Jeff Beck

BIOGRAPHY

Born on June 24 1944 to Arnold and Ethel Beck, Wallington, Greater London, England, Geoffrey Arnold "Jeff" Beck started just like the other rock musicians as a session guitarist. In 1965, Beck was recruited to join The Yardbirds replacing Eric Clapton with the help of guitarist friend Jimmy Page. It was during his stint with The Yardbirds when they recorded most of their hits. Then in 1966, he was joined by co-lead guitarist Jimmy Page. Beck only recorded one album with The Yardbirds, Roger The Engineer. Then he left the group for health reasons leaving the quartet to continue on. But that was his side of the story. Page said that the main reason why Beck left was not to see a doctor but to see his girlfriend.

The following year, after recording "Beck's Bolero", he formed "The Jeff Beck Group" with him on lead guitar and Rod Stewart on vocals, Ron Wood on bass, Nicky Hopkins on piano, and Micky Waller on drums. The band produced two albums, Truth and Beck-Ola. In 1969, Stewart and Wood left the band. In 1981, Beck made a seires of live appearances with Eric Clapton. And for the first and last time, the three Yardbirds lead guitarists Clapton, Beck and Page appeared on stage together in a benefit show called the ARMS playing Living On Tulsa Time and Layla.

During the 1980's and 1990's, Beck recorded various albums with different artists which included There and Back in 1980, featuring Simon Phillips, Tony Hymas, Jan Hammer and Mo Foster), Flash in1985, including performances with Rod Stewart and Jan Hammer), Jeff Beck's Guitar Shop in1989, with Terry Bozzio and Tony Hymas), Crazy Legs in 1993, Who Else! in 1999, and You Had It Coming in 2001. He also accompanied Paul Rodgers of Bad Company on the album Muddy Water Blues: A Tribute to Muddy Waters in 1993. The 2003 release of Jeff showed that the new electro-guitar style he used for the two earlier albums would continue to dominate. His technique on the use of his sound does not rely on heavy electronic effects but instead used his fingers and vibrato bar with a frequent use of wah pedal.

In the past few years, Jeff Beck has performed on new albums by Les Paul, Cyndi Lauper, and Roger Waters. Beck also is featured on one track on Queen guitarist Brian May's last solo album, Another World. He also appears on ZZ Top's album XXX. Beck made a cameo appearance in the movie Twins starring Arnold Schwarzenegger and Danny DeVito. Jeff Beck continues to perform shows on a regular basis, including opening for B.B. King in the summer of 2003, backed by Terry Bozzio and Tony Hymas and his most recent tour in 2005 and 2006 with Jason Rebello on keyboards, Vinnie Colaiuta on drums and Pino Palladino on bass. Though he played in several influential bands in the 1960s and 1970s, Beck has maintained a sporadic solo career over the last 25 years.