WHO IS LAYLA FROM THE 1971 ERIC CLAPTON SONG?

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Who Is the ‘Layla’ from the 1971 Eric Clapton Song?

By Virginia Chamlee  Published on September 21, 2026 07:00PM EDT

 

It was 1971 when Eric Clapton first released his song, “Layla,” now acclaimed as one of the greatest rock songs of all time.

 

The song achieved both critical and commercial success, charting high in 1972. It was released again 20 years later as an acoustic single in 1992, which won the 1993 Grammy Award for Best Rock Song.

 

But just who was the eponymous “Layla” and why was Clapton singing about her?

 

In reality, “Layla” isn’t actually named “Layla” at all. The woman who inspired the song is English photographer and model Pattie Boyd, who was involved in something of a notorious love triangle with Clapton, now 81, and The Beatles‘s George Harrison.

 

Boyd, now 82, first met Harrison (who died in 2001 at age 58) in 1964, on the set of A Hard Day’s Night. The pair married in 1966.

 

Through Harrison, Boyd met Clapton.

 

In 1970, Clapton began making his feelings known to the model, sending her letters signed “E” (which were auctioned by Christie’s in 2024).

 

A few months later, Clapton played Boyd a new song.

 

Speaking to Christie’s in an earlier interview, Boyd recounted when she first heard “Layla” after Clapton asked her to come to his London apartment, saying: “I’ve got something for you to hear.”

 

“So I went up to the flat and he put on a cassette, and it was ‘Layla,” Boyd said. “It was inspired by a 12th-century Persian tale called The Story of Layla and Majnun about a young poet whose unrequited love turns him mad, and it was so passionate and full of love and raw emotion. I was taken aback by its beauty — but at the same time I felt guilt.”

 

America Songwriter reports that the story Layla and Majnun was introduced to Clapton by friend Ian Dallas, who was at the time converting to Islam.

 

The same night Clapton played Boyd the song, the two both attended a party with Harrison, during which, per Christie’s, Clapton turned to Harrison and said, “I have to tell you that I’m in love with your wife.”

 

Boyd and Harrison’s relationship eventually came to an end, and their divorce was finalized in 1977.

 

After Boyd’s split from Harrison, she and Clapton married in 1979, and the two divorced in 1989.

 

Boyd has opened up about her relationship with Harrison — and how the late musician once got “jealous” of her own publicity.

 

“I know George was rather upset one time when I was on the cover of one of the trashy newspapers, you know, because I was wearing whatever I was wearing — something mad — and he couldn’t believe that they would put me on the paper and not him,” Boyd said on a recent episode of the podcast Miss O’Dell: Abbey Road to Tulsa Time.

 

She added: “Jealousy comes in many, many different forms. It’s very odd.”