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By James Mallory

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A former Bathurst resident's research into her latest book unraveled a mysterious visit by a rock and roll legend to New Brunswick.

Melynda Jarratt, now living in Fredericton, has written three books including her latest, Captured Hearts, which will be available in October. Her books all focus on the lives of Canadian war brides and their families.

Through research for Captured Hearts, she was able to solve a mystery surrounding rock icon Eric Clapton and his visit to New Brunswick in the mid-1970s.

While working on her first book, Voices of the Left Behind, Ms. Jarratt learned that the British rock guitarist was born to a Canadian war bride, Patricia Clapton. His mother was only a teenager when she gave birth and decided to have her parents raise Eric.

Patricia met a Canadian soldier in England, Edward Fryer, and she ended up marrying and following the soldier to Canada in 1946. Eric stayed in England, was raised by his grandparents, and Patricia and her husband settled in Oromocto.

Eric Clapton grew up to become become one of the all-time great rock guitarists. In addition to stints with the Yardbirds, John Mayall's Bluesbreakers, Cream and Blind Faith in the sixties, he has achieved great chart success as a solo artist with hits like "Layla," "You Look Wonderful Tonight" and "I Shot The Sheriff." He still tours and records today.

At age nine, the musician found out who his real mother was. Years later, Mr. Clapton made a secretive trip to Oromocto to visit his birth mother and her family. Unfortunately, his half brother Brian died in a motorcycle accident in Summerside, P.E.I while Mr. Clapton was visiting. The musician and the rest of the family went to Summerside for the funeral and soon after, Mr. Clapton returned to England.

What made the visit so interesting is that the news never got out that Mr. Clapton had visited the province, despite his superstar status in the pop music world. It wasn't until Ms. Jarratt's research that the real story came out.

"I've known for over 10 years that Eric Clapton's mother lived in Oromocto. I knew that because I was told that she lived in Oromocto with her Canadian military husband...I just didn't have the proof that he had visited."

Ms. Jarratt said the missing pieces of the puzzle really came together during her research for her third book. Her intention was to have a short excerpt in her book about Mr. Clapton's trip visit but didn't have enough confirmation to make it stick.

With time running out and her book nearing press time, Ms. Jarratt approached the Oromocto community newspaper.

"If I can't prove it I'm going to have to remove it," she explained. "I phoned up the editor of the Oromocto Post...and she said, 'Let's do a story'...Within a very short time, I started getting phone calls from people who had met Eric Clapton and the reason why."

Ms. Jarratt readily acknowledged the story about Mr. Clapton is more of a sidebar in her book but one that certainly makes for an interesting read.