The 1960s British musical group the Yardbirds was best known for their inventive conversion of rhythm and blues into rock.
The Yardbirds, who produced three of Britain's most influential rock guitarists, followed in the footsteps of the Rolling Stones on the West London rhythm-and-blues circuit in 1963-64, their early repertoire consisting almost exclusively of cover versions of songs by artists who recorded for the Chess and Veejay record labels. With Eric Clapton as lead guitarist, the band created the "rave up," accelerating their playing until it transformed into white noise. Employing distortion and reverb (a succession of echoes that blend into one another to create sonic space), Clapton's successor, Jeff Beck, pushed later hits like "Shapes of Things" (1966) into the realm of psychedelic rock. Jimmy Page, later the leader of one of the most successful heavy-metal/hard-rock groups of the 1970s, Led Zeppelin, initially joined the Yardbirds as a replacement for bassist Paul Samwell-Smith. Switching to guitar, Page joined Beck as the band's colead guitarist--though the two played together on only one single, the visionary "Happenings Ten Years Time Ago" (1966), before the band's short-lived final lineup dissolved in 1968.
Original Members
Keith Relf, vocals
b. March 22, 1943, Richmond, Surrey, England
d. May 14, 1976, London
Eric Clapton (original name Eric Patrick Clapp), guitar
b. March 30, 1945, Ripley, Surrey, England
Chris Dreja, guitar
b. November 11, 1946, London, England
Jim McCarty, drums
b. July 25, 1943, Liverpool, Merseyside, England
Paul Samwell-Smith, bass
b. May 8, 1943, London, England
Anthony "Top" Topham, guitar
b. England
Later Members
Jeff Beck, guitar
b. June 24, 1944, Wallington, Surrey, England
Jimmy Page, bass and guitar
b. January 9, 1944, Heston, Middlesex, England