Geoffrey Arnold Beck (24 June 1944 – 10 January 2023) was a rock guitarist from England. He rose to notoriety as a member of the Yardbirds and then as a member of the Jeff Beck Group and Beck, Bogert & Appice. In 1975, he turned to a primarily instrumental style with a focus on a new sound, and his recordings ranged from blues rock to hard rock to jazz fusion to a blend of guitar-rock and electronica.
Beck was still a student at Wimbledon College of Art when he joined Screaming Lord Sutch and the Savages, who recorded “Dracula’s Daughter”/”Come Back Baby” for Oriole Records in 1962.
Jeff Beck’s death: What happened to Jeff Beck?
Beck died on Tuesday after “suddenly contracting bacterial meningitis,” according to a spokesman.
After being exposed to R&B by Ian Stewart of the Rolling Stones, he founded the Nightshift, with whom he performed at the 100 Club in Oxford Street and recorded a single, “Stormy Monday,” backed by “That’s My Story,” for the Piccadilly label in 1963.
Beck briefly played lead guitar for the Croydon band the Rumbles in 1963, playing Gene Vincent and Buddy Holly songs and demonstrating an aptitude for imitating guitar techniques.
Later that year, in 1963, he joined the Chiswick-based Tridents. “They were my scene because they were playing straight-up R&B, like Jimmy Reed, and we turbocharged it all and made it incredibly bumpy.
Even though it was simply twelve-bar blues, I got a kick out of it.” He was a session guitarist on a 1964 Parlophone record by the Fitz and Startz titled “I’m Not Running Away”, with B-side “So Sweet”.
