Early days Clarke began playing guitar and, by the time he was fifteen years old, had been through many local bands, one of which was called The Bitter End. Of his "Fast" moniker, Clarke has said "I didn't get the name Fast Eddie because of any sex thing, and it wasn't even because I could play fast. It was just that I could play one note in a solo really fast," referring to his skillful
tremolo picking. He continued playing local gigs until 1973, when he turned professional by joining
Curtis Knight's blues prog rock band, Zeus, as lead guitarist. In 1974, the band recorded an album called
The Second Coming at
Olympic Studios. Clarke wrote the music to Knight's lyrics on a track entitled "The Confession". who had recently joined
Motörhead. However, according to Kilmister's authorized biography, it appears that Clarke was introduced to Lemmy by a receptionist at the rehearsal studio, Gertie, who was romantically involved with Clarke at the time. Not long after, he was playing with them. In the early days Eddie rehearsed with Motörhead, before going on the road, at Snobs Rehearsal Studios, part of a converted brewery on the corner of Kings Road and Lots Road, Chelsea, known as the "Furniture Cave". Motörhead's popularity increased along with their UK chart successes. The threesome (Lemmy, Clarke, Taylor) are considered the classic Motörhead line-up and have the ''
Motörhead,
Overkill,
Ace of Spades,
Bomber,
No Sleep 'til Hammersmith and Iron Fist'' albums plus a string of hit singles to their credit. As well as playing guitar and singing backing vocals, he performed lead vocal on a small number of Motörhead songs: Examples are "
Beer Drinkers and Hell Raisers" (on which he traded vocals with Lemmy), "
I'm Your Witchdoctor" (on which he
duets vocals with Lemmy), "Step Down", For the
B-side of the
Stand By Your Man EP the bands took turns in
covering each other's songs, Clarke allegedly felt that this compromised the band's principles and resigned. According to
Joel McIver, Clarke himself later denied this version of events and had said: "[Philthy] was the main instigator in my being excluded from the band. Notice I do not call it leaving, as it was not my choice. I had imagined dying onstage with Motörhead, so it was a blow when they didn't want me in the band any longer." The band sent out demo tapes and were approached by
CBS Records for a recording deal. Way announced his departure just as they were about to sign the deal, but CBS had faith in Fastway and decided to sign them despite this setback. Touring had been strenuous for the band and, upon returning to Britain, they decided to split. Clarke stayed in London, and soon received a call from King about giving Fastway another go. Clarke agreed and moved to Ireland. With another album for CBS in view, they rehearsed with three of King's friends. The record label was happy with the sound and had them record at London's
Abbey Road Studios with producer
Terry Manning, releasing
Waiting for the Roar in 1986. Clarke toured America with Fastway, supporting
AC/DC, followed by a lengthy European tour, which produced 1992's
Say What You Will – Live album. Fastway were also engaged to provide music for the
Trick Or Treat film soundtrack, for which they composed the title track and performed "Heft" and "If You Could See" from their albums.
Later days After the band split up again, Clarke moved back to London and met up with Lea Hart, a solo artist in the Far East. Clarke's record deals had now expired, so the pair took a demo tape to Douglas Smith (Clarke's former Motörhead manager) at
GWR Records, who willingly signed a deal. Still using the name Fastway, they recorded the
On Target album. It featured
Don Airey and Paul Airey on keyboards,
Neil Murray on bass, plus
Bram Tchaikovsky of
The Motors and Christine Byford as backing vocalists. Clarke's group now consisted of Riff Raff on drums, keyboards and bass, plus assorted friends helping out;
Biff Byford and Nigel Glockler of
Saxon, Don Airey, and Kim McAuliffe and
Cris Bonacci of
Girlschool. Following the production of two albums, Clarke and Hart split up. However, the excesses he had indulged in with Motörhead had taken their toll, and led to Clarke being admitted to hospital, spending time afterwards in recuperation. Having recovered, Clarke released a solo album, ''It Ain't Over Till It's Over
, which blends Motörhead and Fastway styles. Lemmy also helped out on the album by writing and singing the track "Laugh at the Devil". The double CD release, Fast Eddie Clarke Anthology'', on
Sanctuary Records showcased a collection of Clarke's music spanning his career before and after Motörhead. It also marked a return to live performances with a re-formed Fastway, including an appearance in the UK at the
Download Festival in summer 2007. In 2014, Clarke went back to his blues roots and released a new studio album through
Secret Records.
Make My Day: Back To Blues was a collaboration between Clarke and the keyboardist from
Shakatak,
Bill Sharpe. Clarke reunited with Lemmy on 6 November 2014 at the
National Indoor Arena in Birmingham to play the Motörhead track "
Ace of Spades".
Death Clarke died on 10 January 2018, aged 67, in a hospital where he was being treated for pneumonia. ==Discography==