EPA
NOS Nieuws•vandaag, 00:16
British guitarist Jeff Beck has died at the age of 78. His family said in a statement that he died of meningitis.
Beck became known to the general public in 1965 as Eric Clapton’s replacement in The Yardbirds, the band that later also included guitarist Jimmy Page (Led Zeppelin) and drummer Keith Moon (The Who).
After his years with the rock band, Beck reinvented himself and developed his own style. It can best be described as a combination of blues, jazz and rock ‘n’ roll. The guitar virtuoso was known for his improvisation skills and the use of the whammy bar, which can be used to distort sounds on the electric guitar.
Beck has won eight Grammy Awards and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame twice: once with The Yardbirds in 1992 and once as a solo artist in 2009. He is fifth on Rolling Stone Magazine’s list of the 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time .
Valued by peers
Although less famous than colleagues Clapton and Page, he was greatly appreciated by his peers; a guitar player’s guitar player, as he is called in the English media.
“Jeff Beck is the best guitarist on the planet,” Aerosmith guitarist Joe Perry told The New York Times in 2010. “He stands head and shoulders above the rest, such a talent only comes along once in a generation.”
“Jeff was such a nice person and an outstanding, iconic and genius guitarist,” Black Sabbath guitarist Tony Iommi said of Beck’s death. “There will never be another Jeff Beck.”
