Jeff Beck Dies: British Guitar God Was 78

Jeff Beck, who went from the Yardbirds to fronting his own group and working with Rod Stewart and is consider among the greats of rock guitar, has died. He was 78. His family said in a statement that Beck died Tuesday of bacterial meningitis.

“On behalf of his family, it is with deep and profound sadness that we share the news of Jeff Beck’s passing. After suddenly contracting bacterial meningitis, he peacefully passed away yesterday,” the statement reads. “His family ask for privacy while they process this tremendous loss.”

Beck replaced Eric Clapton in the seminal British rock group The Yardbirds in 1965 and remained with the group into the following year, playing on some of the band’s biggest hits including “Heart Full of Soul,” and “Over, Under, Sideways, Down.” His replacement in 1966 was Jimmy Page, who later would form Led Zeppelin.

Beck’s first album after leaving the band was Truth, which reached the Top 15 in the U.S. It featured “Beck’s Bolero” and his cover of Willie Dixon’s “I Ain’t Superstitious,” which featured Stewart on lead vocals.

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