Jeff Beck
Geoffrey Arnold Beck (24 June 1944 – 10 January 2023) was an English guitarist. He rose to prominence as a member of the rock band the Yardbirds, and afterwards founded and fronted the Jeff Beck Group and Beck, Bogert & Appice. In 1975, he switched to an instrumental style with focus on an innovative sound, and his releases spanned genres and styles ranging from blues rock, hard rock, jazz fusion and a blend of guitar-rock and electronica.
This article is about the English guitarist. For the American musician, see Beck. For the English cricketer, see Geoffrey Beck (cricketer).
Jeff Beck
Geoffrey Arnold Beck
24 June 1944
Wallington, Surrey (now London Borough of Sutton, Greater London), England
10 January 2023 (aged 78)
Wadhurst, East Sussex, England
Guitarist
1964–2023
Beck was ranked in the top five of Rolling Stone and other magazines' lists of the greatest guitarists.[5][6][7] He was often called a "guitarist's guitarist".[8] Rolling Stone described him as "one of the most influential lead guitarists in rock".[9] Although he recorded two successful albums (in 1975 and 1976) as a solo act, Beck did not establish or maintain commercial success like that of his contemporaries and bandmates.[8][3] He recorded with many artists.[10]
Beck earned wide critical praise and received the Grammy Award for Best Rock Instrumental Performance six times and Best Pop Instrumental Performance once. In 2014, he received the British Academy's Ivor Novello Award for Outstanding Contribution to British Music.[11] He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame twice: first as a member of the Yardbirds (1992) and secondly as a solo artist (2009). Beck was named the 5th greatest guitarist of all time by Rolling Stone in 2023.[12]
Career[edit]
1960s[edit]
While attending Wimbledon College of Art, Beck played in a succession of groups, including Screaming Lord Sutch and the Savages during 1964 when they recorded "Dracula's Daughter"/"Come Back Baby" for Oriole Records.[26][27]
In 1963, after Ian Stewart of the Rolling Stones introduced him to R&B, he formed The Nightshift with whom he played at the 100 Club in Oxford Street.[27][28] Beck joined the Rumbles, a Croydon band, in 1963 for a short period as lead guitarist, playing Gene Vincent and Buddy Holly songs, displaying a talent for mimicking guitar styles. Later in 1963, he joined the Tridents, a band from the Chiswick area. "They were really my scene because they were playing flat-out R&B, like Jimmy Reed stuff, and we supercharged it all up and made it really rocky. I got off on that, even though it was only twelve-bar blues."[29] He was a session guitarist on a 1964 Parlophone single by the Fitz and Startz titled "I'm Not Running Away", with B-side "So Sweet".
Technique and equipment[edit]
Beck's principal guitar was the Fender Stratocaster, which he used in various iterations throughout his career. Beck stopped the regular use of a guitar pick in the 1980s. He produced a wide variety of sounds by using his thumb to pluck the guitar strings, his ring finger on the volume knob, and his little finger on the vibrato bar. By plucking a string and then 'fading in' the sound with the volume knob he created a unique sound that can resemble a human voice, among other effects. He frequently used a wah-wah pedal both live and in the studio. Eric Clapton once said, "With Jeff, it's all in his hands".[103]
Along with Stratocasters, Beck occasionally played Fender Telecaster and Gibson Les Paul models as well. His amplifiers were primarily Fender and Marshall. In his earlier days with the Yardbirds, Beck also used a 1954 Fender Esquire guitar (now owned by Seymour W. Duncan, and housed in the Cleveland Rock and Roll Hall of Fame)[104] through Vox AC30s. He also played through a variety of fuzz pedals and echo units along with this set-up and used the Pro Co RAT distortion pedal. The pickup is based on a Gibson pickup rewound by Duncan and used in a salvaged Telecaster dubbed the "Tele-Gib" which he had constructed as a gift to Beck.[105] Scott Morgan of the Rationals, who at one point shared a dressing room with the Yardbirds, recalls how Beck amplified his lead guitar through a Vox Super Beatle while using banjo strings for the unwound G string on his guitar because "they didn't make sets with an unwound G at that point."[106]
In 1987, Beck asked that the newly opened Fender Custom Shop make a stratocaster guitar to his specifications. The resulting guitar became known for its graffiti yellow colour, to match Beck's 1932 Ford Hot Rod. Based on these specifications, Fender released the "Strat Plus", as Beck had vetoed the use of his name to market that model.[107] However, in 1991, Fender did release a Jeff Beck Stratocaster with some of those same features, which as of 2024 has been on the market continuously, with updates at various times, and particularly significant changes made in 2001. An additional Jeff Beck Custom Shop stratocaster was released in 2004.
Personal life and death[edit]
From 1963 to 1967, Beck was married to Patricia Brown.[Note 1] However, this relationship had deteriorated by the time Beck joined the Yardbirds. During the Yardbirds years, Beck began a relationship with American model and actress Mary Hughes, whom he moved in with when his relationship with the Yardbirds broke down.[108] By 1968, Beck had entered what would be a nearly 18-year relationship with the English model Celia Hammond, whose portrait appears on the album cover of Truth.[109][110] In 2005, he married Sandra Cash. He had no children.
At the time of his death Beck lived in a Grade II-listed building called Riverhall in the civil parish of Wadhurst, East Sussex.[111][112][113] Beck became a vegetarian in 1969 and was a patron of the Folly Wildlife Rescue Trust.[114][115] He also had an interest in classic Ford hot rods, performing much of the work on the exteriors and engines of the cars by himself.[116]
Beck died from a bacterial meningitis infection at a hospital near Riverhall on 10 January 2023, at the age of 78.[113][117][118] Within minutes of his death announcement, musicians and friends began paying tribute; Jimmy Page wrote that "The six stringed Warrior is no longer here for us to admire the spell he could weave around our mortal emotions. Jeff could channel music from the ethereal. His technique unique. His imaginations apparently limitless. Jeff I will miss you along with your millions of fans". Mick Jagger expressed his condolences, writing "With the death of Jeff Beck we have lost a wonderful man and one of the greatest guitar players in the world. We will all miss him so much." Ronnie Wood, a former bandmate of Beck's, stated "Now Jeff has gone, I feel like one of my band of brothers has left this world, and I'm going to dearly miss him."[119] Beck's funeral took place at St Mary's Church in Beddington, Sutton on 3 February. Mourners included Johnny Depp, Rod Stewart, Eric Clapton, Tom Jones, Ronnie Wood, David Gilmour, Bob Geldof, Robert Plant, and Chrissie Hynde.[120] Jimmy Page delivered a eulogy referring to Jeff Beck as "the quiet chief" - according to Jim Moir this was in reference to all guitarists.[121]