Jeff Beck dies: The British guitar god turned 78

Jeff Beck, an eight-time Grammy winner and Rock and Roll Hall of Famer who left the Yardbirds to join his own band and teamed with Rod Stewart and is considered one of rock guitar’s all-time greats, has died. He was 78 years old. Beck died Tuesday of bacterial meningitis, his family said in a statement.

“On behalf of his family, it is with deep sadness that we share the news of Jeff Beck’s death,” reads the statement on social media. “He fell asleep peacefully yesterday after suddenly contracting bacterial meningitis. His family asks for privacy as they process this tremendous loss.”

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Beck replaced Eric Clapton in the seminal British rock group The Yardbirds in 1965 and remained with the group until the following year, playing on some of the group’s biggest hits, including “Heart Full of Soul” and “Over, Under, Sideways” . en His bandmate and eventual successor in 1966 was Jimmy Page, who later formed Led Zeppelin.

Generally haunting and insistent, his guitar work featured and/or alternated between blues, jazz fusion and straight up hard guitar rock. It is often said that members of the young English band Pink Floyd almost invited Beck to join them in 1967, but were too nervous to approach him.

Beck’s first album after leaving the band was Truth, which reached the Top 15 and was certified Gold in the US. These included “Beck’s Bolero” – backed by Page, John Paul Jones and The Who’s Keith Moon – and his cover of Willie Dixon’s “I Ain’t Superstitious”, which featured Stewart on lead vocals. The disc also included a cover of Dixon’s You Shook Me, a version of which appeared on Zeppelin’s debut album the following year.

“The six-string warrior is no longer here to admire the magic he can weave around our mortal emotions,” Page tweeted today. “Jeff could channel music from the ether. His technique is unique. His imagination seems limitless. Jeff I will miss you along with your millions of fans.”

Page would induct Beck into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2009.

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Beck relented in 1969 Beck-Ola, the first album credited to the Jeff Beck Band. It also reached the US Top 15 and cracked the UK Top 40. Jeff Beck Group, Released in 1972, it was the band’s swansong and was highlighted by what is probably their best-known song, a rousing cover of Dox Nix’s “Going Down,” which remains a staple of classic rock radio.

The lineup of The Jeff Beck Group has at various times featured British rock legends such as Stewart, future Rolling Stone Ron Wood, Aynsley Dunbar and Cozy Powell.

Beck would continue to tour and release albums – including the one Jeff Beck, Tim Bogert, Carmine Appice – the commercial breakthrough came in the mid-1970s. published in 1975, battle after battle was his second official solo set. The mostly instrumental song was highlighted by “Freeway Jam”, which would become one of his best-known songs, peaking at #4 on the Billboard 200. It would be the first of consecutive platinum CDs.

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The 1976 follow-up was authoritative wired, which also made the US Top 20 as Beck continues to attract a larger audience.

His albums continued to sell well in the United States, but were less successful in his native Britain. Beck never had a solo hit, but his collaboration with Stewart on a cover of Impressions’ “People Get Ready” in 1985 was an FM hit and aired on fledgling MTV. The pair have worked together many times and the combination of that guitar and that voice was rock magic.

Technically brilliant, always innovative, extremely versatile – and often spirited – Beck was a rock ‘n’ roll iconoclast and guitarist’s guitarist. “I don’t care about the rules,” he says. “In fact, if I don’t break the rules at least 10 times in every song, then I’m not doing my job.”

And he really came alive on stage.

The most enthusiastic fans might say they heard him play rather than watched—which made sense, since he was never much of a showman and preferred to let his fingers do the talking. But he displayed flashes of Rock God on stage, used the whammy bar relentlessly, and sometimes threw his arms in the air when he hung up a note.

A slap in the face of both visuals and sound, even seasoned concertgoers would probably be bragging about his performances the next day. And the next. He remains one of rock music’s most respected guitarists, as evidenced by the multitude of honors he has received.

Alice Cooper would agree. In interviews he once said: “Eric Clapton is a great blues player. Jimmy Page is a great rock musician. Jeff Beck is a great guitar player. … If you get a chance to see Jeff Beck — Jeff Beck is the man.” Check out this story:

Born in the London suburb of Wallington on June 22, 1944, Beck played in local bands and did session gigs before being recruited by the Yardbirds. He was early impressed by the Les Paul, a pioneer of the solid body electric guitar. Beck performed Paul’s “How High the Moon” with singer-songwriter Imelda May for a 2010 Grammy tribute to six-string guitar icon Les Paul. Early heroes also included BB King and Stax legend Steve Cropper.

Beck later opened for King on a tour dubbed the 2003 BB King Music Festival.

It wasn’t until 1985 that he received his first Grammy – Best Rock Instrumental for “Escape” – but went on to win the award five more times (see below how he accepted the award in 2011). He has been nominated for a Grammy 17 times, including two consecutive nominations for Best Rock Album in early 2010.

Beck recently teamed up with Johnny Depp for a 2020 closing cover of John Lennon’s Isolation. And last year, Depp joined Beck on stage during a break for a few nights on his European tour – including a stop at London’s Royal Albert Hall Pirates of the Caribbean star’s lawsuit against ex-wife Amber Heard.