Jeff Beck dies

completemusicupdate.com:

Jeff Beck has died, aged 78, after recently contracting bacterial meningitis.In a statement yesterday, the guitarist’s family said: “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 [on Tuesday]. His family asks for privacy while they process this tremendous loss”.With a career spanning nearly 60 years, Beck first came to prominence with The Yardbirds – replacing Eric Clapton in that band in 1965.

He also had success with the Jeff Beck Group and as a solo artist, and performed and recorded with numerous other musicians, including Stevie Wonder, Kate Bush, Jon Bon Jovi, Joe Cocker, Morrissey and Ozzy Osbourne.Beck was recommended to The Yardbirds by Jimmy Page – both guitarists then working as session musicians.

Although his time with the band lasted less than two years, he performed on several of their most successful singles, and recorded one album with them, 1966’s ‘Roger The Engineer’.While a member of The Yardbirds, Beck also made his first solo record, ‘Beck’s Bolero’, on which he was backed by Page, Keith Moon, John Paul Jones and pianist Nicky Hopkins.Pleased with the results, the musicians talked about forming a new band, which Moon quipped would “go down like a lead zeppelin”.