music.wikisort.org - Musician

Christopher Walenty Dreja[1] (born 11 November 1945 in Surbiton, Surrey)[2][3] is an English musician, best known as the rhythm guitarist and bassist for rock band the Yardbirds for which he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1992.

Chris Dreja
Background information
Birth name	Christopher Walenty Dreja
Born	(1945-11-11) 11 November 1945 (age 76) Surbiton, Surrey, England
Genres	Rock
Occupation(s)	Guitarist
Years active	1963–2013
Formerly of	The Yardbirds Box of Frogs

Early life

Chris Dreja was born in Surbiton, and raised in Kingston upon Thames, Surrey.[2] His father was of Polish descent. His brother Stefan Dreja happened to meet guitarist Top Topham, and introduced him to his brother.[2] Topham and Dreja were influenced by folk/blues guitarist Gerry Lochran, who influenced them to switch from acoustic to electric guitars according to Greg Russo in his book The Yardbirds: The Ultimate Rave-Up. They made their debut with electric guitars at a concert with Duster Bennett and a young Jimmy Page.[2]

The Yardbirds

Dreja and Topham became core members of the Metropolitan (or Metropolis) Blues Quartet. During the space of a year Keith Relf, Jim McCarty, and Paul Samwell-Smith joined the group which became the Yardbirds. The 15-year-old Topham left the group when the band went professional, but Dreja continued on to play rhythm guitar with musicians such as Eric Clapton and later Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page.[2]

Dreja changed from rhythm to bass guitar following the departure of the original bassist, Samwell-Smith. Dreja co-authored many Yardbirds group compositions, especially those on the album Yardbirds.[2] Additionally, he drew the picture which would be used as the album cover.[4] Due to this drawing the album has been referred to as Roger the Engineer.[5] After the group broke up, Page offered Dreja the position of bassist in a new band he was forming (later to become Led Zeppelin).[6] Dreja declined in order to pursue a profession in photography. He photographed Led Zeppelin for the back cover of their debut album.[2]

Dreja played in the Yardbirds spin-off band Box of Frogs in the 1980s, and had been part of the Yardbirds' reformation from 1992 to 2013. In 2002, the Yardbirds re-emerged and a new album, Birdland, was released.[2]

Dreja suffered a series of strokes in 2012 and 2013 and had not performed with the Yardbirds since mid-2012. In July 2013, it was announced that he had officially left the band for medical reasons and was replaced by original lead guitarist Topham.[7]

References

На других языках

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- [en] Chris Dreja

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[ru] Дрэя, Крис

Кри́стофер Дрэ́я (англ. Chris Dreja; 11 ноября 1945, Сербитон, Суррей, Англия[1]) — британский гитарист и бас-гитарист, автор песен. Известен как участник The Yardbirds.

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