Jimmy Page honours Jeff Beck as “the quiet chief” at funeral
Jeff Beck‘s funeral took place yesterday, (February 3) during which Led Zeppelin’s Jimmy Page described him in the eulogy he gave as “the quiet chief”.
The comedian Jim Moir, otherwise known as Vic Reeves, was in attendance and mentioned this detail in a post on Instagram shared just after he got back from the service.
Posting an old black-and-white photo of himself with Beck, Moir wrote: “Just came back from Jeff Becks funeral. The greatest eulogy was from Jimmy Page. He said ‘Jeff was the quiet chief’ , he was talking about all the guitarists. And he was right. Jeff was the future as far as guitarists go. We will miss you Jeff and your music will love forever., Goodbye my good friend x”.
The funeral took place in Beck’s hometown of Wallington, Surrey. Johnny Depp, who Beck recorded an album, ’18’, with last year, was in attendance, with Ronnie Wood, Sir Tom Jones, Sir Rod Stewart, Eric Clapton, Bob Geldof and Chrissie Hynde all reportedly among the mourners. [via The Mirror].
Beck died suddenly on January 10 at the age of 78, after contracting bacterial meningitis.
Elsewhere, Paul McCartney recently discovered a lost song he had recorded with Beck in 1994 in his archive. It has an environmentalist slant, opening with a spoken word passage by Beck in which he asks, “Why are they cutting down the rainforest?”
“With the sad passing of Jeff Beck – a good friend of mine, and a great, great guitar player – it reminded me of the time we worked together many years ago on a campaign for vegetarianism,” McCartney said via a press release. “It’s great guitar playing, ’cause it’s Jeff!”
The post Jimmy Page honours Jeff Beck as “the quiet chief” at funeral appeared first on NME.
Emma Wilkes
NME