Jimmy Page has paid tribute to the late Yardbirds rhythm guitarist Chris Dreja, who died recently.
A founding member of the Yardbirds, Dreja passed away just weeks before his 80th birthday after battling a long-term illness, including the after effects of strokes he suffered in 2012 and 2013.
Dreja was a founding member of the Yardbirds, along with guitarist Top Topham. After becoming members of the Metropolitan (or Metropolis) Blues Quartet, they quickly added Keith Relf on vocals, Paul Samwell-Smith on bass and Jim McCarty on drums. Topham was just 15 when the band went professional and was forced to leave, opening the door for Eric Clapton to join, followed by Jeff Beck and Page.
Throughout those changes, Dreja remained a key force in the Yardbirds, either as rhythm guitarist or bassist, as Beck and then Page took the group’s music in a more psychedelic direction with their electric guitar talents.
Page reportedly tagged Dreja to play bass guitar in Led Zeppelin when the Yardbirds dissolved in 1968, but he was more interested in pursuing his passion for photography. Dreja would shoot the back cover photo for Zeppelin’s debut album as well as photograph the band on occasions.
Shortly after news of Dreja’s death broke on October 2, Page responded on Instagram.
“I heard today of the passing of musician Chris Dreja, who passionately played with the iconic Yardbirds, on rhythm guitar and then the bass,” he wrote. “I hadn’t seen him in a while, and I wish I had. RIP Chris.”
Dreja returned to music later in life, performing in the 190s with the Yardbirds spin-off Box of Frogs and playing rhythm guitar on the Yardbirds’ 2003 reunion album, Birdland. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame with the group in 1992.
