Although the Yardbirds will forever be associated first and foremost with their extraordinary roster of guitarists during their career (Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, and Jimmy Page), singer Keith Relf was an integral ingredient of the band's sound. Born March 22, 1943, in Richmond, England, Relf (along with a whole legion of other British teenaged musicians) re-discovered such blues masters as Muddy Waters and Howlin' Wolf during the early '60s, leading to Relf forming the Yardbirds along with mainstays Chris Dreja (guitar), Jim McCarty (drums), and Paul Samwell Smith (bass) in 1963. The group started out as a blues-based outfit, but as the years progressed, pop, psychedelia, and hard rock was worked into their sound, as the group welcomed in the aforementioned all-star guitarists into their ranks one after another. The Yardbirds were responsible for some of the British Invasion's best albums (1965's classic Having a Rave Up With...) and songs ("For Your Love," "Shapes of Things," "Train Kept A Rollin'," etc.).
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