cream had split up in late 1968, although lead guitarist eric clapton remained signed to rso, but his next project, the highly touted supergroup blind faith, which united clapton and ginger baker with steve winwood (ex traffic) and ric grech (ex family) fizzled out after just one lp. clapton made a promising solo debut with his critically praised self-titled 1970 album, and followed this by forming a new band, derek & the dominos, with ex-members of delaney and bonnie's backing group. they recorded an ambitious double-album with considerable input from duane allman, whom clapton met and befriended. although "layla & other assorted love songs" (1970) is now acknowledged as his masterpiece, the album's relatively poor critical and commercial reception was overshadowed by the tragic deaths of eric clapton's close friends jimi hendrix (who died while the sessions were underway) and the subsequent death of allman himself in october 1971. these tragedies, combined with the angst of his unrequited love for patti boyd, sent clapton into a downward spiral of depression and drug abuse. derek & the dominos broke up before a second album could be completed, clapton withdrew from performing and he became addicted to heroin for several years. fortunately, clapton eventually kicked his habit, and stigwood took him back to miami, where he recorded his very successful comeback album "461 ocean boulevard" (1974), which included his us #1 hit version of bob marley's "i shot the sheriff".