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Guitar World
Guitar World
Entertainment
Neville Marten

“I guess like John Lennon and Brian Jones, we’re not up front, but we keep it all sticking together”: Chris Dreja turned down Led Zeppelin, but he will be remembered as the Yardbirds’ unsung bass hero in a band of guitar superstars

Yardbirds Brian Jones Ike John Lennon Led Zeppelin Jeff Beck Jimmy Page Jim McCarty Paul SamwellSmith Eric Clapton
Chris Dreja of the Yardbirds holds his semi-hollow bass he is mobbed during the band's tour of Denmark.

Born in Surbiton, Surrey, on 11 November 1945, Christopher Walenty Dreja was the son of Polish airman Alojzy Dreja and Englishwoman Joyce Guillan. While at Kingston School of Art, Chris met fellow guitarist Anthony ‘Top’ Topham. The two jumped on the bandwagon of electric rhythm and blues on which The Rolling Stones were riding high.

Dreja and Topham formed The Metropolis Blues Quartet, adding drummer Jim McCarty, singer/harmonica player Keith Relf and bassist Paul Samwell-Smith, and changed the group’s name to the Yardbirds. Still only 15, Topham quit when the others ‘turned pro’.

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