Rare Beatles + Clapton Photos Show in Liverpool

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Photo by Pattie Boyd; courtesy of The Beatles Story

Intimate and never-before-seen photographs of The Beatles and their musical peers like Eric Clapton by Pattie Boyd, the woman who inspired the Derek and The Dominos song “Layla,” are on display in Liverpool, England. Titled Pattie Boyd: George, Eric and Me, the exhibit features candid pictures of the musical icons and their friends, such as Rolling Stones Keith Richards and Ronnie Wood.

Boyd was married to George Harrison from 1966 to 1977 and Clapton from 1979 to 1989. She documented their lives together at home and on tour and other travels such as The Fab Four’s sojourn to India in 1968 to study meditation with the Maharishi. The exhibit opened May 6 and will show until this fall at The Beatles Story, the world’s largest permanent exhibition purely devoted to the lives and times of the band in their hometown of Liverpool on the Albert Dock on the Mersey River.

Boyd, 72, is a model, photographer and author who also served as the inspiration for the songs “Something,” “Wonderful Tonight” and “Bell Bottom Blues.” She met Harrison in 1964 on the set of A Hard Day’s Night, in which she was cast as a schoolgirl. A few days later she went on a date with the Beatles guitarist during which he asked her to marry him. Boyd recounted her life with both stars and in the rock music world in her 2007 autobiography Wonderful Tonight: George Harrison, Eric Clapton, and Me, which debuted at the top of the bestsellers list in The New York Times.

“I am thrilled to have the exhibition of my photographs at The Beatles Story Gallery,” says Boyd. “The Beatles legacy seems to get bigger and bigger and after 50 years shows no sign of fading!”

Boyd’s traveling exhibit and lecture, Behind the Lens, pairs her with famed album cover photographer Henry Diltz, known for his iconic images of The Doors, Crosby, Stills and Nash, James Taylor, The Eagles and many others.

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