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Clapton Rebuffed

Wednesday, June 30, 2004

By Roger Friedman



Clapton Rebuffed: Denied Blues Legend's Songs

Rocker Eric Clapton's album, "Me and Mr. Johnson," has been an unlikely hit, 
selling nearly 500,000 copies. The album consists of 12 songs by blues legend 
Robert Johnson. Johnson, who died at age 27 in 1938, left behind only 29 songs 
that were verifiably his, so the Clapton album represented a large part of 
his estate.

But now Clapton's attorney, Michael Eaton, confirms for me that the rocker 
wanted to buy at least half the catalog of 29 Johnson songs right before the 
album came out. John Massa, administrator for the catalogue, also confirmed that 
queries were made on behalf of Clapton to buy into the catalog.

"A price was named," said Eaton, "but the administrators said they had s
omething bigger brewing and they were going after that." The price, Eaton recalled, 
was "far less" than $10 million. "It was manageable," he said.

Buying the Johnson catalog would have been a smart move for Clapton, a 
Johnson devotee who has recorded many of the 29 songs over the years prior to the 
release of the new album. But Massa says, "We don't want a partner or an 
investor."

Eaton said, "I assume they made whatever deal they had in mind."

The Johnson catalog is co-owned by Massa's West Hollywood based company, 
Lessem, and Johnson's recently discovered 72-year-old long lost son, Claud Johnson 
of Mississippi. For many years, the Johnson estate's heirs consisted of two 
other non-blood relatives. But when a search was finally commenced by the 
probate court to find Robert Johnson's blood relatives, Claud, a Mississippi 
laborer who hauled gravel for a living, was able to provide proof that his mother 
had had an affair with Robert Johnson a few years before the blues man died in 
1938.

Clapton's next album, by the way, will be one of all his own material, and 
should be ready for release early next year. I'll bet the folks at the new 
Warner Music Group are crazy with anticipation. On a year-to-year basis, Clapton is 
pretty much WMG's only consistent bestseller, whether it's original rock or 
blues. He's the only recording artist in his age group who can lay claim to 
that.

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