I read with great interest your commentary on the recent Jeff Beck biography.  Although I have not read it, I share your desire to get a definitive story to unlock the enigma of Jeff Beck.  I say this after working as his publicist at Epic Records back in the ‘70s, and later serving as his product manager in the ‘80s.  It is sad to hear that this most recent book did not live up to your expectations.

A few months ago, Lennie Petze, who headed Epic A&R for a good portion of Jeff’s career, contacted me to let me know that Jeff’s wife had authorized Harry Shapiro to write Jeff’s story.  I spoke to Harry and shared a few small experiences I had with Jeff.  Harry is an award-winning English author who has written books on Clapton, Hendrix, Jack Bruce, and even Bob Dylan.  I am hopeful that Harry provides the best insights into a phenomenally talented, complicated, and interesting man. I’m told that this book will arrive sometime in 2027.

On a terribly sad side note, we lost Lennie just a month ago.  He was a gentle soul who brought us Boston and Cyndi Lauper, among other successes, and guided Stevie Ray Vaughan, Sade, and Charlie Daniels on their U.S. releases, again, among others.  He was a music man through and through, and we will miss him greatly.

Given my last name, there were a few occasions when Jeff was asked if we were related. I always laughed about it, as I believe he found it to be an annoying question!

All the best!

Dan Beck
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Did you ever think that maybe there is no way to know who Jeff really was. When I was young playing with Rod Stewart I heard plenty of stories but around me Jeff was sometimes funny sometimes aloof and yes with me he made a commitment then ghosted me but that was Jeff. 

The ONE  thing I do know about Jeff (and his Wife Sandra) is that they both loved Native American culture. That may surprise you but he would often talk about this. The only time that we ever really talked about music was when he told me a story while I was making my film Rumble. 

He said with a sort of British ornery smile that he and Jimmy Page used to jump around playing air guitar on his bed at his Mom’s house when they were teens….What a visual!!

Sure maybe he was a little weird or maybe just shy but what true genius isn’t a little nuts. 

Stevie Salas
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……..at a gig at nyc’s china club in the mid eighties, we finished our set and as I exited the stage I saw a figure making a beeline towards me across the dance floor…….to my surprise it was Jeff Beck, who took my hand and with a huge smile said, “you play your fukkin’ ass off, mate!”…….a treasured highlight for me!……..

Tommy Allen
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Who was Jeff Beck? To me, he was a mensch.

He was my first guitar hero. I discovered him when I was in elementary school, and he was in The Yardbirds.  I heard “Over Under Sideways Down”, and thought it was a violin playing that riff. Then he went solo, and the nacent FM  radio format played “Hi Ho Silver Lining” and “Beck’s Bolero”. I was in heaven, but couldn’t find the record at my local store. I finally got to see him when he was touring the “Blow By Blow” album, and the ARMS concert at MSG, performing with Clapton and Page.

So why was he a mensch? In the 1980s, I was working around the corner from WNEW-FM, and he was being interviewed. We ran over to the station, hoping to get his autograph. Not only did he sign my memo pad, but he spent a few minutes with us while we peppered him with questions, and he didn’t try to escape from us. I’ve never forgotten his kindness.

Stuart Taubel
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Jeff was one of the most gracious and wonderful “big rock stars” I’ve ever met.  Talking about anything other than music at dinner with him was
awesome.  He wanted to talk about cars and ask my wife about airbourne training in the military.  The week I spent working with him was
one of my favorite stints in the rock life.   Sammy is the same, just fun to be around!

Vadim Canby
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Jeff Beck is essentially the Miles Davis of electric guitar. A totally unique voice, and he was constantly creatively reinventing himself. He spearheaded so many incredible bands of unique players and he would highlight and uplift their talents and use their vigor as a spring board for his new paths of invention. Jeff, like Miles, also knew how to play a melody with his unique guitar sound that would haunt you and make you hear and feel every lyric without needing to actually sing them. The obsession with melody and groove kept him tethered to his audience and he was red pilling his rock fans into a deep dive in how to play jazz. Jeffs sound was all in his hands, no one can duplicate it. It all amounts to undeniable,  fearless, and pure universal soul that transcends genre. We miss Miles and Jeff now more than ever, for their pioneering spirits and total inability to bullsh*t. Long may they reign. 

Scott Sharrard
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Good Morning Bob,

I’m not the biggest Jeff Beck fan in the world, but I was extremely fortunate to see him at a theatre gig from row two about 15 years ago. His playing absolutely blew my mind and I became convinced that night that he truly is the best rock ‘n’ roll guitarist of all time. During half the show his hands barely seemed to be touching his guitar yet he was making amazing sounds come out of it. I have no idea how he did it.

As to why he was never as big as Clapton or Page, I would suggested it all comes down to songs. Most people will recognize a handful of Clapton songs and a few handfuls of Zeppelin songs. But I don’t know I’ve ever turned on a radio station and heard a Jeff Beck song playing. Doesn’t mean he still wasn’t the best though. And I look forward to reading this book. 

Tim W in Calgary
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Why did Jimmy Page and Eric Clapton become so big and Jeff (Beck) didn’t? 

In a word: songs.

Both Page and Clapton wrote songs, many of which are rock classics, while Beck was primarily an interpreter of other people’s songs. What’s more, the significant majority of his interpretations are instrumentals, which undermined their appeal with radio programmers, thereby limiting the unwashed masses’ exposure to them.

I’ll put Beck’s reading of Stevie Wonder’s “Cause We’ve Ended as Lovers” up there with any performance by any rock guitarist, but you were more likely to stumble upon the Holy Grail at your local K-Mart than hear the song on the radio. Still are.

Cheers,
Bob Knott
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Sorry that Jeff still remains a mystery.

I was fortunate to see him live one time and you’re right, he was absolutely stunning.

It was at Winterland in San Francisco in the early 70’s. During the show I slowly worked my way 
toward the stage and it seemed that his guitar was giving off warmth as I got closer.
He was that magical.

Thanks for the review 
Michael Wright
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Solo instrumentalists in rock simply don’t have the same bandwidth as artists fronting hit vocal bands.

Yes, Jeff had Rod Stewart in the Jeff Beck Group, but he ultimately became known primarily as the world’s most brilliant instrumental rock guitarist.

I was working at Odyssey Records on Las Vegas Boulevard when Blow by Blow came out, and it seemed like the entire universe couldn’t get enough of it. Perhaps that was just my experience, but it certainly felt every bit as massive as the biggest albums of the era.

Eric Clapton may not have been the greatest rock vocalist of all time, but he had enormous hit albums and constant FM and AM radio airplay with songs he sang. And, of course, Jimmy Page had Robert Plant.

But I don’t think there’s any question about who was the greatest guitarist of them all: Jeff Beck.

And for the people who are just discovering that now, I simply say…

Welcome to our world.

— Morley Bartnoff
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You are so right on Jeff’s status among legendary guitarists. He is No. 1. One of my favorites is his version of People Get Ready, with Rod Stewart. He makes it more emotional and explosive than ever the traditional blues/RB/gospel versions.

The well known tortured artist effect comes into play with him. Mysterious, visionary, difficult to work with, misunderstood and often self immolating. I saw him once with Rod. One of the best shows I’ve ever seen. I think that’s why Rod departed it was hard to ignore the audience’s focus on Jeff.

John Brodey
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Jeff played the Warfield several times. One performance Jennifer Batten accompanied him. One of the best, I’ve been there 30 years. 

Tom Hazlett
Warfield Theater 
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I agree with everything you are saying and the disappointment of reading artist biographies. I have read quite a few on major artists I have worked with or managed over the years and said to myself afterwards, “This is not the artist I worked with”,  There is no insight or depth and generally a puff piece for lack of a better word by the artist themselves.

I co-wrote a book on Jeff Buckley (written with Jim Irvin the former editor of Mojo magazine in the UK.) through Post Hill Press who I managed from the beginning to the end of his life.  

This was difficult because I never spoke about my artists when they were alive so why would I when they died tragically. I joined a group of managers in a club you don’t want to belong too. The tragic death of both my client and friend made it additionally tough to go through again as well.

I was convinced to do it when I was told “You have to put a stamp on his legacy as your last act as his manager” because everything written previously had so many things wrong with them because the authors had no connection with the subject matter. So after 20 years after his death I did so.

The book is critically acclaimed by both the fans and the media, and I hope this serves as a biography you get an honest opinion about the artist and the manager and their journey together including that dreadful day and what I went through afterwards.

Best regards,

Dave

Dave Lory
Co-Founder & President
Worldwide Entertainment Group LLC
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Heh Bob,

Couldn’t be more right. Most rock autos end up somewhere in the middle ground of confession/high jinx/scant detail. 

Like you I want detail, I want how stuff was recorded and who was there. I’ll take a garnish of high jinx, but high jinx is the same in every music auto. As are tragedies and addiction. 

I was very, very fortunate to see Jeff Beck when he was pushing those ‘dawn of rock and roll’ shows with Imelda May and a very cool group of musicians. 

Quite honestly it was the one of the greatest shows I have ever heard. I wasn’t a big fan before, I’d dug the guitar workshop LP and bits of his much lauded 70s output. But seeing him live, playing all those 50s/60s songs he dug so much. Man he was in his element and you could see how much he was still in awe of those tunes…I’ll tell you, he replicated the sound and the style of those songs too via his guitar playing and that aforementioned band.

Top it off/an aside, Page and Wood standing in the crowd next to me and my mate, diggin the whole thing too.

Sometimes, everything is in the music. And altho we want to know more, perhaps the music is all there is and that’s plenty for me

Gary James Clarke
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Jeff was the reason I started playing guitar and I was lucky enough to tell him that. Back in 1976 I saw him live for the first time at Maple Leaf Gardens on the Wired tour with Jan Hammer. After the show my friends and I chased his limo to his hotel and I got his autograph on my ticket stub. 

Several decades later, as the head of comms at Warner Canada worked some press with Jeff when he was in town on tour with Clapton. When the interviews I had scheduled ended, I told him that he was the reason I played guitar. 

“When I was a kid,” I told him, “they used to play Blow Up on TV all the time and I always waiting for that great scene of the Yardbirds playing in the club.”

“But all I do is smash my guitar in that film,” he said. 

“I know,” I replied. “But I was 10 so imagine how cool that was for an impressionable kid.” And then I added, “Of course, even though you’re the reason I play, I could never learn to play like you.”

He laughed and said “And why would you want to?”

After the show (at which he was spectacular, of course), I went to the after party to say my goodbyes. Despite a room full of admirers, he came right over to me to chat. When I asked him if he had a callus on his thumb, he just looked at it and wondered why I would ask.

“Because you use it rather than a pick.” He showed me that his thumb had no marks in it. I wished him well and let him find his way out of that crowded room

Sometimes our heroes are exactly as we want them to be. 

Steve Waxman

P.S. a few years later I was working with Jimmy Page and told him the story and he gave me the hilarious full story of shooting that scene for Blow Up. 

Lucky me.
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I was lucky enough to hang out with Jeff after his show at the Paramount on Long Island with Johnny Depp just a few months before he passed. They were playing two nights so had no rush to leave after the show and we hung around together -me, my wife, and Jeff with a few band members until 3 AM. Just  chatting. 

To me, was the greatest rock guitarist besides Jimi Hendrix, but until that night, like you,  I never knew a lot about him.

We spoke about his relationship with Rod, his early years, his obsession working on cars, living a clean life and being a vegetarian. 

He was one of the most humble, sweetest guys -never mind rock stars-  I’ve ever met. 
As we were chatting, he looked at my wife, turned  to me with a smile,  went down on one knee and proposed to my wife. He simply looked at her said “Will you marry me?”  
It was a surreal moment and of course we all laughed, but I think he was lonely and had regrets.

We left at 3 AM but would have stayed longer if we didn’t  have to catch an early flight the next morning.  He was that easy to speak with, and that open with us, total strangers until that night. We just hit it off and he felt comfortable. 

I will read the book, but those few hours with him summed up for me his 60-year career. I don’t think he had a mean bone in his body. The irony that he was so cautious about his health and passed from a virus  only a few months later is a tragic ending he didn’t deserve. But he does deserve to be remembered as one of the greatest guitarists ever. And I am very glad I got to know him. 

Thanks,
Ernie Canadeo
Chairman & Founder
The EGC Group
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So much has been written about this extraordinary artist and musician, truly the likes of which the world will never see again and about whom, often-used words such as “legendary” and “iconic” don’t stand the slightest chance of being anywhere near describing the dazzling, transcendent brilliance of our very own Jeff Beck. 

My professional encounter with Jeff began when briefly our paths crossed at my recording studio in East Sheen, London, after gladly accepting an invitation from the infamous ‘Artful Dodger’ Malcolm McClaren to produce all of Jeff’s guitar contributions on MM’s ‘Waltz Darling’ album in the late 1980s??Buzzing with excitement about the opportunity, but also nervous at Jeff’s somewhat tricky reputation for not suffering fools, I’d managed to track down one of his old guitar techs, the late Alan Rogan, who put me straight on how the guitar maestro liked to get his “sound” sorted before any recording session, which turned out to be key. 

“If he doesn’t like it, or the vibe’s not there, that’ll be it. He’ll be off sharpish and you won’t see him for dust!” Alan told me, not too encouragingly.

Therefore, I was over the moon when after turning up early to the session unaccompanied in one of his treasured vintage cars, Jeff seemed very communicative and more than happy with the set-up I’d put together (especially, at that time, with a guitar amp I’d sourced that he’d never used before; the very latest miniature Gallienn Krueger amp I’d paid a fortune to hire) which he absolutely loved from the get-go. So immediately, it was ‘off to the races’ and smiles all round.

However, you soon realise that the very concept of “producing” an artist like Jeff Beck was, in all honesty, a bit of a joke when every solo or phrase he delivered was so mind blowing in its effortless virtuosity, originality and brilliance that it was very easy to run out of superlatives very early on. It just sounded dumb after a while.

As for “giving direction” well forget about it!

All you could do was sit behind the mixing desk literally stunned with what you’d just heard/felt/experienced; ecstatic goofy grin all over your face, while, no question, the greatest rock n’roll guitar player on earth and for all time ever so quietly and humbly enquired; ??“Er, was that ok mate? Do you want another one?” 

Then, whatever he came up with a 2nd, 3rd or 4th take knocked the previous out the park even more; each performance containing not a note, mood or phrase that bore even the slightest resemblance to anything played earlier. Truly remarkable. A privilege to have been there and something I shall never, ever forget.

I hope those angels up in heaven know what’s in store for them! Forget RIP, Jeff will be rocking them in the aisles & blowing their minds for eternity. He certainly will mine! 

God bless and thank you Jeff Beck”

Thanks again Bob

All the best,

Phil Pickett
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I too saw the Arms concert…at the Cow Palace…all I can say it was Jeff Beck and the School of Rock… I knew of him… had some albums but after seeing him live? Kinda know how Townshend, McCartney, Clapton and everyone else felt after experiencing Jimi…

Tom Clark