Chris Dreja, the English musician and photographer best known as a founding member of The Yardbirds, has died after a long illness just weeks shy of his 80th birthday. The news was confirmed by music publisher David Stark, leaving Yardbirds drummer Jim McCarty as the last surviving original member still performing under the band’s name.
Born Christopher Walenty Dreja in Surbiton, Surrey on 11 November 1945, Dreja grew up in Kingston upon Thames in a post-war Britain still defined by rationing, grey skies and American imports like Elvis Presley and Chuck Berry records. His father, Alojzy Dreja, had been exiled from Poland during the Second World War and served in the Polish Air Force in Britain.
Music entered Chris’s world through his brother Stefan, who studied alongside Anthony “Top” Topham in a pre-college art program. That connection led to Dreja’s first band with Topham, inspired heavily by the folk-blues of Gerry Lockran and electrified by the arrival of Jimmy Page on the London scene. Dreja’s own influences included Hubert Sumlin, Duane Eddy, Brian Jones and Chuck Berry, the latter of whom became a cornerstone of The Yardbirds’ sound.
In 1963, Dreja, Topham, Keith Relf, Paul Samwell-Smith and Jim McCarty formed the Metropolitan Blues Quartet, which quickly evolved into The Yardbirds. Topham, only 15 at the time, left when the band turned professional. Dreja remained, strumming rhythm guitar alongside a succession of Britain’s most legendary lead guitarists-Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page. Few bands in rock history could boast such a line-up.
By 1966, Dreja shifted from rhythm guitar to bass after Samwell-Smith departed, cementing his role on the group’s seminal psychedelic recordings. He contributed not just musically but also artistically, sketching the artwork for their 1966 album Yardbirds, known colloquially as Roger the Engineer. Dreja was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1992 for his contributions.
The Yardbirds splintered in 1968, but not before Page attempted to recruit Dreja as bassist for a new project that would eventually become Led Zeppelin. Dreja declined, choosing instead to pursue a career in photography. His camera work became as renowned as his music. He shot the back cover of Led Zeppelin’s debut album, photographed Andy Warhol, Bob Dylan, The Righteous Brothers, Ike and Tina Turner and countless others, all while enjoying the anonymity of being “Chris Dreja the photographer” rather than “Chris Dreja of The Yardbirds”.
In the 1980s Dreja returned to music with the Yardbirds offshoot Box of Frogs, before taking part in the 1990s Yardbirds revival. In 2002, the group released Birdland, a critically acclaimed project featuring guest appearances by Joe Satriani, Slash, Steve Vai and Brian May.
Sadly, Dreja’s later years were hampered by health struggles. A series of strokes in 2012 and 2013 forced his retirement from the band. He was officially replaced by his old bandmate Top Topham. “He’s OK, he’s sort of surviving,” Jim McCarty said in a 2014 interview, adding that while Dreja could no longer play, he remained spirited.
Chris Dreja’s passing follows the deaths of other original Yardbirds members. Singer Keith Relf tragically died in 1976, electrocuted by his guitar at just 33. Top Topham passed in 2023, only 13 days after Jeff Beck. Today, only Paul Samwell-Smith (82) and Jim McCarty (82) remain, with McCarty still performing under the Yardbirds banner.
Dreja’s dual legacy as both a musician and a photographer makes him one of rock’s great Renaissance figures.
He was a man who straddled the two worlds of music and art, integral to one of the most influential bands of the 1960s yet also responsible for capturing timeless images of a generation. His story is one of quiet resilience, creativity and, above all, authenticity.
Chris Dreja would have turned 80 on 11 November.
The Yardbirds were one of the most influential British rock bands of the 1960s, remembered not only for their string of hits but also for launching the careers of three of the greatest guitarists in rock history: Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page.
Formed in London in 1963, The Yardbirds quickly became known for their high-energy live shows and adventurous blend of blues, rock and experimental sounds. Their early success came with Eric Clapton on guitar, who played on the band’s first major hit, “For Your Love” (1965). However, Clapton, unhappy with the band’s move towards more pop-oriented material, departed soon after, recommending his friend Jimmy Page as a replacement. Page declined at the time, suggesting Jeff Beck instead.
Beck’s arrival marked the Yardbirds’ most innovative period, where the band pioneered feedback, distortion and Eastern influences in hits like “Heart Full of Soul,” “Shapes of Things,” “For You Love” and “Over Under Sideways Down.” Beck’s experimental style pushed rock guitar into uncharted territory and influenced generations to come.
In 1966, Jimmy Page eventually joined, initially as bassist before switching to twin lead guitar with Beck. The short-lived dual lineup produced some of the band’s heaviest and most groundbreaking sounds, heard in songs like “Happenings Ten Years Time Ago.” After Beck’s departure, Page took over as the sole guitarist, guiding the group through its final phase.
By 1968, with The Yardbirds dissolving, Page regrouped the lineup under a new name: Led Zeppelin. The Yardbirds’ legacy was cemented, not only through their hits and experimental style but as the only band to feature all three guitar giants at different points. Today, they are remembered as a crucial bridge between blues-based rock and the birth of psychedelic and hard rock.
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