Jeff Beck was one of the greatest guitarists in rock music history, known for his work with the Yardbirds and the Jeff Beck Group, and as a solo artist.
- Died: January 10, 2023 (Who else died on January 10?)
- Details of death: Died at a hospital in Surrey, England of bacterial meningitis at the age of 78.
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The Conversation on Jeff Beck’s Legacy
“Beck’s fame was not drawn from a catalogue of hit songs (though there was, of course, Hi Ho Silver Lining), nor from a cushy decades-long residency in a mega-band (though there were many supposed offers). Instead, he was a guitarist’s guitarist who seemed to be the humble protagonist at the centre of a plethora of seminal moments in pop history.
Those moments included the 1960s UK blues invasion, the pop-jazz movement of Stevie Wonder, 1970s funk fusion and “world fusion”, and millennial rock, pop and film music. He drew upon styles including jazz, reggae, Bulgarian folk, western and Indian classical music, and influenced artists in an even wider circle of styles.”
–Milton Mermikides (Associate Professor in Music, MMus Programme Director and Deputy Director of the International Guitar Research Centre, University of Surrey) & John McGrath (Senior Lecturer in Music, Deputy Director of the International Guitar Research Centre (IGRC), University of Surrey), writing in The Conversation
Tributes to Jeff Beck
Full obituary: The Conversation
