Keith Urban shared a heartfelt tribute to late rocker Jeff Beck, a legendary guitarist who died this week after a sudden battle with bacterial meningitis. He was 78.
Urban posted a photo on Instagram, standing between Beck and ZZ Top’s Billy Gibbons. The “Wild Hearts” country star opened up about feeling “shocked and saddened” by the news of Beck’s death, which a representative confirmed in a statement on Wednesday afternoon (January 11).
“I was shocked and saddened to hear that Jeff Beck had ‘portaled into the next realm,’” Urban wrote in his caption as he paid tribute to the late legend. “It’s impossible to label or frame his gift, his music, his ART, or to try and quantify his impact on not only guitarists, but all kinds of musicians, singers, and music lovers all over the world.
“He’s absolutely one of the few faces on the Mt. Rushmore of guitar players, and I am SO grateful to my friend Scott Bradoka for inviting me to come see Jeff play last September,” Urban continued. “We stood side stage with Billy Gibbons watching Jeff cast the spell that only he could - with nothing more than a Strat, some pedals, a couple of amps, and his ‘otherworldly talent.’”
Beck is known for rising to fame in the 1960s, when he began performing with the Yardbirds, and kickstarted his iconic career from there. The two-time Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee, born in England in 1944, began playing the guitar when he was 15 years old, using an instrument he built himself.
Urban’s post is one of many included in an outpouring of tributes appearing on social media, after a statement on Beck’s accounts announced that the rocker had peacefully passed away on Tuesday (January 10).
“On behalf of his family, it is with deep and profound sadness that we share the news of Jeff Beck’s passing. After suddenly contracting bacterial meningitis, he peacefully passed away yesterday,” reads the statement, shared on Beck’s social media channels on Wednesday (January 11). “His family ask for privacy while they process this tremendous loss.”