Was Melia McEnry Eric Claptons wife a groupie before she married him?

Answer 1

According to Mark Kellogg, who was a promotion assistant at a show that Eric Clapton gave in 1998 in Columbus, Ohio, Clapton met Melia McEnry at a party that was arranged for Clapton after his live performance. Kellog was in attendance at the party and recalls their initial meeting. He also mentioned that McEnry was backstage at the show itself, but was unable to meet Clapton there. He was heavily insulated by his entourage and it was difficult to make contact with him. McEnry, who was a regular backstage goer made an arrangement to attend the party with a friend who was forwarded an invitation and was successful in meeting Clapton there. Also, a couple members of the local Columbus press recall the meeting. Clapton was kind enough to grant them short interviews while in attendance at the party. One Clapton insider said off the record that the reason for Clapton announcing that first he met Melia at a restaurant while working as a waitress and later telling another reporter that he had met her while she was working for Armani in Los Angeles (which she never did) was because he did not want the world to view Melia as a groupie, period. But in fact Melia did date other musicians prior to meeting Clapton and was familiar with the backstage scene.

Answer 2

Yes she was. Melia McEnry dated more than one famous musician prior to her marriage to Eric Clapton. In fact, Melia McEnry was backstage at Eric Clapton's Columbus, Ohio show the night that she met him in 1998. A group of people were invited to a party that Eric Clapton was going to be in attendance at later that evening, and Melia McEnry was among them. She was the date of a Promotion Assistant that was invited, and she took the opportunity to introduce herself to Eric Clapton at that time. Melia McEnry was known to go backstage to concerts since her teens and even moved to Los Angeles, California, for a short period of time to pursue her hobby. At the time that Eric Clapton met Melia McEnry, she was working for her father's company as a secretary.