Jeff Beckthe one with the yardbirdsthe Jeff Beck Group and celebrated great success as a solo artist, died at the age of 78 after a sudden illness with meningitis. He was considered one of the best guitarists of all time. The eight-time Grammy winner has been recognized both as a solo artist and as a member of the yardbirds inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Musicians and longtime friends began expressing their condolences and tributes minutes after the news of his death was announced. Rock legend Ozzy Osbourne wrote on Twitter that he could not express how sad Beck’s death made him. “It was an honor to have known Jeff,” added Osbourne.
“With the death of Jeff Beck we have lost a wonderful man and one of the greatest guitar players in the world,” wrote Mick Jagger.
Joe Perrylead guitarist and vocalist of the band Aerosmith, compared Beck to a painter legend: “Jeff Beck was the Salvador Dalí of the guitar.” With his death, the world became a little poorer. Tony Iommi from Black Sabbath and vocalist Paul Young hailed him as an “extraordinary icon, guitarist genius” and “guitarist’s guitarist”.
dave daviesco-founder of The Kinkswas inconsolable about Beck’s death: “I’m shocked and stunned … He was a good friend and a great guitarist.” genesis-Guitarist Steve Hackett highlighted the powerful influence Beck had on him and many others: “He made the electric guitar sing,” he wrote.
The legendary guitarist Jimmy Page referred to Beck’s unique technique and his apparently limitless imagination, his colleague David GilmourMember of pink floyd, was shocked by the death of friend Jeff Beck: “His music has thrilled and inspired me for many years … He will always be in our hearts.” Johnny Marrguitarist of the pioneering indie rock band the smiths, called him a “pioneer and one of the all-time greats,” while the punk musician and poet Patti Smith described him as “mercurial, innovative and impossible to categorise”.
Also early companions of Beck, according to Ronnie Wood, who is a member of the Jeff Beck Group was before joining the 1975 Rolling Stones and Rod Stewart, who toured with the Jeff Beck Group in the late ’60s, expressed their sadness and admiration: “Jeff Beck was from another planet,” tweeted Stewart and noted that Beck was one of “the few guitar players on live performances who would actually listen when I sang and respond… You were the greatest… Thank you for everything.” Wood stated that Beck’s death would leave a void in his life: “Now that Jeff is gone, I feel like one of my brothers has left this world and I will miss him dearly.”