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.
Dreja changed from rhythm to bass guitar following the departure of the original bassist, Paul Samwell-Smith. Dreja co-authored many Yardbirds group compositions especially those on the album 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). 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 has been part of the Yardbirds' reformation since 1992.
In 2002, The Yardbirds re-emerged and a new album, Birdland was released.
Read more about this topic: Chris Dreja