Eric Clapton’s tragic final promise to his son Conor, 4, who died after falling 53 floors from a New York apartment – as singing legend turns 80

Eric Clapton made one tragic final promise to his four-year-old son Conor who died after falling 53 floors from a New York apartment.

Conor, the son of Clapton, now 79 and model Lory Del Santo, 66, fell to his death from the 53rd floor of a New York skyscraper in a horrific freak accident on March 20,1991, five months before his fifth birthday,

The youngster fell out of a window that a cleaner left open in the Manhattan flat his mother was renting. 

Just one day before the singing legend – who turned 80 on Sunday – found out about the tragic incident he had made a poignant promise to his then ex Lory who had custody of Conor after their split.  

A day before Conor’s death Eric took him out for the first time on his own – with the pair heading to Nassau Coliseum on Long Island.

The Mirror reports that biographer Philip Norman said of the special day: ‘That sawdust-scented afternoon showed him what he’d been missing. 

‘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.’ 

The next day, Eric and his son planned to visit the Bronx Zoo and take Conor out to an Italian restaurant but sadly didn’t get the chance.

Eric opened up about how song Tears In Heaven enabled him to grieve son Conor’s death aged four in an unearthed interview for a new TV special that aired in January.

Clapton released Tears In Heaven in December 1991, with the iconic singer reflecting on channeling his grief for his only son through the track in a 1992 interview for his MTV special, an extended version of which – Eric Clapton Unplugged… Over 30 Years Later.

He said of the track, which appeared on the Rush film soundtrack: ‘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.

‘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.’

He said he wanted to include his fans in his grief ‘ in a way’ adding: ‘I do intend to make these things known and I will play them in concert and put them on record. And it is, for me, a healing process and I think it’s important that you share that with people that love your music.

‘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. 

‘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.’

He said fatherhood to daughter Ruth, now 40 – who was two years older than Conor and whose mom is Yvonne Kelly – helped him process his grief. 

He said: ‘Yvonne knew that [being close to Ruth] would help and it was true. I was able to hold a child again, and to be held by a child.

‘Ruth has been a tremendous support. I had no idea how much power a child could have on an adult life, how much it can make you feel valid, unique and strong.’

Eric Clapton Unplugged… Over 30 Years Later streamed on February 12 on Paramount+ 

Clapton married Melia McEnery in 2002 and the pair share daughters Julie, 23, Ella, 22, and Sophie, 19.

In 2018 Clapton revealed how he flew to Antigua to spend a year living as a recluse after the death of Conor.

The musical legend isolated himself on the Caribbean island and threw himself into writing songs in a desperate attempt to ‘heal’.

Recalling the gut-wrenching days after Conor’s death, Eric said: ‘I brought him home from New York with all of the Italian side of his mother’s family and we went through the process of the funeral.’

He explained that after the funeral, he rented a cottage in Antigua where he spent almost a year playing his guitar and barely communicating with the outside world. 

‘When they left, I had this little Spanish string guitar, I became attached to that I went off to Antigua and I rented a little cottage there in a community and I just swatted mosquitos all day and played this guitar and stayed there for almost a whole year, without much contact with the outside world, and I tried to heal myself,’ he said. 

‘All I could do was play and write these songs and I re-wrote and re-performed them again and again and again and again until I felt like I had made some sort of move towards the surface of my being and then I was able to come out.’ 

The rock guitarist had received a heartbreaking letter from Conor just hours after the child’s funeral.

The youngster had written his first letter to his father days before the accident and his mum Lory, posted it to Clapton’s London’s home – arriving after the child’s death.

Lory said: ‘The baby had learned to write a few words and he said to me, “Oh mummy, I want to write a letter to daddy, what shall I write?” I told him, “Well, write, I love you”. He wrote that and we posted it like a regular letter.

‘After Conor died, Eric and I arrived in London for the funeral. I was there when Eric received his mail just after the funeral and he opened it up and it was Conor’s letter. That is a moment I cannot forget.’

Clapton dedicated his song Tears in Heaven to Conor. It won three Grammy Awards for Best Pop Vocal Performance, Male, Song of the Year, and Record of the Year.