Yardbirds co-founder Chris Dreja has died at 79, according to his family.
The British musician’s death was first announced on social media by his sister-in-law, Muriel Levy. She said on Wednesday that he “passed away after years of health problems,” but did not provide a date or exact cause of death.
“I share the pain with my sister Kate who took care of him during all thoses [sic] years and his daughter Jackie…May he RIP,” Levy wrote on Threads.
Dreja was also mourned Thursday by his former bandmate and fellow guitaist Jimmy Page.
“I heard today of the passing of musician Chris Dreja, who passionately played with the iconic Yardbirds, on rhythm guitar and then the bass,” Page wrote on Instagram. “I hadn’t seen him in a while, and I wish I had.”
The Yardbirds formed in London in 1963, featuring Dreja on rhythm guitar and Eric Clapton playing lead. Page and guitarist Jeff Beck would later join the band with Dreja playing bass. They went on to become known for hits including “For Your Love” and “Shapes of Things.”
Speaking to Vintage Guitar magazine in 2009, Dreja said the band’s hard-rocking, psychedelic sound wasn’t a product of the hallucinogens many groups were experimenting with in the 1960s. In fact, he said he didn’t even partake in alcohol until later years, but joked that he made up for lost time.
“Genuinely, it was the music that was the drug,” he said. “Only in the late stages of the band was I aware of any drugs.”
When the Yardbirds split in 1968, Page invited Dreja to join him in Led Zeppelin, but he declined to pursue his love of photography. He was ultimately responsible for shooting the photo on the back of Led Zeppelin’s debut album. He also captured the likes of Andy Warhol, Bob Dylan and Ike and Tina Turner, according to Variety.
Dreja returned to music in the 1980s with former bandmates as Box of Frogs before the Yardbirds reformed in 1992 — the same year they were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.
Dreja last played with the band in mid-2012 and ultimately retired the following year after suffering a series of strokes.
