His intimate bond with two of the greatest musicians of all generations spawned songs that are still played and revered by fans around the world to this day.
But Pattie Boyd, the Sixties muse behind some of George Harrison and Eric Clapton’s best-known hits, admits she didn’t collect a dime in royalties despite being responsible for creating them.
The model, now 78, and best-selling author, married soft-spoken Beatles guitarist Harrison in 1966, two years after they met on the set of the band’s first feature film, A Hard Day’s Night .
But she would then be doggedly pursued by an infatuated Clapton, a close friend of the pair and a Beatles collaborator, having provided lead guitar on Harrison’s 1968 hit While My Guitar Gently Weeps, with the pair eventually marrying in 1979.
However, Clapton’s then-unrequited obsession with the model, who would push back on his proclamations of love to stay with Harrison until his own repeated infidelities led to their divorce in 1974, would inspire one of the biggest hits in the film. rocker – Layla.
Released during his short stint with Derek And The Dominoes in 1970, the iconic track served as the basis for the band’s one and only album, Layla And Other Love Stories, and has since become a mainstay of the classic rock canon.
A hymn to unrequited love, the song served was inspired by a love story that originated in Arabia in the 7th century and later formed the basis of the 12th century Persian tome The Story of Layla and Majnun, which playwright Ian Dallas gave to Clapton.
The book – which details the story of a young man who falls head over heels in love with a beautiful young girl who does not immediately return her affection – would then be moved Clapton, then 25, so deeply that he went on to write Layla, a song that has since been hailed as one of the greatest songs of all time and streamed millions of times.
Despite its success, however, Boyd – who married Clapton five years after divorcing Harrison – now claims she hasn’t received a single royalty check in the 52 years since the track was released.
Short-changed: Pattie Boyd, the 60s muse who inspired some of George Harrison and Eric Clapton’s best-known hits, admits she didn’t collect a dime in royalties (pictured with Clapton in 1993)
Opening: The model, now 78 and best-selling author, reflected on her marriages to Beatles legend Harrison and his close friend, guitar virtuoso Clapton
In the good old days: Boyd married soft-spoken Beatles guitarist Harrison in 1966, two years after meeting on the set of the band’s first feature film, A Hard Day’s Night
With tongue in cheek, she told The Sunday Times’ Style magazine: “I asked that during my divorce, and he said, ‘Are you kidding?
Boyd, who also served as the inspiration for Clapton’s 1977 song Wonderful Tonight, then quipped, “That’s why I have to write books.”
Boyd, an English model and photographer from Somerset, served not only as a muse for Clapton – then a young musician who began collaborating with Harrison shortly after the Beatles married Boyd, with the two quickly becoming close friends – but also for her first husband. .
It inspired some of Harrison’s best work with the Beatles – including I Need You, If I Needed Someone, Love You To and the 1969 ballad Something – one of the stars of their classic album, Abbey Road.
Harrison would also write the 1973 solo track So Sad about her then-deteriorating marriage to Boyd, who had no children and was plagued by Harrison’s then rampant drug and alcohol abuse, as well as numerous affairs – including with Ringo Starr’s ex-wife, Maureen Starkey Tigrett. .
During this time, Clapton secretly romanced Boyd, getting into his good graces before they finally married in 1979.
The song Layla was inspired by this period, with its distinctive chord progression, plaintive chorus, and long climactic coda since making the song one of the most instantly recognizable rock songs of its time.
Obsessed: But she would be doggedly pursued by an infatuated Clapton, a close friend of the pair and a Beatles collaborator, with the musician later writing the classic track Layla about her
Muse: Boyd also inspired some of Harrison’s best work with the Beatles, including I Need You, If I Needed Someone, Love You To and the 1969 ballad Something
Iconic: Boyd became synonymous with 60s swing counterculture through his association with the Beatles
Recalling her first encounter with Beatles legend Harrison on the set of A Hard Day’s Night, she said: ‘He was so handsome and kind, chatty. They [The Beatles] all wore little dark suits and little black ties.
Two years later, the couple were married at the Epsom Register Office, but the marriage would end in 1974, paving the way for an eventual ten-year marriage between Boyd and Clapton.
“Yes, he was very handsome and sexy, very stylish,” she recalls when she first met the musician, at the height of Beatle-mania in the mid-sixties.
‘[Beatles manager] Brian Epstein had a theater and Eric used to play there. We all went back to Brian’s apartment and he befriended George.
The couple would divorce in 1989 and Boyd admits she knew her rock star romances were over after they separated.
“I didn’t have to tell myself that,” she said. “I already knew.”
The model married a third time in 2015 to property developer Rod Weston, after meeting while vacationing in Sri Lanka.