Virtuoso on the electric guitar
British rock legend Jeff Beck has died
01/11/2023 11:28 p.m
As a guitarist for the Yairbirds, Jeff Beck celebrates his first successes. Later the musician works with the likes of Rod Stewart, Mick Jagger and Stevie Wonder. Now Beck died unexpectedly at the age of 78.
Legendary British rock guitarist and multiple Grammy Award winner Jeff Beck has died at the age of 78. “On behalf of his family, it is with deep and profound sadness that we announce the news of Jeff Beck’s passing,” the musician said on his official website. Accordingly, Beck, who is considered by experts to be one of the best guitarists of all time, died after suffering from bacterial meningitis.
Beck started his career as a session musician. In 1965, after the departure of Eric Clapton, he joined the band Yarbirds as lead guitarist. There he made a name for himself as a musical perfectionist and coined the unmistakable riffs of their best-known hits “Over Under Sideways Down” and “Shapes of Things”. Two years later he left the group again and released his first solo single entitled “Hi Ho Silver Lining/ Beck’s Bolero”, which became a great success. In the same year, the musician founded the Jeff Beck Group, in which Rod Stewart and Rolling Stones bassist Ron Wood participated.
Beck has also worked in many different formations with Mick Jagger, Roger Waters, Brian May, Paul Rodgers and Stevie Wonder, as well as with Tina Turner on her “Private Dancer” album. Just last year he released the album 18 with actor Johnny Depp. The duo covers hits by the Beach Boys, Marvin Gaye and the Velvet Underground. Both of them went on tour together.
“When Johnny and I started making music together, it really sparked our youthful spirit and creativity,” Beck said at the time. “We joked that we felt like we were 18 again, so that became the title of the album.”