The Latest Breaking News from Yardbirds

The renowned guitarist’s death, at the age of 78, was announced by his family in an online statement on Wednesday.

The guitarist was one of the leading figures of rock music in the 1960s and was a major influence on many of the stars who followed.

Beck’s collaborators and contemporaries said the musician had ‘blazed a trail impossible to follow’ and hailed the ‘powerful influence’ he had had .

‘I feel like one of my band of brothers has left this world,’ Ronnie Wood tweeted

Fellow rock legends are paying tribute to Jeff Beck, the guitar virtuoso and musical innovator who died Wednesday

Jeff Beck, the influential, genre-bending English guitarist who rose to fame with The Yardbirds before later embarking on a solo career, has died at the age of 78, his family announced on social media on Wednesday.

Jeff Beck, the influential guitarist who rose to rock and roll stardom with 1960s supergroup the Yardbirds and pushed the boundaries of blues, jazz and rock ‘n’ roll, influencing generations of shredders along the way and becoming known as the guitar player’s guitar player, has died. He was 78.

Guitarist Jeff Beck was among a wave of influential English guitar players in love with American blues. He died on Tuesday, January 10 after contracting bacterial meningitis.

The eight-time Grammy-winner rose to prominence with rock band The Yardbirds

He began with bubblegum pop in the Yardbirds, then moved on to psychedelia, funk, jazz fusion, even techno – but no matter what the genre, Beck was always ahead of the curve

Beck died after 'suddenly contracting bacterial meningitis'