Her close association with two of the greatest musicians of all generations has produced songs that are still played and adored by fans around the world to this day.
But Pattie Boyd, the ’60s muse behind some of George Harrison and Eric Clapton’s best-known hits, admits she didn’t see a penny in the royalties despite being responsible for creating them.
The model, now 78 and a successful author, married soft-spoken Beatles guitarist Harrison in 1966, two years after they met on the set of the band’s first feature-length film, A Hard Day’s Night.
Changed in brief: Pattie Boyd, the sixties muse who inspired some of George Harrison and Eric Clapton’s best-known hits, admits she never saw a penny in royalties from either (pictured with Clapton in 1993)
But she was doggedly pursued by a lovestruck Clapton, a close friend of the couple and a Beatles collaborator, after he played lead guitar on Harrison’s 1968 composition While My Guitar Gently Weeps.
His then-unrequited obsession with the model, who rebuffed his declarations of love to stay with Harrison until his own repeated infidelities led to their divorce in 1974, would go on to provide the inspiration for one of his biggest hits – Layla.
It was released in 1970 during his short-lived stint with Derek And The Dominoes and served as the basis for the band’s only album, Layla And Other Love Stories.
And its distinctive chord progression, plaintive chorus, and lengthy climax coda have made Clapton’s Song of Unrequited Love one of rock’s most recognizable songs of all time.
Opening up: The model, now 78 and a successful author, has been reflecting on her marriages to Beatles legend Harrison and his close friend, guitar virtuoso Clapton
Old days: Boyd married soft-spoken Beatles guitarist Harrison in 1966, two years after they met on the set of the band’s first feature-length film, A Hard Day’s Night
Despite his success, Boyd, who was set to marry Clapton in 1979, five years after Harrison divorced, says she received no royalties from the track.
She told the Sunday Times’ Style magazine with a wink: “I asked for it at my divorce and he said, ‘Are you kidding?’ That’s why I have to write books.’
Boyd also inspired some of Harrison’s finer work with the Beatles, notably I Need You, If I Needed Someone, Love You To and the 1969 ballad Something – one of the standout performances of their classic Abbey Road .
Obsessed: But she was doggedly pursued by a smitten Clapton, a close friend of the couple and a Beatles collaborator, with the musician later writing the classic track Layla about her
Muse: Boyd also inspired some of Harrison’s finer work with the Beatles, notably I Need You, If I Needed Someone, Love You To and the 1969 ballad Something
Harrison also wrote the 1973 solo track So Sad about his marriage to Boyd, which bore no children.
Recalling her first meeting with the Beatles legend on the set of A Hard Days Night, she said: “He was so handsome and he was cute and he was talking. she [The Beatles] all wore little dark suits and little black ties.’
Two years later, the couple married at Epsom Register Office, but the marriage ended in 1974 – paving the way for Boyd’s later ten-year marriage to Clapton.
Iconic: Boyd became synonymous with the Swinging Sixties counterculture thanks to her association with the Beatles
“Yes, he was very gorgeous and sexy, very stylish,” she recalled of her first encounter with the musician, at the height of Beatle mania in the mid-’60s.
‘[Beatles manager] Brian Epstein had a theater and Eric acted there. We all went back to Brian’s place and he became friends with George.’
The couple divorced in 1989, and Boyd admits she knew her rock star romances were over after their split.
“I didn’t have to tell myself,” she said. ‘I already knew.’
The model married real estate developer Rod Weston for the third time in 2015 after meeting while vacationing in Sri Lanka.