The rock guitarist Eric Clapton has announced that he going to use his past problems with drugs to help others, by becoming a volunteer worker at a drugs and alcohol clinic.

Over 20 years after recording Cocaine, a song describing the highs and lows of drug use, Clapton is now taking part in counselling sessions at a London clinic.

He says he tells addicts that if total abstinence is good enough for him, they can give up too.

In an interview in The Times newspaper, Clapton said that he is also creating his own 36-bed addiction clinic in Antigua, where he has a home. It opens in July and will cater for wealthy western addicts and poor islanders.

Clapton, whose five-year-old son, Conor, died when he fell from a 53rd floor New York apartment, said that he was brought back from "the edge of the world" by getting to know his daughter Ruth, conceived during a romance in Montserrat.

He also spoke about his affection for the singer Sheryl Crow and his hopes of becoming a father again at the age of 53.

Clapton, whose other hits include Wonderful Tonight and Tears In Heaven, written in memory of his young son, also condemns much of Britpop as "children's music."

He says that whilst bands may try to look tough, many sound more like Freddie and the Dreamers than serious rock bands.

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