Jeff Beck, guitar god who influenced generations, dies at 78
- The virtuoso musician, who pushed the boundaries of blues, jazz and rock ‘n’ roll, died after suddenly contracting bacterial meningitis
- Known as the guitar player’s guitar player, Beck was part of the late ’60s pantheon that included Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page and Jimi Hendrix
Jeff Beck, a guitar virtuoso who pushed the boundaries of blues, jazz and rock ‘n’ roll, influencing generations of shredders along the way and becoming known as the guitar player’s guitar player, has died. He was 78.
Beck died Tuesday after “suddenly contracting bacterial meningitis”, his representatives said in a statement released on Wednesday.
His death quickly reverberated around the music world, with tributes pouring in from rock icons like Ozzy Osbourne, with whom Beck once collaborated, and Kiss lead singer Gene Simmons, who called Beck’s passing “heartbreaking”.
“No one played guitar like Jeff,” Simmons posted on Twitter. “Please get ahold of the first two Jeff Beck Group albums and behold greatness. RIP.”
Mick Jagger hailed Beck - an eight-time Grammy winner who was twice inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame - as “one of the greatest guitar players in the world”.
“He was quiet as moccasined feet, yet mercurial, innovative, impossible to categorise,” wrote punk-poet laureate Patti Smith. “One of the masters of my generation.”