All these musicians we grew up with — the ones who started out in garages, basements, and living rooms before rising to international fame — became the soundtrack to our lives. They set the bar for every band that followed, inspiring countless young musicians to pick up a guitar and dream.

And every time one of them leaves us, it feels like a small piece of our own story is gone too.

Today, that loss is deeply felt: Chris Dreja, the founding guitarist of The Yardbirds and the only member to play on every one of the band’s releases, has passed away at 79.

Years of health problems

Chris Dreja, rhythm guitarist turned bassist for the legendary Yardbirds — and later an acclaimed rock photographer — has passed away at 79. His death was confirmed by his sister-in-law, Muriel Levy, and former bandmate Jimmy Page.

Page paid tribute on Instagram, writing: “I heard today of the passing of musician Chris Dreja, who passionately played with the iconic Yardbirds, on rhythm guitar and then the bass. I hadn’t seen him in a while, and I wish I had. RIP Chris. Here’s Glimpses by The Yardbirds featuring Chris Dreja on bass.”

Levy also shared on Threads that Dreja had battled “years of health problems,” and praised his wife, Kate, for caring for him throughout his illness.

Though the Yardbirds never reached the commercial heights of some of their peers, their influence on rock is immeasurable.

They not only delivered hits like “For Your Love,” “Heart Full of Soul,” “Evil Hearted You” and “Shapes of Things” — they also launched the careers of three of rock’s most iconic guitarists: Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, and Jimmy Page.

Born Christopher Walenty Dreja in 1945, Dreja co-founded the band in 1963.

The Yardbirds started out as a raw, blues-driven band with those famous “rave-up” jam sessions that just tore the roof off. But they didn’t stop there. They stretched into pop, dabbled in psychedelia, and kicked off the kind of heavy, guitar-driven sound that would shape early hard rock.

Dreja once reflected that the band felt like a close-knit family, with no real pressures hanging over them. They were all young, he said, and given the freedom to do something incredibly unique.

”When we were recording, we were a very democratic outfit. If anyone came up with an idea, we would take it. We were very eclectic. The Yardbirds were a pop band, a slightly heavy metal band, a blues band, with also a bit of punk thrown in. There were lots of things going on,” Dreja once explained.

Looking back, it’s clear they weren’t just playing songs — they were rewriting what rock could be. Many music historians say their fingerprints are all over the sounds that came later, from punk’s raw edge to prog’s complexity to the birth of heavy metal. They were truly ahead of their time, setting the stage for generations that followed.

Originally on rhythm guitar, the English musician moved to bass when Jimmy Page joined in 1966. When Page later formed Led Zeppelin, Dreja declined an invitation to join, choosing instead to pursue photography — a passion that led him to shoot the back cover photo of Led Zeppelin’s debut album.

”I was pretty whacked out, along with the other original Yardbirds, when we were demising in ’68. Jimmy was still pretty fresh, but for us it had become a nightmare. I was quite happy to be moving into my twin passions of photography and design, and not having to rely on a lot of quite crazy people in music,” Dreja said in 2008.

Dreja was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1992.