Legendary Rock Guitarist Jeff Beck Dies At 78!
According to a statement from his representative, legendary guitarist Jeff Beck, who led the Jeff Beck Group and later played with the Yardbirds, died at the age of 78.
According to the spokesman, Jeff Beck passed unexpectedly on Tuesday due to “suddenly contracting bacterial meningitis.” “His family requests privacy as they process this tremendous loss,” they stated.
Beck, acknowledged as one of history’s greatest guitarists and whose infamous £7 million insurance policy covered his fingers and thumbs, was also known as a ravenous innovator. Throughout his career, he created jazz-rock, played around with fuzz and distortion effects, and paved the way for more powerful subgenres like heavy metal and psych-rock. He was voted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as an individual artist and member of the Yardbirds. Additionally, he received the Ivor Novello award for distinguished contribution to British music and was an eight-time Grammy winner.
Musicians and lifelong friends began paying their condolences shortly after the news surfaced. Jimmy Page wrote on Twitter that the six-stringed Warrior was no longer among us to marvel at the magic he could weave around our physical emotions. Jeff might listen to airy music. His approach is unique. His inventiveness seems to have no limits. Jeff, you will be missed by your countless fans.
With Jeff Beck’s passing, the world has lost a great man and one of the best guitarists in history, according to Mick Jagger. We all sincerely miss him. Rod Stewart, who toured with the Jeff Beck Group in the late 1960s, said of him that he was “one of the few guitarists that, while performing live, would listen to me sing and respond.” “My man, you were the best.” I’m grateful for everything.
“Heartbreaking news,” as Gene Simmons put it, The greatest guitarist ever was Jeff. To experience excellence, I urge you to purchase the first two Jeff Beck Group albums. RIP.”
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Jeff Beck was on another planet . He took me and Ronnie Wood to the USA in the late 60s in his band the Jeff Beck Group
and we haven’t looked back since . pic.twitter.com/uS7bbWsHgW— Sir Rod Stewart (@rodstewart) January 11, 2023
Ronnie Wood commented, “I feel like one of my band of brothers has gone this earth, and I’m going to mourn him,” in response to Jeff’s departure.
Ozzy Osbourne tweeted, “I can’t even begin to tell you how devastated I am to hear of Jeff Beck’s passing.” What a heartbreaking loss for his family, friends, and innumerable supporters. Having Jeff play on my most recent record and getting to know him was a huge honor.
David Gilmour of Pink Floyd tweeted, “I am devastated to hear the news of the demise of my friend and hero Jeff Beck, whose music has thrilled and inspired me and many others for many years.” He will never be forgotten in our hearts.
While David Coverdale of Whitesnake wrote the song “Oh, My Heart,” Johnny Marr called him “a pioneer and one of the all-time greats.” Goodbye, Jeff. You are already sadly missed.
I’m heartbroken,” The Kinks’ Dave Davies tweeted. He had a great appearance. He played well and was in great shape. I’m shocked and confused. Given that it is illogical, I don’t grasp it. He was a great buddy and a fantastic guitarist.
Famous guitarists from all over the world paid tribute to Beck’s abilities and influence. Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top described Beck as a “great person” who “showed me how this guitar-playing thing should be treated.” He was referred to as “the Salvador Dali of guitar” by Joe Perry of Aerosmith, and Vernon Reid of Living Colour said there was “always room for him to improve.”
According to The Edge of U2, Jeff Beck was a forerunner of punk rock and one of the best guitarists of all time. He set a higher standard for all of us who followed him. His influence will live on.
I can’t express how saddened I am to hear of @JeffBeckMusic’s passing. What a terrible loss for his family, friends & his many fans. It was such an honor to have known Jeff & an incredible honor to have had him play on my most recent album, #PatientNumber9.
Long live #JeffBeck pic.twitter.com/hG6O9tzfij— Ozzy Osbourne (@OzzyOsbourne) January 11, 2023
He was the Guv’nor, said Brian May of Queen, describing his “gut-wrenching” reaction to the news. He was the pinnacle of guitar playing; he was exceptional and irreplaceable. And a wonderful person.
Geoffrey Beck, also known as Jeff Beck, was born in the south London neighborhood of Wallington in 1944. As a child, he sang in the church choir, and after failing to con a music store into a hire-purchase agreement, he began playing the guitar as a teenager.
This man was not old enough to be my father, but he pledged to be my guarantor. He told the New Statesman in 2016: “I’ll tell them I’m your stepfather,” he said. After a month, they understood he had nothing to do with me and immediately returned the guitar. Once my dad agreed and admitted that we couldn’t afford it, they waived the remaining payments, and I could purchase the instrument.
After briefly enrolling in a London art school, Beck began playing with Screaming Lord Sutch until Jimmy Page proposed Beck as Eric Clapton’s successor after the Yardbirds frontman left the group. Even though they were already well-known at that point, the Yardbirds had a few of their best hits during Beck’s brief tenure with the band, including the 1966 album Yardbirds and the No. 3 single Shapes of Things. Beck was only in the Yardbirds for around 20 months when he left the group in 1966 due to tensions that had arisen during a US tour. In the Yardbirds, every day was a cyclone he would later observe.
Hard rock and blues were mixed on Beck’s 1968 debut solo album, Truth, to create a style later known as heavy metal. The following year, The Jeff Beck Group released an album with him titled Beck-Ola, but his solo career was put on hold due to a head injury he had in a car accident.
After recovering from his 1970 skull fracture, Jeff Beck reformed his band and released two albums, 1971’s Rough and Ready and 1972’s Jeff Beck Group, which documented his early forays into the jazz fusion style that would eventually garner him notoriety.
The mid-1970s tour with John McLaughlin’s jazz-rock group Mahavishnu Orchestra profoundly impacted Beck’s understanding of music. “Watching [McLaughlin] and the sax player exchange solos, I thought, “This is me,” he said in 2016.
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Beck was moved and embraced jazz fusion with the George Martin-produced album Blow By Blow. Although Beck’s most commercially successful album to date debuted at No. 4 and sold platinum in the US, he later expressed regret. He stated, “I shouldn’t have done Blow By Blow,” in a 1990 interview with Guitar Player. “I wish that I had stayed with earthy rock and roll. When Max Middleton, Clive Chaman, and other incredibly musical people are all around you, you’re in prison and must play along with it.
Despite his latter feelings on Blow By Blow, Beck experimented throughout the 1970s, releasing the platinum-selling jazz fusion albums Wired in 1976 and There and Back in 1980.
“He embraced undertaking after endeavor with unlimited energy and passion,” Robert Plant said. He developed magic throughout the past epochs, always prepared for the upcoming, unlikely, unpredictable conflict.
In the 1980s, Beck’s output significantly diminished due to his tinnitus. Throughout the decade, he contributed to a few noteworthy but infrequent productions. He performed in the 1981 Secret Policeman’s Other Ball benefit performances for Amnesty International alongside Clapton, Sting, and Phil Collins. His first solo album in five years, Flash, was released by him in 1985.
Chic’s Nile Rodgers produced it, and Beck used it as a pivotal milestone because it mainly featured pop songs with vocals in contrast to his largely instrumental work from the 1970s. People Get Ready, a collaboration between Beck and Rod Stewart that became one of his few top-charting songs under his name, peaked at number one in the US, New Zealand, Sweden, Belgium, and Switzerland.
The 1989 album The ten-year run of Jeff Beck’s solo albums ended with Guitar Shop. Still, he continued to tour and record throughout the 1990s, collaborating with musicians including Jon Bon Jovi, Kate Bush, and Roger Waters. He released the dance and electronic album Who Else in 1999.
Despite only releasing a handful of albums between 2000 and 2010, Beck began to create a solid reputation as a respected figure and collaborator by sharing the stage with artists like Kelly Clarkson and Joss Stone. He has lived on an estate in East Sussex since 1976. He married Sandra Cash, his second wife, in 2005.
Johnny Depp‘s songs and cover versions of well-known artists like Marvin Gaye, the Velvet Underground, and others are featured on the collaborative album 18 that Beck and Depp made last year. The album garnered mixed reviews, but Beck deserves credit for avoiding turning to coffee-table blues like other guitar heroes of the 1960s UK R&B boom, according to Guardian’s Michael Hann, who awarded it a two-star rating.
Another musician that praised Beck was Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys, who described him as a “great guitar player.” Billy Idol told him as “sublime” and thanked God for allowing him to perform in front of him. Stevie Van Zandt praised Beck as “a major influence” and “an endless source of joy throughout my lifetime.”
Joe Satriani called Beck “a genius, a great original.” More than any other guitarist, he was the one who could make you wonder, “WTF was that? He had extraordinary talent and was constantly coming up with new ways to play the instrument.
