41 Facts About Richard Clapton

Richard Clapton was born on 18 May 1948 and is an Australian singer-songwriter-guitarist and producer.

Richard Clapton was born on 18 May 1948, however his birth name is elusive.

Richard Clapton met his father at her funeral and was enrolled in a Sydney boarding school, Trinity Grammar, at Summer Hill.

In 1965, Richard Clapton formed Darktown Strutters with Ross Andreasen, Mick Bradley, Will Fowler, Dennis Hunter, Ross Lamonde and Ian Peepman.

Richard Clapton left school in his final year without completing his mathematics examination.

Richard Clapton played guitar while training as a commercial artist in the 1960s.

Richard Clapton raised enough money to board ship, in late 1967, via MS Achille Lauro, to London where he played with three locals in a pre-punk group.

Richard Clapton's visa had expired and he moved to Germany, where he played in a band, Bitch; he worked solo in folk clubs and on streets busking.

Richard Clapton, as guitarist and vocalist, was a member of Sopwith Camel, with Burghard Rausch on drums and Michael Gunther on bass guitar.

Richard Clapton emerged in the early 1970s as a singer-songwriter in the "troubadour" style of Neil Young and Jackson Browne.

In March 1972, Richard Clapton returned to Australia from Rotterdam via SS Orcades.

Richard Clapton signed a publishing deal with Essex Music and a recording deal with Infinity Records, a subsidiary of Festival Records.

Richard Clapton was backed by Red McKelvie on guitar, Kenny Kitching on pedal steel, John Capek on piano with John Bois on bass guitar and Tony Bolton on drums, both from Country Radio.

On "Hardly Know Myself" and "I Wanna Be a Survivor" Richard Clapton was backed by the La De Da's, with other tracks variously featuring McKelvie, Glenn Cardier on guitar, Russell Dunlop on drums, Mike Perjanik on organ, Trevor Wilson and Mike Lawler on bass guitar and Ian Bloxham on percussion.

Richard Clapton writes of these things but his words are not likely to convince anybody.

Richard Clapton described the title track in Rolling Stone Australia as "the only song I ever contrived" and "came about when I was going through my 'wanna-write-me-a-masterpiece' stage, which everyone goes through".

Richard Clapton said the only real money he ever made out of "Girls on the Avenue" was when it became available "on one of those bargain Explosive Hits and they sell about 400,000 each time".

Richard Clapton moved to Melbourne to write new material for his third album, Main Street Jive, which released in July 1976, again produced by Batchens.

Richard Clapton contributed six tracks to the film soundtrack for Highway One.

Richard Clapton toured Europe at the end of 1976 with his band including Slavich, Michael Hegerty on bass guitar, Kirk Lorange on lead guitar and Jim Penson on drums.

Richard Clapton said there was a blizzard and they were trapped, "but we had enough beer so it didn't really matter".

Richard Clapton's backing band for Goodybe Tiger was: Hegerty, Lorange, Gunther Gorman on guitar, Diane McLennan on backing vocals, Cleis Pearce on viola and Greg Sheehan on drums.

Richard Clapton never reached the same heights again, particularly with his melodies, visions and observations of urban Australia.

Richard Clapton returned to Sydney in 1980 to record and produce his sixth studio album, Dark Spaces.

In 1982 Richard Clapton signed with WEA and the Mark Opitz-produced, The Great Escape, had contributions from members of Cold Chisel and INXS.

Richard Clapton left that band to re-focus on his solo career and was replaced on vocals by Shirley Strachan.

Richard Clapton rejoined WEA in 1987 for his ninth album, Glory Road, released in October, and its three singles, which were produced by Jon Farriss of INXS as a return favour for the production of Underneath the Colours.

Richard Clapton's band were Hegerty, Lorange, Moffatt on guitar, Jeff Bartolomei on keyboards, Ben Butler on guitar, and Steve Sowerby on drums.

Richard Clapton spent four years writing and recording his twelfth studio album, Diamond Mine, at his home studio, a process he described as the most creatively liberating experience of his recording career.

On his 2006 album, Rewired, recorded in the home studio, Richard Clapton provided "unplugged" or acoustic versions of his early songs.

Richard Clapton toured with other artists in the Countdown Spectacular two series of concerts in Australia between late-August and early-September 2007.

Richard Clapton sang three of his songs, including the crowd favourite, "Girls on the Avenue".

In 2008 on Australia Day Richard Clapton performed at Parliament House, Canberra.

Richard Clapton inducted one of his favourite bands, the Dingoes into the ARIA Hall of Fame on 29 August 2009.

Richard Clapton's portrait by Alexander McKenzie was a finalist in 2009 for the Archibald Prize.

Richard Clapton himself admits he's no beauty but he's a lovely man and I've always liked what he does.

Richard Clapton was assisted on the album by Danny Spencer on guitar, who co-wrote some tracks.

Richard Clapton issued his fifteenth studio album, House of Orange, in April 2016, which was recorded in Nashville with Moffatt co-producing.

Richard Clapton has pterygiums and his eye surgeon recommended he wear dark glasses.

Richard Clapton worked as a production assistant at Australian Museum, Sydney in 1973.

Richard Clapton started writing his autobiography in mid-2010, which he hoped would appear later that year.