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John Lennon, the late former band member of The Beatles, had written a letter to prolific singer and guitarist Eric Clapton in the hope of convincing him to form a new band with him. The eight-page letter, dated September 1971, is a draft of the final version which was ultimately sent to the 18-time Grammy Award winner by Lennon. According to Lennon, the proposed band would include former Plastic Ono Band members Klaus Voorman, Jim Keltner, Nicky Hopkins and Phil Spector. Lennon and his wife, Yoko Ono, formed the Plastic Ono Band, and Clapton performed with iterations of the band from September to December 1969. Lennon probably hoped that the familiarity of the artists might prove to be a catalyst in swaying Clapton. “You must know by now that Yoko and I rate your music and yourself very highly, always have,” the letter begins. The letter then mentions the personal hardships that Clapton was going through at the time. The ‘Layla’ singer had been out of the public eye for quite some time and was also battling a heroin addiction. Drugs had become a coping mechanism to deal with fame and attention. “Eric, I know I can bring out something great, in fact greater in you that had been so far evident in your music. I hope to bring out the same kind of greatness in all of us, which I know will happen if/when we get together.” READ MORE: Kendrick Lamar’s gritty album GNX tops US charts Lennon added in the letter that he understood Clapton’s reservations and wanted him to work with the people who loved and respected both him and his music. Even though Clapton had performed with all the band members before, especially Lennon, he would go on to refuse this offer. The letter opens a path to probably one of the biggest ‘what ifs’ in rock and roll history. Everyone remembers the electricity the two brought whenever they performed together. The letter will go up for auction for a sum of roughly more than Rs 1.2 crore. It had also been up for auction in 2012, but for around Rs 20 lakh. None
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