Christopher Walenty Dreja (born 11 November 1945) is an English retired musician, best known as the rhythm guitarist and bassist for rock band

the Yardbirds The Yardbirds are an English rock music, rock band formed in London in 1963. The band started the careers of three of rock's most famous guitarists: Eric Clapton (1963–1965), Jeff Beck (1965–1966) and Jimmy Page (1966–1968), all of whom ...

for which he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1992.

Early life

Chris Dreja was born in

Surbiton Surbiton is a suburban neighbourhood in South West London, within the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames (RBK). It is next to the River Thames, southwest of Charing Cross. Surbiton was in the Historic counties of England, historic county of ...

, and raised in

Kingston upon Thames Kingston upon Thames, colloquially known as Kingston, is a town in the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames, south-west London, England. It is situated on the River Thames, south-west of Charing Cross. It is an ancient market town, notable as ...

, Surrey. His father, Alojzy Dreja (1918–1985), was from

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

; he had been exiled to Britain in 1940, and served as a pilot in the Polish Air Force in Great Britain during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. Dreja's brother Stefan happened to meet guitarist Top Topham when they studied at the same pre-college art program, and introduced Topham to his brother. Topham and Dreja were influenced by folk/

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form that originated among African Americans in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues has incorporated spiritual (music), spirituals, work songs, field hollers, Ring shout, shouts, cha ...

guitarist Gerry Lockran, who influenced them to switch from acoustic to

electric guitar An electric guitar is a guitar that requires external electric Guitar amplifier, sound amplification in order to be heard at typical performance volumes, unlike a standard acoustic guitar. It uses one or more pickup (music technology), pickups ...

s 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 James Patrick Page (born 9 January 1944) is an English musician and producer who achieved international success as the guitarist and founder of the Rock music, rock band Led Zeppelin. Page began his career as a studio session musician in Lo ...

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 Eric Patrick Clapton (born 1945) is an English Rock music, rock and blues guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He is regarded as one of the most successful and influential guitarists in rock music. Clapton ranked second in ''Rolling Stone''s l ...

and later

Jeff Beck Geoffrey Arnold Beck (24 June 1944 – 10 January 2023) was an English musician. He rose to prominence as the guitarist of the rock band the Yardbirds, and afterwards founded and fronted the Jeff Beck Group and Beck, Bogert & Appice. In 1975, ...

and Jimmy Page. 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''. Additionally, he drew the picture which would be used as the album cover. Due to this drawing the album has been referred to as ''Roger the Engineer.'' After the group broke up, Page offered Dreja the position of bassist in a new band he was forming (later to become

Led Zeppelin Led Zeppelin were an English rock music, rock band formed in London in 1968. The band comprised vocalist Robert Plant, guitarist Jimmy Page, bassist-keyboardist John Paul Jones (musician), John Paul Jones and drummer John Bonham. With a he ...

).Russo, Greg (1998). ''Yardbirds: The Ultimate Rave-Up''. Floral Park, New York: Crossfire Publications. . Dreja declined in order to pursue a profession in photography. He photographed Led Zeppelin for the back cover of their debut album. 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. 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.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dreja, Chris 1945 births Living people English rock bass guitarists English male bass guitarists English rock guitarists English male songwriters The Yardbirds members People from Surbiton English people of Polish descent British rhythm guitarists British rhythm and blues boom musicians English blues rock musicians Rock songwriters Led Zeppelin Box of Frogs members Musicians from the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames