BiographyBook Project
Read either a biography or an autobiography about a person that interests you. Book must be at least 100pgs in length.
You must bring your book and have it approved (10 pts) by 3/16 or I will assign you a book.
In this unit you will create a list ofresearched facts, an interview, and a presentation of that interview.
PartI.Interview: Type five interview questions and answers for your subject or person.Each written answer should be a complete paragraph, typically 8-10 sentences in length, approximately 150+words each.During your presentation you will answer these interview questions as if you were the person you read about or an expert on the subject of your book.
Tips for your interview:
Avoid yes or no questions. Ask open ended questions such as:
Biography questionsDescribe your childhood.
Why are you famous?
What is the most memorable moment of your life?
What is your greatest accomplishment?
Part II. Researched facts with in text citations: As you read, you will record interesting facts about your person or subject. Each fact will include a blended quote, author’s name and page number. You will also explain why you picked this fact.
*****There will be many drafts and partial completion grades given throughout this unit. Remember to bring this book to class. You will be using it to work on this unit. ****
Nonfiction Book Project
Assignment / Points possible / Points earnedTyped interview due April 21st/22nd
Five questions with answers each a full paragraph in length. Answers are detailed, and free of spelling or grammar problems.
Each written answer should be a complete paragraph, typically 8-10 sentences in length, approximately 150+words each. / 100
Interview in front of class due April 21st/22nd
-looks prepared -answers questions in character
-clear, engaging speaking voice / 50
Researched facts: April 13th
5+ facts with citations from the book -free of spelling or grammatical errors
-citations include a blended quote, author’s -explained why you picked it
name, and page number / 50
Total______
1. What was your childhood like and how did it influence your future?
I was born Eric Patrick Clapp to Patricia Clapp on March 30, 1945, in Ripley, Surrey, in England. She was fifteen when she had me in the upstairs room of my grandparent’s house at 1 Village Green in Ripley. She left me to be raised by my grandparents when I was two years old, and I grew up thinking that my grandmother, Rose, was my mum, and that my grandfather, Jack, was my dad. This, in my future, made Rose the most loving and caring person in my life, and the person who knew me best. My relationship with my mother, she having practically abandoned me without letting me get to know her as I grew up, was what I feel to be the cause of many bad choices in my life. I always felt a slight anger toward her because of the confusion about my real family that I had in my childhood, her being the cause. My relationship with her seemed to be reflected in the many relationships I have had with women over the years – full of bad choices. My childhood relationship with my mother affected me in several manners throughout my life.
2. Why are you famous?
My fame is the result of my guitar playing and the music I have made throughout my career. I have been in several Rock N’ Roll groups, starting in my late teens. My first band was the Yardbirds, and we toured England’s incredible club scene, it being incredible due to the birth of such great music in it’s surroundings, and with my playing I was beginning to be known as a great player. I was extremely glad to have an early career in what I loved – music. Even upon leaving the Yardbirds, my music was admired by many, and my success with bands like John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers, Cream, and Derek and the Dominos. My music is the result of the writings and expression of my life events, which makes me happy, because it is the story that has been shared to many people of whom may share the same feelings as I have. My ability to make music and play music is what makes me happy, and is what has gotten me through many hard times, and I’m glad that people like me for the product of those hard times. My music is the reason for my fame, of which I am proud.
3. What inspired you to become who you are?
In my youth, I had always admired the guitar playing and music of blues musicians like Robert Johnson and Muddy Waters. In the early years of my career, the various rock groups of which I played with would often cover songs by blues artists like Howlin’ Wolf, the reason being that, to me, it was a musical statement that was purely the blues, and I felt that it was the greatest music ever. Later in my career, I recorded an album consisting entirely of Robert Johnson songs, simply out of respect for his contribution to my influence and to the blues. My admiration for many incredible blues musicians has been the influence for my love for and career in music.
4. What was the most difficult time in your life? Why?
The most challenging times in my life have been the result of excessive use of drugs and alcohol. I began using heroin near the breakup of Derek and the Dominos, around 1974, and it eventually took over my life. I would sit in my house at Hurtwood Edge in England and snort heroin all day, getting stoned, removing myself mentally, and in some cases physically, from the world outside. As I realized, through the haze of addiction, that I needed to stop for the sake of myself, I checked myself into rehab, which was the hardest part of the entire issue; ridding my mind and body of the addiction was the worst experience a had ever had up to that moment. Though I had stopped using heroin, I was still drinking, and that too, got insanely out of hand, and a new and even worse addiction became the focus of my life. I again went into rehabin 1982, this time at a center called Hazelden, and I again, painfully, overcame the addiction. History repeated itself once more, as I had relapsed, in denial ignored it, and upon realization of the issue went through rehab once more, in 1987, and said goodbye to addiction forever – I no longer wanted to have a drink again. The effects of drugs and alcohol were the cause of the worst times in my life.
5. What was your love life like?
Over the years, I have had various relationships with various women, none of them having worked out until I met my wife, Melia. I have had several attempts at a long lasting relationship, including one with George Harrison’s ex-wife, Pattie Boyd, of whom at a point I was dangerously and madly in love with. The many women who I thought I would love forever had a relationship with me that would be lost due to excessive drug use. I had a few children, as well, before marrying my current and forever – to – be wife, with people who I thought would be the one, including an Italian model named Lori, of whom I had a child with named Conor. My relationship with my mother seemed to be the cause of many ill-fated relationships. I was angry with her for not letting me grow to know her, as I didn’t really know at heart the women I was dating. Today, I have a beautiful wife and four girls, and I am as happy as ever.
6. What has life been like with children?
My life with children has been extremely mortifying, but incredibly glorious and happy as well. I had a boy named Conor with an Italian model named Lori, and he was the greatest thing that had ever happened to me up to that point. He fell out of the floor – to – ceiling window at Lori’s 53th- floor apartment, and died that morning, at around 11:10 A.M. on March 20, 1991. My heart was broken – I couldn’t believe what had happened. I had had a girl with a woman named Yvonne some time before named Ruth, who I started to spend time with after Conor’s death, and who served as a tool of recovery – she made me temporarily happy. I have four girls with Melia, and it is truly great. Although my past with my pre-Melia children has been incredibly saddening, today my children are the greatest things that have ever happened to me.
7. Would you change any decisions you made? Explain.
If I had the chance to chance to change anything in my life, I don’t know whether I would change anything at all or not. If I had to choose one thing to change, I would choose to never have set eyes on a single gram of heroin or a bottle of alcohol. They would obviously make my life a lot easier. I do not know how I even survived all those years of usage and drinking. Even though I went through I underwent the worst suffering imaginable during those years, without the important life lessons and realizations that I learned in recovery, I would not be the man I am today. I still might have an unfed addiction one or both of the substances that I seriously abused. I will never know. I am not so sure about any overall changes that I would make about my past if I had the change to make them.
8. How do you think your music has helped others?
My music is the product of my life, my tonal expression of pain, sorrow, happiness, and joy, and I hope that it can helpfully relate to any pain that others have so that it might give them hope that they can overcome any issue. I believe that I have helped many people who share the same situations as I have had, and I’m pretty sure that they support me for that reason. I think that people are my fans because my music has helped them to get through tough times like I have, so they want to pay me back by following me and loving my work. I’m glad that all my work has not just been a vent for my feelings and the result of only my recovery from addiction, but that it has served as a medium of creating happiness and hope in the lives of others. That’s my favorite part about being a musician, other than the fulfillment and thrill of playing the guitar. I want my music to be a creator of happiness and hope to people who share with me the same situations.
9. Have any really important people in your life passed away, and what has it been like to deal with it?
Many of my loved ones have died throughout the course of my lifetime, and their deaths have given made me appreciate my life a lot more. I have lost many of my fellow musicians, including George Harrison, who was also one of my dearest friends, Jimi Hendrix, whom I had bought a white left-handed Fender Stratocaster guitar for right before the night he died, Stevie Ray Vaughan, whom I had played a concert with the night his helicopter crashed, as well as family, including my mother, Pat, my grandmother and grandfather, Rose and jack, my half-brother Brian, and my Uncle Adrian, and my son, Conor. It makes me feel good to be alive and to have seen a new day after all my struggles and fights with addiction and alcoholism. I wish that many of my friends and family members would have lived to see me recover from many of my problems, and that it might have brought happiness to their lives as well as mine. “All things must pass” - in the words of my dear passed friend George Harrison – “all things must pass away”. I greatly appreciate my life, having gone through the unfortunate passing of many of my loved ones.
10. What was your greatest goal, and did you reach this goal?
My greatest goal in life was to get through any that was thrown my way, and I feel that I have accomplished it. I have gotten through serious addiction, I have waded through several failed relationships and have found my soul mate, Melia, I have made a lot of music that hopefully inspires people and gives them hope and happiness, and I have a family and friends who I love. Whether it have been serious or not, I have gotten through many situations in my life and are still getting through many other things. In a sense, I will always be accomplishing my goals by solving my problems and by helping others, both of which make me happy. I have documented my life and times in my music, and I am glad that I can look back ad see how much I’ve accomplished and how much my music can help others. It’s a great feeling to have, along with helping yourself, to help others with what you love to do, and for me, that writing songs and making music. I’m glad that I get to help others in different ways, as well, as I have founded the Crossroads Centre in Antigua, a rehab facility for the many alcoholics in the Caribbean. I feel that I have accomplished my life goal and that as I live, I continue to accomplish it, and it is a great feeling.
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