According to his family, musician Jeff Beck passed away from bacterial meningitis.
He had the age of 78.
In a statement, his representatives said, "On behalf of his family, it is with deep and profound sadness that we share the news of Jeff Beck's passing." He died peacefully yesterday after contracting bacterial meningitis suddenly. His family requests privacy as they deal with this devastating loss."
As a member of the British band the Yardbirds, Beck, one of rock's legendary guitarists, made his debut. In 1965, he joined the band in place of fellow guitar legend Eric Clapton.
He left the Yardbirds in 1966 to start his own band, the Jeff Beck Group, with Rod Stewart on vocals and Ron Wood on bass. They set the stage for heavy metal by taking a novel approach to blues music. In 1970, Stewart and Wood joined Small Faces, and on the eve of Woodstock, the band broke up.
With vocalist Alex Ligertwood, keyboardist Max Middleton, drummer Cozy Powell, and bassist Clive Chapman, Beck reformed his band later in 1970. Bobby Tench was hired by Beck as the second guitarist and vocalist. In 1971, the new group released the album "Rough and Ready," which peaked at number one. 46th place on the album charts.
The Jeff Beck Group officially disbanded in July of the same year, after producing the album "Jeff Beck Group" in January of that year.
Despite the dissolution of the "Jeff Beck Group," Beck continued to produce music. He worked with Carmine Appice and bassist Tim Bogert to produce and release the 1973 album "Beck, Bogert & Appice."
Together with David Bowie, Beck performed "Around and Around," "The Jean Genie," and "Love Me Do" in the same year.
In 1975, Beck embarrassed himself by embarking on a solo career and releasing the album "Blow by Blow" in response to the negative response to "Beck, Bogert & Appice." It was produced by George Martin, a Beatles collaborator, and included jazz fusion and instrumental elements. Despite the absence of lead vocalists on this album, it paved the way for him to record largely without them throughout his career.
Throughout his career, Beck released ten more solo studio albums that included electronic textures, hip-hop rhythms, and more.
He won six Grammys for best rock instrumental performance throughout his career, in addition to additional awards for best pop instrumental performance and best pop collaboration with vocals.
In 2014, the British Academy presented him with the Ivor Novello Award for Outstanding Contribution to British Music. He was ranked among the top five of the 100 Greatest Guitarists by Rolling Stone.
As a Yardbirds member in 1992 and as a solo artist in 2009, Beck was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Beck and Johnny Depp recently collaborated on new music and released an album in July. He also appeared on two songs from Ozzy Osbourne's Grammy-nominated album "Patient Number 9," including the title track, for which he was also nominated for a Grammy.
