63 Facts About Jeff Beck

Jeff Beck has been consistently ranked in the top five of Rolling Stone and other magazines' lists of the greatest guitarists.

Jeff Beck earned wide critical praise and received the Grammy Award for Best Rock Instrumental Performance six times, winning in three categories at the 2010 Grammy Awards for a career total of eight Grammies.

Jeff Beck was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame twice: first as a member of the Yardbirds and secondly as a solo artist.

Geoffrey Arnold Jeff Beck was born on 24 June 1944 to Arnold and Ethel Jeff Beck at 206 Demesne Road, Wallington, Surrey.

Jeff Beck attended Sutton Manor School and Sutton East County Secondary Modern School.

Jeff Beck cited Les Paul as the first electric guitar player who impressed him.

Jeff Beck said that he first heard an electric guitar when he was six years old and heard Paul playing "How High the Moon" on the radio.

Jeff Beck joined the Rumbles, a Croydon band, in 1963 for a short period as lead guitarist, playing Gene Vincent and Buddy Holly songs, displaying a talent for mimicking guitar styles.

In March 1965, Jeff Beck was recruited by the Yardbirds to succeed Eric Clapton on the recommendation of fellow session musician Jimmy Page, who had been their initial choice.

In May 1966, Jeff Beck recorded an instrumental titled "Jeff Beck's Bolero".

Jeff Beck was fired during a US tour for being a consistent no-show and for difficulties caused by his perfectionism and explosive temper on stage.

Jeff Beck then formed the Jeff Beck Group, which included Rod Stewart on vocals, Ronnie Wood on bass, Nicky Hopkins on piano, and Aynsley Dunbar on drums.

Jeff Beck-Ola saw drummer Micky Waller replaced by Tony Newman, and, while well-received, was less successful both commercially and critically.

In 1970, after Jeff Beck had regained his health, he set about forming a band with the drummer Cozy Powell.

Rough and Ready, the first album they recorded, on which Jeff Beck wrote or co-wrote six of the album's seven tracks, included elements of soul, rhythm-and-blues, and jazz, foreshadowing the direction Jeff Beck's music would take later in the decade.

Jeff Beck employed Steve Cropper as producer and the album displayed a strong soul influence, five of the nine tracks being covers of songs by American artists.

Jeff Beck produced and played on their self-titled debut album and their second album This Way Upp, though his contributions to the second album went uncredited.

Jeff Beck put together a live band for a US tour, which was preceded by a small and unannounced gig at The Newlands Tavern in Peckham, London.

Jeff Beck toured through April and May 1975, mostly supporting the Mahavishnu Orchestra, retaining Max Middleton on keyboards but with a new rhythm section of bassist Wilbur Bascomb and noted session drummer Bernard "Pretty" Purdie, who was associated with Hummingbird.

Jeff Beck did the same with the talk box and finished the show playing a Les Paul guitar without the box.

At this point, Jeff Beck was a tax exile and took up residency in the US, remaining there until his return to the UK in the autumn of 1977.

Jeff Beck toured Japan for three weeks in November 1978 with an ad hoc group consisting of Clarke and newcomers Tony Hymas and Simon Phillips.

In 1981, Jeff Beck made a series of historic live appearances with his Yardbirds predecessor Eric Clapton at the Amnesty International-sponsored benefit concerts dubbed The Secret Policeman's Other Ball shows.

Jeff Beck featured prominently in an all-star band finale performance of "I Shall Be Released" with Clapton, Sting, Phil Collins, Donovan, and Bob Geldof.

Jeff Beck's contributions were seen and heard in the resulting album and film, both of which achieved worldwide success in 1982.

In 1985, Jeff Beck released Flash, featuring a variety of vocalists, but most notably former bandmate Rod Stewart on a rendition of Curtis Mayfield's "People Get Ready".

Jeff Beck contributed to Jon Bon Jovi's solo debut album Blaze of Glory in 1990, playing the main solo of the album's title song, which was the theme song to the movie Young Guns II.

Jeff Beck played lead guitar on Roger Waters' 1992 concept album Amused to Death, and on the 1993 albums The Red Shoes by Kate Bush and Love Scenes by Beverley Craven.

Jeff Beck recorded the 1992 instrumental soundtrack album Frankie's House, as well as Crazy Legs, a tribute album to 1950s rockabilly group Gene Vincent and the Blue Caps and their influential guitarist Cliff Gallup.

Jeff Beck rehearsed with Guns N' Roses for their concert in Paris in 1992, but did not play in the actual concert due to ear damage caused by a Matt Sorum cymbal crash, causing Jeff Beck to become temporarily deaf.

Jeff Beck accompanied Paul Rodgers of Bad Company on the album Muddy Water Blues: A Tribute to Muddy Waters in 1993.

Jeff Beck continued to work with Batten through the post-release tour of You Had It Coming in 2001.

Jeff Beck won his third Grammy Award, this one for "Best Rock Instrumental Performance" for the track "Dirty Mind" from You Had It Coming.

Jeff Beck announced a world tour in early 2009 and remained faithful to the same lineup of musicians as in his tour two years before, playing and recording at Ronnie Scott's in London to a sold-out audience.

Jeff Beck played on the song "Black Cloud" on the 2009 Morrissey album Years of Refusal and later that year, Harvey Goldsmith became Jeff Beck's manager.

Jeff Beck was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a solo artist on 4 April 2009; the award was presented by Jimmy Page.

Jeff Beck performed "Train Kept A-Rollin'" along with Page, Ronnie Wood, Joe Perry, Flea, and Metallica members James Hetfield, Robert Trujillo, Lars Ulrich, Kirk Hammett, and Jason Newsted.

Jeff Beck released a live album titled Live and Exclusive from the Grammy Museum on 25 October 2010.

In 2011, Jeff Beck received two honorary degrees from British universities.

On 21 July 2011, Jeff Beck was presented with an honorary doctorate from the University of Sussex, the citation stating that the honour acknowledged "an outstanding musical career and celebrated the relationship between the university and the Brighton Institute of Modern Music ".

In 2013, it was announced that Jeff Beck would be performing on Beach Boys founder Brian Wilson's solo album on Capitol Records.

Jeff Beck accompanied Wilson on an 18-date fall 2013 tour, which started in late September and ended in late October.

On 16 April 2020, Jeff Beck released a new single, in which he collaborated with Johnny Depp to record John Lennon's song "Isolation", explaining that this was a first record release from an ongoing musical collaboration between the two men.

On 2 June 2022, Jeff Beck was in the news after Depp appeared with him at The Sage in Gateshead, following his victory in the high-profile defamation case against his ex-wife Amber Heard.

Jeff Beck and Depp's first single from their collaborative album 18, titled "This Is a Song for Miss Hedy Lamarr", was announced on 10 June 2022.

Jeff Beck is featured on two tracks from Ozzy Osbourne's album Patient Number 9, which was released on 24 June 2022.

Jeff Beck's final recording before his death was his contribution to a supergroup recording of "Going Home: Theme of the Local Hero" to support the Teenage Cancer Trust and Teen Cancer America.

In 2015, Jeff Beck was ranked No 5 in Rolling Stone magazine's list of the "100 Greatest Guitarists".

Campbell credited Jeff Beck with expanding the boundaries of the blues, particularly in his two collaborations with Stewart.

In 1987, Jeff Beck had asked that the newly opened Fender Custom Shop make a Stratocaster guitar to his specifications.

Jeff Beck played Fender Telecaster and Gibson Les Paul instruments, and continued to play these for special occasions even after the 1990s, when he had transitioned to the Stratocaster as his main instrument for live performances.

Jeff Beck played through a variety of fuzz pedals and echo units along with this set-up and used the Pro Co RAT distortion pedal.

Jeff Beck stopped the regular use of a guitar pick in the 1980s.

Jeff Beck produced a wide variety of sounds on the Stratocaster by using his thumb to pluck the guitar strings, his ring finger on the volume knob, and his little finger on the vibrato bar.

Jeff Beck frequently used wah-wah pedals and slides both live and in the studio.

Ninety of Jeff Beck's guitars are to be auctioned by Christie's in London on 22 January 2025, along with over 40 other items from his personal collection.

From 1963 to 1967, Jeff Beck was married to Patricia Brown.

However, this relationship had deteriorated by the time Jeff Beck joined the Yardbirds.

At the time of his death, Jeff Beck lived in a Grade II-listed building called Riverhall in the civil parish of Wadhurst, East Sussex.

Jeff Beck became a vegetarian in 1969 and was a patron of the Folly Wildlife Rescue Trust.

Jeff Beck had an interest in classic Ford hot rods, performing much of the work on the exteriors and engines of the cars by himself.

Jeff Beck died from a bacterial meningitis infection at a hospital near Riverhall on 10 January 2023, at the age of 78.

Jeff Beck was the winner of eight Grammy awards, the first being Best Rock Instrumental Performance for "Escape" from the album Flash at the 1986 Grammys.