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Jeff Beck, musician, 78
Samir Hussein/Getty Images
(June 24, 1944 - Jan. 10, 2023) Beck is on a very short list of rock ’n’ roll’s most influential guitarists, but his eclectic, powerful style actually stretched across multiple genres. He first drew attention as a member of the Yardbirds in the 1960s — a band that, at different times, also featured guitar heroes Eric Clapton and Jimmy Page. Never a massive commercial star, Beck nonetheless won eight Grammy Awards and was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame as both a solo artist and a Yardbirds member. He could play with lightning speed or pull off slow, emotional passages with equal skill and expression. “Jeff Beck was on another planet,” sometimes-collaborator Rod Stewart tweeted, and Page said Beck “could channel music from the ethereal.” Beck died after suddenly contracting bacterial meningitis, his representatives said in a statement.
