He is gone at 78 years old
Jeff Beck, one of the most skilled, admired and influential guitarists in rock history, died at the age of 78 on Tuesday at a hospital near his home in Surrey, England, The New York Times reported. The cause was bacterial meningitis, Melissa Dragic reported. , his publicist.
In the 1960s and 1970s, as a member of the Yardbirds or as leader of his own bands, Mr. Beck brought a sense of adventure to his playing that helped make those bands’ recordings revolutionary. In 1965, when Mr. Beck joined the Yardbirds to replace Eric Clapton, the group was already one of England’s defining acts.
Three years later, when he formed his own band, later known as the “Jeff Beck Group”, the weight of the music created an early template for heavy metal. Specifically, the band’s 1968 debut album, Truth, was a blueprint that another former Yardbirds colleague, Jimmy Page, used to create Led Zeppelin a few months later.
Source: BGNES
