Jeff Beck has died at the age of 78.
His spokeswoman says, “On behalf of his family, it is with deep and profound sadness that we share the news of Jeff Beck’s passing. After suddenly contracting bacterial meningitis, he peacefully passed away yesterday. His family ask for privacy while they process this tremendous loss.”
Always looking much younger than his age, and sporting his signature shag haircut, Beck released 18, a collaboration with Johnny Depp, last summer. The pair toured behind the album, and their last show together was November 12th in Reno, Nevada.
One of his last recordings was on the title track of Ozzy Osbourne's latest album, Patient Number 9.
Born in Wallington, Surrey, England on June 24th, 1944, he began playing guitar in his teens and came to prominence in 1965 when he replaced Eric Clapton in The Yardbirds. He played on such hits as “Heart Full of Soul,” “I’m a Man,” “Shapes of Things” and “Over Under Sideways Down” before he was fired in 1966.
He eventually went onto form The Jeff Beck Group with Ronnie Wood on bass, Rod Stewart on vocals, Nicky Hopkins on piano and Aynsley Dunbar on drums -- who was later replaced by Micky Waller. They released two albums -- Truth and Beck-Ola -- before breaking up in 1969.
Having turned down an offer to replace Brian Jones in The Rolling Stones, he put together another version of the band in 1970 and it lasted for two more albums until he put together Beck, Bogert & Appice with former Vanilla Fudge and Cactus members Tim Bogert and Carmine Appice.
That lasted until 1974, and he'd pretty much worked on his own ever since with such albums as Blow by Blow and Wired, both produced by George Martin.
He earned seven Grammys for instrumental performances, and an eighth for his 2009 work on Herbie Hancock’s The Imagine Project. He was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame as a member of The Yardbirds in 1992 and as a solo artist in 2009.
Source: USA Today and Premiere