Biography of Jeff Beck

One of the most accomplished and enduring guitarists of his era, the intense, aggressive work of Jeff Beck proved seminal in the development of heavy metal, blues rock and psychedelia. Born in Surrey, England on June 24, 1944, Beck spent much of his childhood actively involved with music: he sang in a church choir, and learned to play a number of instruments. During his teens, he played guitar in a series of local bands, and while attending art college in London backed Lord Sutch. In mid-1965, Beck replaced Eric Clapton in the Yardbirds, where he remained for the next year, appearing on such landmark singles as "Shapes of Things," "I'm a Man" and "Heart Full of Soul." Upon his exit, he enjoyed a brief tenure with John Mayall's Bluesbreakers before forming the Jeff Beck Group with singer Rod Stewart, guitarist Ron Wood, famed session pianist Nicky Hopkins and drummer Mick Waller in 1967. Fusing blues with hard rock, the band debuted in 1968 with Truth, a record which presaged the heavy metal sound of the following decade. After the release of 1969's Beck-Ola, the Group splintered; Stewart and Wood joined the Faces, while its founder remained silent until 1971, when a new, funk-influenced Jeff Beck Group surfaced with vocalist Bobby Tench, drummer Cozy Powell, keyboardist Max Middleton and bassist Clive Chaman. The refurbished band debuted with Rough and Ready; by 1972's self-titled follow-up, Powell and Chaman had been replaced by bassist Tim Bogert and drummer Carmine Appice, presaging the introduction of the power-trio effort Beck, Bogert and Appice the following year.In the wake of the short-lived trio's 1974 dissolution, Beck went into exile until 1975, when he issued the instrumental jazz fusion outing Blow by Blow. After touring with the Mahavishnu Orchestra, he teamed with the ensemble's onetime keyboardist Jan Hammer for 1976's Wired. Following 1977's Live With the Jan Hammer Group, Beck again returned to a state of hibernation, spending much of his time at his London estate. In 1980, he rejoined Hammer for There and Back, but his distaste for the burgeoning New Wave movement spurred yet another fallow period. Beck returned in 1984 as a member of the Honeydrippers, a supergroup featuring Led Zeppelin's Robert Plant and Chic's Nile Rodgers. A year later, he reunited with Rod Stewart to cover the Curtis Mayfield classic "People Get Ready" for the album Flash. Four more years passed before 1989's instrumental Jeff Beck's Guitar Shop With Terry Bozzio and Tony Hymas; Crazy Legs, an homage to Beck's hero Cliff Gallup, Gene Vincent's guitarist in the Blue Caps, appeared in 1993. ~ Jason Ankeny