Robert Plant - Definition and Overview

Robert Plant performing live on stage at the University of East Anglia in November 2002.

Plant started his career singing in a variety of bands including the "Band of Joy." His early efforts met with no commercial success, but word quickly spread about the young guy with the powerful voice. Guitarist Jimmy Page was in search of a lead singer for his new band and, met Plant after talking with a drummer who referred him to a show where Plant was singing. Plant and Page immidiately hit it off with a shared musical passion and after Plant joined the band, they began their powerful writing collaboration with reworks of earlier blues songs.

A well-read individual, Plant was influenced by J.R.R. Tolkien, which inspired some lyrics on early Zeppelin albums. The passion for diverse musical experiences drove Plant and Page to explore the African continent, specifically Morocco which they both revisted during their reunion album No Quarter in 1994. From blues, to folk, to African tribal music, Plant enjoyed diverse influences.

The band's greatest success was with the number one song Stairway to Heaven. While never released as a single, the song has topped charts as the greatest song of all time on various polls around the world. Even though most of the lyrics of the song were written on the spot and have been spread through bootlegs, various groups have claimed that the song contained satanic messages that can be heard when it is played backwards.

Plant enjoyed great success with the band throughout the 1970s, and at one point during the height of his hubris said to a reporter "I'm a golden haired God". This hubris was cut short when Plant and wife Maureen were seriously injured in a car crash in Rhodes, Greece on August 4, 1975. This halted production of Led Zeppelin's album Presence for a few months while he recovered. Things also took a turn for the worse in 1977, when his oldest son Karac died of a stomach infection. Karac's death later inspired him to write the Led Zeppelin song All My Love in tribute. These tragic incidents seemed to foster break-up rumors and rumors that the band was involved with black magic.

Following the band's breakup in 1980, Plant pursued a successful solo career distancing himself from past pain by charting a new course with a variety of new band members. Plant would later form a short-lived all-star group, The Honeydrippers, who had a Top Ten hit with a remake of "Sea Of Love". Today, Plant continues recording solo as well as occasional collaborations with his former bandmate Jimmy Page.

Many calls from fans and by band members have led to a few brief Zeppelin reunions, including the historic Live Aid and Atlantic Records Anniversary concerts.

Solo Discography

• Pictures at Eleven (1982)
• The Principle of Moments (1983)
• The Honeydrippers: Volume One (1984), with Jimmy Page
• Shaken 'n' Stirred (1985)
• Now and Zen (1988)
• Manic Nirvana (1990)
• Fate of Nations (1993)
• The Wayne's World 2 Soundtrack (1993), only one song
• No Quarter (1994), with Jimmy Page
• Walking Into Clarksdale (1998), with Jimmy Page
• Dreamland (2002)
• Sixty Six to Timbuktu (2003) Best Of
• Mighty Rearranger (2005)

External links

• Interview with Robert Plant (http://home.att.net/~chuckayoub/Led_Zeppelin_Sound_2.htm)