded a new version of the song.^[7]

Writing and inspiration [link]

The years following 1990 were extremely turbulent for Clapton. In August 1990, his manager and two of his roadies (along with fellow musician Stevie Ray Vaughan) were killed in a helicopter accident. Seven months later, on March 20, 1991, Clapton's four-year-old son Conor died after falling from the 53rd-floor window of his mother's friend's New York City apartment. He landed on the roof of an adjacent four-story building.^[8] After isolating himself for a period, Clapton began working again, writing music for a movie about drug addiction called Rush. Clapton dealt with the grief of his son's death by co-writing "Tears in Heaven" with Will Jennings. A live performance of the song appears on Clapton's 1992 Unplugged.^[9] Unplugged topped charts and was nominated for nine Grammy Awards the year it was released. Clapton made multiple public service announcements to raise awareness for childproofing windows and staircases.^[9]

In an interview with Daphne Barak, Clapton stated, "I almost subconsciously used music for myself as a healing agent, and lo and behold, it worked... I have got a great deal of happiness and a great deal of healing from music".^[10]

In an interview, Will Jennings said:

"Eric and I were engaged to write a song for a movie called Rush. We wrote a song called 'Help Me Up' for the end of the movie... then Eric saw another place in the movie for a song and he said to me, 'I want to write a song about my boy.' Eric had the first verse of the song written, which, to me, is all the song, but he wanted me to write the rest of the verse lines and the release ('Time can bring you down, time can bend your knees...'), even though I told him that it was so personal he should write everything himself. He told me that he had admired the work I did with Steve Winwood and finally there was nothing else but to do as he requested, despite the sensitivity of the subject. This is a song so personal and so sad that it is unique in my experience of writing songs."^[2]

Reception [link]

In 2004, "Tears in Heaven" was ranked number 362 on Rolling Stone's list of "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time".^[11]

Charts [link]

Other performances [link]

In 2005, Ozzy Osbourne and Sharon Osbourne assembled an all-star cast to collaborate on "Tears in Heaven". Sales from the recording benefited the Disasters Emergency Committee's Tsunami Earthquake appeal and the tsunami victims in Southeast Asia. The line up included; Gwen Stefani, Mary J. Blige, Pink, Slash, Steven Tyler, Elton John, Andrea Bocelli, Katie Melua, Josh Groban, Robbie Williams, and Rod Stewart. Ozzy and Kelly Osbourne also sang on the song.^[25]

Other recordings of "Tears in Heaven" include:

• Joshua Redman on his 1993 album Wish.
• Warren Hill on his 1993 album Devotion.^[26][27]
• James Galway on his 1994 album Wind of Change.
• Dušan Prelević on his 1996 album Ja, Prele.
• Jeff Berlin on his 1997 album Taking Notes.
• Gregorian on their 1997 album Masters of Chant.
• Coko of SWV and her mother Lady Tibba Gamble covered in 2001 on the album Rhythm & Spirit: Love Can Build A Bridge.
• Emmerson Nogueira on his 2001 album Versão Acústica.
• Adeaze on their 2004 album Always and for Real.
• Loona on her 2004 album Wind of Time.
• Paul Anka on his 2005 album Rock Swings.
• The Choirboys on their 2005 album The Choirboys.
• The Quireboys on their 2005 EP Tears In Heaven.
• Aaron Hall of Guy & K-Ci Hailey of Jodeci on Hall's 2005 album Adults Only.
• Declan Galbraith on his 2006 album Thank You.
• Andrew Johnston on his 2008 album One Voice.
• Ann Peebles on her 2006 album Brand New Classics.
• Ainhoa Arteta on her Vida Diva CD released in 2008 by Vale music.
• Sadiki on his 2010 album Lifeline.
• Keke Wyatt on her 2011 album Unbelievable.
• Kenny Werner on his 2006 album Form & Fantasy.

References [link]