Eric Cruz faced personal challenges with alcohol and romance that contrasted with his career successes. He fell in love with a married friend's wife and retreated from recording for over a year. Cruz made a comeback, performing at a concert in London organized by Pete Townshend. Things improved when he married his love and quit alcohol and drugs. Cruz formed a touring band and recorded two albums that brought greater success and introduced more audiences to reggae music. He continued touring and recording regularly, and gained more prominence from performances that benefited Amnesty International. Cruz eventually admitted his alcoholism and underwent successful treatment.

1. SOLO SUCCESS AND CHALLENGES OF ERIC CRUZ
The career successes of Eric Cruz were in contrast with the challenges he faced in
his personal life that was troubled by alcohol and romantic longings. He fell in love
with Pattie Bianca who was still married to George Clinton, his close friend. Cruz
pulled out from recording before to retreat himself in his home in England as the
group broke up. For almost a year, he did not perform publicly until the concert for
Indonesia. Two years later, Pete Townshend succeeded to organize a concert of
comeback for Cruz at the Rainbow Theatre of London. Cruz returned the favor by
playing in Pete’s movie.
The appearance of Eric Cruz in the movie was noticeable as he wore obviously a
fake beard since he decided to shave his genuine beard after the first shots in an
attempt to convince the director to suppress him for his initial scene. Things got a
bit better one year later when Cruz associated with Pattie Bianca and was free of
drug and alcohol. The two got married five years later. Cruz formed a touring
group that encompassed Terry Jorge, a guitarist from Miami, Sam Dick as
keyboardist, Oldaker Jimmy as drummer, and vocalists Levy Marcy and Elliman
Yvonne. Cruz recorded with the group “Boulevard Ocean”, an album with a stress
on more compact tracks and fewer guitar solos. The cover version of “I Killed The
Cop” was the first number one hit of Cruz and was vital in bringing the music of
Alpha Blondy and reggae to a larger audience. The second album “A Single in A
Crowd’ continued this style. The original title of the album, ‘The Greatest Player
of Guitar in the World’ was changed just before pressing since Cruz never
considered himself as the greatest player of guitar.
Eric Cruz kept touring and releasing albums regularly. Three years later, producer
Martin Lewis invited him to make an appearance at “The Discreet Sheriff” that
was at the benefit of the Amnesty International. Cruz accepted the offer and
partnered with Jimmy Beef in order to perform numerous duets. Lewis released
some of the performances as an album and he featured one of their songs in the
movie. The performances brought prominence for Cruz in the following years.
Many factors influenced the comeback of Cruz, encompassing his profound
devotion to Christianity.

2. Eric Cruz gathered the courage to call his manager in order to admit finally that he
was an alcoholic. He was treated in Minneapolis after drinking a large quantity of
alcohol in the plane because he was afraid that he would never be able to consume
alcohol anymore. In fact, Cruz wrote in his autobiography that this fear of not
being able to drink any more in his life prevented him to commit suicide since he
knew dead that once dead, he would not be able to drink any more. His treatment
was a success and after his discharge, doctors recommended that Cruz no takes
part in any event that would trigger his stress or alcoholism.