Why Jeff Beck said no to replacing Eric Clapton in the Bluesbreakers: “He called my mum several times. She said, ‘That John Mayall sounds very nice!’”

Jeff Beck and John Mayall.

Jeff Beck was once asked to follow in Eric Clapton’s post-Yardbirds footsteps when he was scouted by John Mayall for the Bluesbreakers.

In the 1960s, Beck and Clapton both cut their teeth in the Yardbirds. After Slowhand left in 1965, Beck was drafted in as his replacement. And, when Clapton departed his subsequent seat in Mayall’s band shortly after, Beck was high up on the list to replace him yet again.