Robert Plant
Encyclopedia
Robert Anthony Plant, CBE
(born 20 August 1948) is an English
singer and songwriter best known as the vocalist and lyricist
of the iconic rock band Led Zeppelin
. He has also had a successful solo career. In 2007, Plant released Raising Sand
, an album produced by T-Bone Burnett
with American bluegrass
soprano Alison Krauss
, which won the 2009 Grammy Award
for Album of the Year
at the 51st Grammy Awards
.
With a career spanning more than 40 years, Plant is regarded as one of the most significant singers in the history of rock music, and has influenced contemporaries and later singers such as Freddie Mercury
and Axl Rose
. In 2006, heavy metal magazine Hit Parader
named Plant the "Greatest Metal Vocalist of All-Time". In 2009, Plant was voted "the greatest voice in rock" in a poll conducted by Planet Rock. In 2011, a Rolling Stone
readers' pick placed Plant in first place of the magazine's "Best Lead Singers of All Time".
town of West Bromwich
(then in Staffordshire
now in West Midlands
) to parents Robert C. who worked as a civil engineer
and Annie C. (Cain) Plant, but grew up in Kidderminster
, in Worcestershire
. Plant gained an interest in singing and rock and roll
music at an early age.
He left King Edward VI Grammar School for Boys in Stourbridge
in his mid-teens and developed a strong passion for the blues
, mainly through his admiration for Willie Dixon
, Robert Johnson and early rendition of songs in this genre.
He abandoned training as a chartered accountant after only two weeks to attend college in an effort to gain more GCE
passes and to become part of the English Midlands
blues scene. "I left home at 16", he said "and I started my real education musically, moving from group to group, furthering my knowledge of the blues and of other music which had weight and was worth listening to."
Plant's early blues influences included Robert Johnson, Bukka White
, Skip James
, Jerry Miller
, and Sleepy John Estes
. Plant had various jobs while pursuing his music career, one of which was working for the major British construction company Wimpey in Birmingham in 1967 laying tarmac on roads. He also worked at Woolworths
in Halesowen town for a short period of time. He cut three obscure singles on CBS Records
and sang with a variety of bands, including The Crawling King Snakes, which brought him into contact with drummer John Bonham
. They both went on to play in the Band of Joy
, merging blues with newer psychedelic trends. Though his early career met with no commercial success, word quickly spread about the "young man with the powerful voice".
was in search of a lead singer for his new band and met Plant after being turned down by his first choice, Terry Reid
, who referred him to a show at a teacher training college in Birmingham
— where Plant was singing in a band named Hobbstweedle. Page explained:
According to Plant:
Plant and Page immediately hit it off with a shared musical passion and began their writing collaboration with reworkings of earlier blues songs, although Plant would receive no songwriting credits on the band's first album, allegedly because he was still under contract to CBS Records
at the time. Plant brought along John Bonham
as drummer, and they were joined by John Paul Jones
, who had previously worked with Page as a studio musician. Jones called Page on the phone before they checked out Plant, and Page hired Jones immediately.
Initially dubbed the "New Yardbirds" in 1968, the band soon came to be known as Led Zeppelin
. The band's self-titled debut album
hit the charts in 1969 and is widely credited as a catalyst for the heavy metal
genre. Plant has commented that it is unfair for people to think of Zeppelin as heavy metal, as almost a third of their music was acoustic.
In 1975, Plant and his wife Maureen (now divorced) were seriously injured in a car crash in Rhodes, Greece
. This significantly affected the production of Led Zeppelin's seventh album Presence for a few months while he recovered, and forced the band to cancel the remaining tour dates for the year.
In July 1977 his son Karac died aged five of a stomach infection while Plant was engaged on Led Zeppelin's concert tour of the United States
. It was a devastating loss for the family. Plant retreated to his home in the Midlands and for months afterward he questioned his future. Karac's death later inspired him to write the song "All My Love
" in tribute, featured on Led Zeppelin's final studio LP
, 1979's In Through the Out Door
.
, in 1969. According to Jimmy Page:
Plant's lyrics with Led Zeppelin were often mystical, philosophical and spiritual, alluding to events in classical and Norse mythology
, such as "Immigrant Song
", which refers to Valhalla
and Viking
conquests. However, the song "No Quarter
" is often misunderstood to refer to the god Thor
; the song actually refers to Mount Thor
(which is named after the god). Another example is "The Rain Song
".
Plant was also influenced by J. R. R. Tolkien
, whose book series inspired lyrics in some early Led Zeppelin songs. Most notably "The Battle of Evermore
", "Misty Mountain Hop
", "No Quarter
", "Ramble On
" and "Over the Hills and Far Away
" contain verses referencing Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings
and The Hobbit
. Conversely, Plant sometimes used more straightforward blues-based lyrics dealing primarily with sexual innuendo, as in "The Lemon Song
", "Trampled Under Foot
", and "Black Dog
".
Welsh mythology
also forms a basis of Plant's interest in mystical lyrics. He grew up close to the Welsh border and would often take summer trips to Snowdonia
. Plant bought a Welsh sheep farm in 1973, and began taking Welsh lessons and looking into the mythology of the land (such as Black Book of Carmarthen
, Book of Taliesin
, etc.) Plant's first son, Karac, was named after the Welsh warrior Caratacus
. The song "Bron-Y-Aur Stomp
" is named after the 18th Century Welsh cottage Bron-Yr-Aur
owned by a friend of his father; it later inspired the song "Bron-Yr-Aur". The songs "Misty Mountain Hop", "That's the Way", and early dabblings in what would become "Stairway to Heaven
" were written in Wales and lyrically reflect Plant's mystical view of the land. Critic Steve Turner suggests that Plant's early and continued experiences in Wales served as the foundation for his broader interest in the mythologies he revisits in his lyrics (including those myth systems of Tolkien and the Norse).
The passion for diverse musical experiences drove Plant to explore Africa, specifically Marrakesh in Morocco
where he encountered Umm Kulthum.
That musical inspiration eventually culminated in "Kashmir
". Both he and Jimmy Page revisited these influences during their reunion album No Quarter: Jimmy Page and Robert Plant Unledded
in 1994. In his solo career, Plant again tapped from these influences many times, most notably in the 2002 album, Dreamland
.
Arguably one of Plant's most significant achievements with Led Zeppelin was his contribution to the track "Stairway to Heaven
", an epic rock ballad
featured on Led Zeppelin IV
that drew influence from folk
, blues
, Celtic traditional music
and hard rock
among other genres. Most of the lyrics of the song were written spontaneously by Plant in 1970 at Headley Grange
. While never released as a single, the song has topped charts as the greatest song of all time on various polls around the world.
Plant is also recognised for his lyrical improvisation in Led Zeppelin's live performances
, often singing verses previously unheard on studio recordings. One of the most famous Led Zeppelin musical devices involves Plant's vocal mimicking of band mate Jimmy Page's guitar effects. This can be heard in the songs "How Many More Times
", "Dazed and Confused", "The Lemon Song
", "You Shook Me
", "Nobody's Fault but Mine
" and "Sick Again
".
He is also known for his light-hearted, humorous, and unusual on-stage banter, often referred to as "plantations". Plant often discusses the origin and background of the songs during his shows, and sometimes provides social comment as well. He frequently talks about American blues musicians as his inspiration, mentioning artists like Robert Johnson, Howlin' Wolf
, Blind Willie Johnson
, and Willie Dixon
at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
induction ceremony and the 2007 Ahmet Ertegün Tribute Concert
with Led Zeppelin.
Plant enjoyed great success with Led Zeppelin throughout the 1970s and developed a compelling image as the charisma
tic rock-and-roll front man, similar to his contemporary in The Who
, singer Roger Daltrey
(who adopted the look in the late 1960s), Mick Jagger
of the Rolling Stones, and his other fellow contemporary, Jim Morrison
of The Doors
. With his mane of long blond hair and powerful, bare-chested appearance, Plant helped to create the "god of rock and roll" or "rock god" archetype. On stage, Plant was particularly active in live performances, often dancing, jumping, skipping, snapping his fingers, clapping, making emphatic gestures to emphasise a lyric or cymbal crash, throwing back his head, or placing his hands on his hips. As the 1960s-1970s progressed he, along with the other members of Led Zeppelin, became increasingly flamboyant on-stage and wore more elaborate, colourful clothing and jewellery.
According to Classic Rock
magazine, "once [Plant] had a couple of US tours under his belt, 'Percy' Plant swiftly developed a staggering degree of bravado and swagger that irrefutably enhanced Led Zeppelin's rapidly burgeoning appeal." In 1994, during his "Unledded" tour with Jimmy Page, Plant himself reflected tongue-in-cheek upon his Led Zeppelin showmanship:
), Plant pursued a successful solo career beginning with Pictures at Eleven
in 1982, followed by 1983's The Principle of Moments
. Popular tracks from this period include "Big Log
" (a Top 20 hit in 1983), "In the Mood
" (1983), "Little by Little
" (from 1985's Shaken 'n' Stirred
), "Tall Cool One
" (a #25 hit off 1988's Now and Zen
) and "I Believe
" (from 1993's Fate of Nations
), another song written for and dedicated to his late son, Karac. In 1984, Plant formed a short-lived all-star group with Jimmy Page and Jeff Beck
called The Honeydrippers
, who had a #3 hit with a remake of the Phil Phillips
' tune, "Sea of Love
" and a followup hit with a cover of Roy Brown
's "Rockin' at Midnight". Although Plant avoided performing Led Zeppelin songs through much of this period, his tours in 1983 (with drummer Phil Collins
) and 1985 were very successful, often performing to sold-out arena-sized venues.
Through the 1980s and 1990s, Plant co-wrote three solo albums with keyboardist/songwriter Phil Johnstone
. Now and Zen, Manic Nirvana
, and Fate of Nations (featuring Moya Brennan of Clannad). It was Johnstone who talked Plant into playing Led Zeppelin songs in his live shows, something Plant had resisted, not wanting to be forever known as "the former Led Zeppelin vocalist."
Although Led Zeppelin split in 1980, Plant and Page occasionally collaborated on various projects, including The Honeydrippers: Volume One
album in 1984. In the spring 2 years later Robert performed at the Birmingham Heart Beat Charity Concert 1986. The pair again worked together in the studio on the 1988 Page solo effort, Outrider
, and in the same year Page contributed to Plant's album Now and Zen. Also, on 15 May 1988 Plant appeared with Page as a member of Led Zeppelin (and in his own right as a solo artist) at the Atlantic Records 40th Anniversary
concert.
became a full-fledged performing act from 1994 through 1998, releasing the Unledded album in 1994 and following with an enormously successful tour in 1995: Fourteen years of speculation from their fans and occasional sniping between the two former members ended when Jimmy Page and Robert Plant of Led Zeppelin reconvened their former musical partnership to produce No Quarter. Having long resisted offers from MTV to reform to do an Unplugged show, they finally accepted as part of a deal that also allowed them to visit Morocco to record new material. The album combines the results of both of these projects. The Led Zeppelin material features new arrangements and new instrumentation, including strings, Egyptian musicians and the haunting vocals of British-Asian star Najma Akhtar.
Page and Plant recorded their only post-Zeppelin album of original material on the 1998 album, Walking into Clarksdale
, an effort that was unsuccessful commercially, leading Plant to return to his solo career. A song from this album, "Please Read the Letter
", was re-recorded by Plant with Alison Krauss
, winning the 2009 Grammy Award for Record of the Year
.
In 1999, Plant contributed to the tribute album
for Moby Grape
co-founder Skip Spence
, who was terminally ill. The album, More Oar: A Tribute to the Skip Spence Album
(Birdman
, 1999), with the album title referring to Spence's only solo album, Oar
(Columbia
, 1969), contained Plant's version of Spence's "Little Hands". Plant had been an admirer of Spence and Moby Grape since the release of Moby Grape's eponymous 1967 debut album
.
In 2001, Plant appeared on Afro Celt Sound System
's album Volume 3: Further in Time
. The song "Life Begin Again" features a duet with Welsh folksinger Julie Murphy
, emphasising Plant's recurring interest in Welsh culture (Murphy would also tour in support of Plant).
. Contrasting with this lush collection of often relatively obscure remakes, the second album with Strange Sensation, Mighty ReArranger
(2005), contains new, original songs. Both have received some of the most favourable reviews of Plant's solo career and four Grammy nominations, two in 2003 and two in 2006.
As a former member of Led Zeppelin, along with Page and John Paul Jones, Plant received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award
in 2005 and the Polar Music Prize in 2006.
From 2001 to 2007, Plant actively toured the US & Europe with The Strange Sensation
. His sets typically included recent, but not only, solo material and plenty of Led Zeppelin favourites, often with new and expanded arrangements. A DVD titled Soundstage: Robert Plant and the Strange Sensation
, featuring his Soundstage performance (filmed at the Soundstage Studios in Chicago on 16 September 2005), was released in October 2006.
On 23 June 2006, Plant was the headliner (backed by Ian Hunter
's band) at the Benefit For Arthur Lee
concert at New York's Beacon Theatre, a show which raised money for Lee's medical expenses from his bout with leukaemia. Plant and band performed thirteen songs - five by Arthur Lee & Love, five Led Zeppelin songs and three others including a duet with Ian Hunter. At the show, Plant told the audience of his great admiration for Arthur Lee dating back to the mid-Sixties. Lee died of his illness six weeks after the concert.
An expansive box set of his solo work, Nine Lives
, was released in November 2006, which expanded all of his albums with various b-sides, demos, and live cuts. It was accompanied by a DVD. All his solo works were re-released with these extra tracks individually.
In 2007, Plant contributed two tracks to the Fats Domino
tribute album Goin' Home: A Tribute to Fats Domino
, "It Keeps Rainin'" with the Lil' Band O' Gold and "Valley of Tears" with The Soweto Gospel Choir.
From 2007-2008, Plant recorded and performed with bluegrass star Alison Krauss
. A duet album, Raising Sand
, was released on 23 October 2007 on Rounder Records. The album, recorded in Nashville and Los Angeles and produced by T-Bone Burnett
, includes performances of lesser-known material from R&B, Blues, folk
, and country
songwriters including Mel Tillis
, Townes Van Zandt
, Gene Clark
, Tom Waits
, Doc Watson
, Little Milton
and The Everly Brothers
. The song "Gone Gone Gone (Done Moved On)" from Raising Sand won a Grammy for Best Pop Collaboration With Vocals in 2008. Raising Sand also won Album of the Year at the 51st Grammy Awards
. The album has been successful critically and commercially, and was certified platinum on 4 March 2008.
Plant and Krauss began an extended tour of the US and Europe in April 2008, playing music from Raising Sand and other American roots music as well as reworked Led Zeppelin tunes. The album was nominated for the Mercury Prize
in July 2008. Also in 2008, Plant performed with bluegrass musicians at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival
and Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival. He appeared as a surprise guest during Fairport Convention
's set at the 2008 Cropredy Festival, performing Led Zeppelin's "The Battle of Evermore
" with Kristina Donahue as a tribute to Sandy Denny
.
In October 2008, it was reported that Plant collaborated on an album by original Fairport vocalist Judy Dyble
, but the album has not materialised.
On 8 February 2009, Plant and Krauss won Grammy Awards for Album of the Year, Record of the Year, Pop Collaboration with Vocals, Country Collaboration with Vocals, and Contemporary Folk/Americana Album.
In 2010, Plant realised a lifelong ambition by playing live at Molineux Stadium
, home of the Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C.
Plant performed with the amateur cover band No Rezerve.
(reprising the name of his very first band in the 1960s). The group includes singer Patty Griffin
, singer-guitarist Buddy Miller, multi-instrumentalist and vocalist Darrell Scott
, bassist-vocalist Byron House, and drummer-percussionist-vocalist Marco Giovino.
After a unique show in the United States on 12 September 2010 at the Bowery Ballroom in New York
, another eleven-date autumn tour in Europe was announced to last from October to November 2010. North America tour dates were announced 16 November 2010, with the first show being 18 January 2011 in Asheville, North Carolina.
A new studio album called Band of Joy
was released on 13 September 2010 on the Rounder Records
label.
The band played their final scheduled show together at the Big Chill Festival at Eastnor Castle Deer Park in Herefordshire
on 7 August 2011. The show ended with Plant bidding his bandmates "a fond farewell".
On 30 September 2011, Plant and Band of Joy played in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park, as part of the 11th Hardly Strictly Bluegrass festival.
(with Phil Collins
and Tony Thompson
on drums) and on 15 May 1988 for Atlantic Records 40th Anniversary
. At the 1988 reunion, Jason Bonham
, the son of Led Zeppelin's late drummer John Bonham
, played drums. Both sets featured only a few songs, performed with minimal rehearsal. Plant was unhappy with both performances, saying that "it was like sleeping with your ex-wife but not making love." At the 1990 Silver Clef Award
Winners Concert at Knebworth, Plant was joined by Jimmy Page. Some of their set was released on the subsequent live album and video. In 1995, Led Zeppelin were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
, and Plant performed at the induction show with Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones, Jason Bonham
, Neil Young
, Steven Tyler
and Joe Perry
, performing spirited versions of "Bring It On Home", "Honeybee", and "When the Levee Breaks".
After years of reunion rumours, Led Zeppelin performed a full two-hour set on 10 December 2007 at the Ahmet Ertegün Tribute Concert
, with Jason
again filling in on drums. Despite enormous public demand, Plant declined a $200 million offer to tour with Led Zeppelin after the 2007 show. In interviews following the 2007 show, Plant left the door open to possible future performances with Led Zeppelin, saying that he enjoyed the reunion and felt that the show was strong musically. Although Page, Jones, and Bonham have expressed the strong desire to tour as Led Zeppelin, Plant has consistently opposed a full tour and has responded negatively to questions about another reunion. In a January, 2008 interview, he stated that he does not want to "tour like a bunch of bored old men following the Rolling Stones around." In a statement on his web site in late 2008, Plant stated, "I will not be touring with Led Zeppelin or anyone else for the next two years. Anyone buying Led Zeppelin tickets will be buying bogus tickets."
, Plant's bass player for solo tours); and sons Karac Pendragon (1972–1977) (died of a virus; the reason Led Zeppelin's 1977 North American Tour
was cut short), and Logan Romero (1979). The couple divorced in August 1983. Also, Plant has a younger son, Jesse Lee (1991), the son of Shirley Wilson, sister of Maureen.
On 14 August 2009, it was announced via the Wolverhampton Wanderers text message news service that "Rock Legend and lifelong Wolves fan Robert Plant is to become the club's third Vice President." Plant officially received the honour before kick off at the club's first match of the season against West Ham. Plant was five years old when he first visited Molineux
. He recalled in an interview with his local paper Express & Star
in August 2010: "I was five when my dad took me down for the first time and Billy Wright waved at me. Honest, he did. And that was it – I was hooked from that moment.
According to The Sunday Times
Rich List
Plant is worth £80 million as of 2009.
In late 2010 on BBC2, a documentary featured Robert Plant discussing his journey with Led Zeppelin
and various projects since.
, Ann Wilson
, Sammy Hagar
, and later rock vocalists such as Jeff Buckley
and Jack White
who imitated his performing style extensively. Freddie Mercury
of Queen
, and Axl Rose
of Guns N' Roses
were also influenced by Plant. Encyclopædia Britannica
notes "Exaggerating the vocal style and expressive palette of blues singers such as Howlin' Wolf
and Muddy Waters
, [Robert] Plant created the sound that has defined much hard rock and heavy metal singing: a high range, an abundance of distortion, loud volume, and emotional excess". Plant received the Knebworth
Silver Clef Award
in 1990.
In 2006, heavy metal magazine Hit Parader
named Plant #1 on their list of the 100 Greatest Metal Vocalists of All-Time, a list which included Rob Halford (2), Steven Tyler (3), Freddie Mercury (6), Geddy Lee (13), and Paul Stanley (18), all of whom were influenced by Plant. In 2008, Rolling Stone
named Plant as number 15 on their list of the 100 Greatest Singers of All-Time. In 2009, he was voted the "greatest voice in rock" in a poll conducted by Planet Rock. Plant was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2009 New Year Honours for his "services to popular music". He was included in the Q magazine
's 2009 list of "Artists Of The Century" and was ranked at number 8 in their list of "100 Greatest Singers" in 2007. In 2009, Plant also won the Outstanding Contribution to Music prize at the Q Awards. He was placed at no. 3 on SPIN
s list of "The 50 Greatest Rock Frontmen of All Time".
On 20 September 2010 National Public Radio (NPR) named Plant as one of the "50 Great Voices" in the world.
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
(born 20 August 1948) is an English
English people
The English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity is of early mediaeval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn. England is now a country of the United Kingdom, and the majority of English people in England are British Citizens...
singer and songwriter best known as the vocalist and lyricist
Lyricist
A lyricist is a songwriter who specializes in lyrics. A singer who writes the lyrics to songs is a singer-lyricist. This differentiates from a singer-composer, who composes the song's melody.-Collaboration:...
of the iconic rock band Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin were an English rock band, active in the late 1960s and throughout the 1970s. Formed in 1968, they consisted of guitarist Jimmy Page, singer Robert Plant, bassist/keyboardist John Paul Jones, and drummer John Bonham...
. He has also had a successful solo career. In 2007, Plant released Raising Sand
Raising Sand
Raising Sand is a collaboration album by rock singer Robert Plant and bluegrass-country singer Alison Krauss. It was released on October 23, 2007 by Rounder Records...
, an album produced by T-Bone Burnett
T-Bone Burnett
Joseph Henry Burnett , widely known as T-Bone Burnett, is an American musician, songwriter, and soundtrack and record producer.He was a guitarist in Bob Dylan's band on the Rolling Thunder Revue...
with American bluegrass
Bluegrass music
Bluegrass music is a form of American roots music, and a sub-genre of country music. It has mixed roots in Scottish, English, Welsh and Irish traditional music...
soprano Alison Krauss
Alison Krauss
Alison Maria Krauss is an American bluegrass-country singer, songwriter and fiddler. She entered the music industry at an early age, winning local contests by the age of ten and recording for the first time at fourteen. She signed with Rounder Records in 1985 and released her first solo album in...
, which won the 2009 Grammy Award
Grammy Award
A Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...
for Album of the Year
Grammy Award for Album of the Year
The Grammy Award for Album of the Year is the most prestigious award category at the Grammys. It has been awarded since 1959 and though it was originally presented to the artist alone, the award is now presented to the artist, the producer, the engineer and/or mixer and the mastering engineer...
at the 51st Grammy Awards
51st Grammy Awards
The 51st Annual Grammy Awards took place at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, CA on February 8, 2009. Robert Plant and Alison Krauss were the biggest winners of the night, jointly winning five awards including Album of the Year and Record of the Year...
.
With a career spanning more than 40 years, Plant is regarded as one of the most significant singers in the history of rock music, and has influenced contemporaries and later singers such as Freddie Mercury
Freddie Mercury
Freddie Mercury was a British musician, singer and songwriter, best known as the lead vocalist of the rock band Queen. As a performer, he was known for his flamboyant stage persona and powerful vocals over a four-octave range...
and Axl Rose
Axl Rose
W. Axl Rose is an American singer-songwriter and musician. He is the lead vocalist and only remaining original member of the hard rock band Guns N' Roses, with whom he enjoyed great success and recognition in the late 1980s and early 1990s, before disappearing from the public eye for several years...
. In 2006, heavy metal magazine Hit Parader
Hit Parader
Hit Parader is an American music magazine focusing on the genres of hard rock, pop, and heavy metal.The magazine was originally started as a pop song lyric magazine by Charlton Publications in 1942. Charlton sold off the magazine before the company went under in 1991...
named Plant the "Greatest Metal Vocalist of All-Time". In 2009, Plant was voted "the greatest voice in rock" in a poll conducted by Planet Rock. In 2011, a Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
readers' pick placed Plant in first place of the magazine's "Best Lead Singers of All Time".
Early career
Plant was born in the Black CountryBlack Country
The Black Country is a loosely defined area of the English West Midlands conurbation, to the north and west of Birmingham, and to the south and east of Wolverhampton. During the industrial revolution in the 19th century this area had become one of the most intensely industrialised in the nation...
town of West Bromwich
West Bromwich
West Bromwich is a town within the Metropolitan Borough of Sandwell, in the West Midlands, England. It is north west of Birmingham lying on the A41 London-to-Birkenhead road. West Bromwich is part of the Black Country...
(then in Staffordshire
Staffordshire
Staffordshire is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. For Eurostat purposes, the county is a NUTS 3 region and is one of four counties or unitary districts that comprise the "Shropshire and Staffordshire" NUTS 2 region. Part of the National Forest lies within its borders...
now in West Midlands
West Midlands (county)
The West Midlands is a metropolitan county in western central England with a 2009 estimated population of 2,638,700. It came into existence as a metropolitan county in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972, formed from parts of Staffordshire, Worcestershire and Warwickshire. The...
) to parents Robert C. who worked as a civil engineer
Civil engineer
A civil engineer is a person who practices civil engineering; the application of planning, designing, constructing, maintaining, and operating infrastructures while protecting the public and environmental health, as well as improving existing infrastructures that have been neglected.Originally, a...
and Annie C. (Cain) Plant, but grew up in Kidderminster
Kidderminster
Kidderminster is a town, in the Wyre Forest district of Worcestershire, England. It is located approximately seventeen miles south-west of Birmingham city centre and approximately fifteen miles north of Worcester city centre. The 2001 census recorded a population of 55,182 in the town...
, in Worcestershire
Worcestershire
Worcestershire is a non-metropolitan county, established in antiquity, located in the West Midlands region of England. For Eurostat purposes it is a NUTS 3 region and is one of three counties that comprise the "Herefordshire, Worcestershire and Warwickshire" NUTS 2 region...
. Plant gained an interest in singing and rock and roll
Rock and roll
Rock and roll is a genre of popular music that originated and evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s, primarily from a combination of African American blues, country, jazz, and gospel music...
music at an early age.
When I was a kid I used to hide behind the curtains at home at Christmas and I used to try and be ElvisElvis PresleyElvis Aaron Presley was one of the most popular American singers of the 20th century. A cultural icon, he is widely known by the single name Elvis. He is often referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll" or simply "the King"....
. There was a certain ambience between the curtains and the French windows, there was a certain sound there for a ten year old. That was all the ambience I got at ten years old... I think! And I always wanted to be a curtain, a bit similar to that.
He left King Edward VI Grammar School for Boys in Stourbridge
Stourbridge
Stourbridge is a town within the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley, in the West Midlands of England. Historically part of Worcestershire, Stourbridge was a centre of glass making, and today includes the suburbs of Amblecote, Lye, Norton, Oldswinford, Pedmore, Wollaston, Wollescote and Wordsley The...
in his mid-teens and developed a strong passion for the blues
Blues
Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...
, mainly through his admiration for Willie Dixon
Willie Dixon
William James "Willie" Dixon was an American blues musician, vocalist, songwriter, arranger and record producer. A Grammy Award winner who was proficient on both the Upright bass and the guitar, as well as his own singing voice, Dixon is arguably best known as one of the most prolific songwriters...
, Robert Johnson and early rendition of songs in this genre.
I suppose I was quite interested in my stamp collection and Romano-BritishRomano-BritishRomano-British culture describes the culture that arose in Britain under the Roman Empire following the Roman conquest of AD 43 and the creation of the province of Britannia. It arose as a fusion of the imported Roman culture with that of the indigenous Britons, a people of Celtic language and...
history. I was a little grammar school boy and I could hear this kind of calling through the airwaves
He abandoned training as a chartered accountant after only two weeks to attend college in an effort to gain more GCE
General Certificate of Education
The General Certificate of Education or GCE is an academic qualification that examination boards in the United Kingdom and a few of the Commonwealth countries, notably Sri Lanka, confer to students. The GCE traditionally comprised two levels: the Ordinary Level and the Advanced Level...
passes and to become part of the English Midlands
English Midlands
The Midlands, or the English Midlands, is the traditional name for the area comprising central England that broadly corresponds to the early medieval Kingdom of Mercia. It borders Southern England, Northern England, East Anglia and Wales. Its largest city is Birmingham, and it was an important...
blues scene. "I left home at 16", he said "and I started my real education musically, moving from group to group, furthering my knowledge of the blues and of other music which had weight and was worth listening to."
Plant's early blues influences included Robert Johnson, Bukka White
Bukka White
Booker T. Washington White , better known as Bukka White, was an American Delta blues guitarist and singer. "Bukka" was not a nickname, but a phonetic misspelling of White's given name Booker, by his second record label .-Biography:Born between Aberdeen and Houston, Mississippi, White was the...
, Skip James
Skip James
Nehemiah Curtis "Skip" James was an American Delta blues singer, guitarist, pianist and songwriter, born in Bentonia, Mississippi, died in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania....
, Jerry Miller
Jerry Miller
Jerry Miller is an American songwriter, guitarist and vocalist. He performs as a solo artist and as a member of the Jerry Miller Band. He is also a founding member of the 1960s San Francisco band Moby Grape, which continues to perform occasionally...
, and Sleepy John Estes
Sleepy John Estes
John Adam Estes , best known as Sleepy John Estes or Sleepy John, was a American blues guitarist, songwriter and vocalist, born in Ripley, Lauderdale County, Tennessee.-Career:...
. Plant had various jobs while pursuing his music career, one of which was working for the major British construction company Wimpey in Birmingham in 1967 laying tarmac on roads. He also worked at Woolworths
Woolworths Group
Woolworths Group plc was a listed British company that owned the high-street retail chain, Woolworths, as well as other brands such as the entertainment distributor Entertainment UK and book and resource distributor Bertram Books...
in Halesowen town for a short period of time. He cut three obscure singles on CBS Records
CBS Records
CBS Records is a record label founded by CBS Corporation in 2006 to take advantage of music from its entertainment properties owned by CBS Television Studios. The initial label roster consisted of only three artists; rock band Señor Happy and singer/songwriters Will Dailey and P.J...
and sang with a variety of bands, including The Crawling King Snakes, which brought him into contact with drummer John Bonham
John Bonham
John Henry Bonham was an English musician and songwriter, best known as the drummer of Led Zeppelin. Bonham was esteemed for his speed, power, fast right foot, distinctive sound, and "feel" for the groove...
. They both went on to play in the Band of Joy
Band of Joy
The Band of Joy are a rock band from England. Various lineups of the group performed from 1965 to 1968 and from 1977 to 1983...
, merging blues with newer psychedelic trends. Though his early career met with no commercial success, word quickly spread about the "young man with the powerful voice".
Early years
In 1968, the guitarist Jimmy PageJimmy Page
James Patrick "Jimmy" Page, OBE is an English multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, and record producer. He began his career as a studio session guitarist in London and was subsequently a member of The Yardbirds from 1966 to 1968, after which he founded the English rock band Led Zeppelin.Jimmy Page...
was in search of a lead singer for his new band and met Plant after being turned down by his first choice, Terry Reid
Terry Reid
Terry Reid is an English rock vocalist and guitarist. He has performed with high profile musicians, as a supporting act, a session musician, and sideman.- History :...
, who referred him to a show at a teacher training college in Birmingham
Birmingham
Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...
— where Plant was singing in a band named Hobbstweedle. Page explained:
When I auditioned him and heard him sing, I immediately thought there must be something wrong with him personality-wise or that he had to be impossible to work with, because I just could not understand why, after he told me he'd been singing for a few years already, he hadn't become a big name yet. So I had him down to my place for a little while, just to sort of check him out, and we got along great. No problems.
According to Plant:
I was appearing at this college when Peter and Jimmy turned up and asked me if I'd like to join The YardbirdsThe Yardbirds- Current :* Chris Dreja - rhythm guitar, backing vocals * Jim McCarty - drums, backing vocals * Ben King - lead guitar * David Smale - bass, backing vocals...
. I knew The Yardbirds had done a lot of work in America - which to me meant audiences who would want to know what I might have to offer - so naturally I was very interested.
Plant and Page immediately hit it off with a shared musical passion and began their writing collaboration with reworkings of earlier blues songs, although Plant would receive no songwriting credits on the band's first album, allegedly because he was still under contract to CBS Records
CBS Records
CBS Records is a record label founded by CBS Corporation in 2006 to take advantage of music from its entertainment properties owned by CBS Television Studios. The initial label roster consisted of only three artists; rock band Señor Happy and singer/songwriters Will Dailey and P.J...
at the time. Plant brought along John Bonham
John Bonham
John Henry Bonham was an English musician and songwriter, best known as the drummer of Led Zeppelin. Bonham was esteemed for his speed, power, fast right foot, distinctive sound, and "feel" for the groove...
as drummer, and they were joined by John Paul Jones
John Paul Jones (musician)
John Paul Jones is an English multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, composer, arranger and record producer. Best known as the bassist, mandolinist, and keyboardist for English rock band Led Zeppelin, Jones has since developed a solo career and has gained even more respect as both a musician and a...
, who had previously worked with Page as a studio musician. Jones called Page on the phone before they checked out Plant, and Page hired Jones immediately.
Initially dubbed the "New Yardbirds" in 1968, the band soon came to be known as Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin were an English rock band, active in the late 1960s and throughout the 1970s. Formed in 1968, they consisted of guitarist Jimmy Page, singer Robert Plant, bassist/keyboardist John Paul Jones, and drummer John Bonham...
. The band's self-titled debut album
Led Zeppelin (album)
Led Zeppelin is the debut album of the English rock band Led Zeppelin. It was recorded in October 1968 at Olympic Studios in London and released on Atlantic Records on 12 January 1969 in the United States and 31 March 1969 in the United Kingdom. The album featured integral contributions from each...
hit the charts in 1969 and is widely credited as a catalyst for the heavy metal
Heavy metal music
Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the Midlands of the United Kingdom and the United States...
genre. Plant has commented that it is unfair for people to think of Zeppelin as heavy metal, as almost a third of their music was acoustic.
In 1975, Plant and his wife Maureen (now divorced) were seriously injured in a car crash in Rhodes, Greece
Rhodes, Greece
Rhodes is the principal city and a former municipality on the island of Rhodes, in the Dodecanese, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Rhodes, of which it is the seat and a municipal unit. It has a population of approximately 80,000. Rhodes has been famous...
. This significantly affected the production of Led Zeppelin's seventh album Presence for a few months while he recovered, and forced the band to cancel the remaining tour dates for the year.
In July 1977 his son Karac died aged five of a stomach infection while Plant was engaged on Led Zeppelin's concert tour of the United States
Led Zeppelin North American Tour 1977
Led Zeppelin's 1977 North American Tour was the eleventh and final concert tour of North America by the English rock band. The tour was divided into three legs, with performances commencing on 1 April and concluding on 24 July 1977...
. It was a devastating loss for the family. Plant retreated to his home in the Midlands and for months afterward he questioned his future. Karac's death later inspired him to write the song "All My Love
All My Love (song)
"All My Love" is a song on English rock band Led Zeppelin's 1979 album, In Through the Out Door. Credited to Robert Plant and John Paul Jones, it is a slow-tempo song that features a synthesizer solo by Jones and lyrics performed by Plant....
" in tribute, featured on Led Zeppelin's final studio LP
Gramophone record
A gramophone record, commonly known as a phonograph record , vinyl record , or colloquially, a record, is an analog sound storage medium consisting of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove...
, 1979's In Through the Out Door
In Through the Out Door
In Through the Out Door is the eighth studio album by the English rock band Led Zeppelin. It was recorded over a three week period in November and December 1978 at ABBA's Polar Studios in Stockholm, Sweden, and released by Swan Song Records on 15 August 1979...
.
Lyrics
Plant did not begin writing song lyrics with Led Zeppelin until the making of Led Zeppelin IILed Zeppelin II
The finished tracks reflect the raw, evolving sound of the band and their ability as live performers. The album has been noted for featuring a further development of the lyrical themes established by Robert Plant on Led Zeppelin's debut album, creating a work which would become more widely...
, in 1969. According to Jimmy Page:
Plant's lyrics with Led Zeppelin were often mystical, philosophical and spiritual, alluding to events in classical and Norse mythology
Norse mythology
Norse mythology, a subset of Germanic mythology, is the overall term for the myths, legends and beliefs about supernatural beings of Norse pagans. It flourished prior to the Christianization of Scandinavia, during the Early Middle Ages, and passed into Nordic folklore, with some aspects surviving...
, such as "Immigrant Song
Immigrant Song
"Immigrant Song" is a song by the English rock band Led Zeppelin. It was released as a single from their third album, Led Zeppelin III, in 1970.-Overview:...
", which refers to Valhalla
Valhalla
In Norse mythology, Valhalla is a majestic, enormous hall located in Asgard, ruled over by the god Odin. Chosen by Odin, half of those that die in combat travel to Valhalla upon death, led by valkyries, while the other half go to the goddess Freyja's field Fólkvangr...
and Viking
Viking
The term Viking is customarily used to refer to the Norse explorers, warriors, merchants, and pirates who raided, traded, explored and settled in wide areas of Europe, Asia and the North Atlantic islands from the late 8th to the mid-11th century.These Norsemen used their famed longships to...
conquests. However, the song "No Quarter
No Quarter (song)
"No Quarter" is a song by Led Zeppelin that appears on their album, Houses of the Holy, released in 1973. It was written by bassist/keyboardist John Paul Jones, guitarist Jimmy Page and singer Robert Plant.- Overview :...
" is often misunderstood to refer to the god Thor
Thor
In Norse mythology, Thor is a hammer-wielding god associated with thunder, lightning, storms, oak trees, strength, the protection of mankind, and also hallowing, healing, and fertility...
; the song actually refers to Mount Thor
Mount Thor
Mount Thor, officially gazetted as Thor Peak, is a mountain with an elevation of 1,675 m located in Auyuittuq National Park, on Baffin Island, Nunavut, Canada. The mountain is located northeast of Pangnirtung and features the Earth's greatest purely vertical drop at , with an average angle of 105...
(which is named after the god). Another example is "The Rain Song
The Rain Song
"The Rain Song" is a ballad song from English rock band Led Zeppelin's fifth album Houses of the Holy, released in 1973.-Recording:"The Rain Song" is a love ballad of over 7 minutes in length. Guitarist Jimmy Page originally constructed the melody of this song at his home in Plumpton, England,...
".
Plant was also influenced by J. R. R. Tolkien
J. R. R. Tolkien
John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, CBE was an English writer, poet, philologist, and university professor, best known as the author of the classic high fantasy works The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and The Silmarillion.Tolkien was Rawlinson and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon at Pembroke College,...
, whose book series inspired lyrics in some early Led Zeppelin songs. Most notably "The Battle of Evermore
The Battle of Evermore
"The Battle of Evermore" is a folk rock duet sung by Robert Plant and Sandy Denny, by the English rock band Led Zeppelin, featured on their untitled fourth album , released in 1971...
", "Misty Mountain Hop
Misty Mountain Hop
"Misty Mountain Hop" is a song from English rock band Led Zeppelin's untitled fourth album, released in 1971. In the United States and Australia it was the B-side of the "Black Dog" single, but still received considerable FM radio airplay...
", "No Quarter
No Quarter (song)
"No Quarter" is a song by Led Zeppelin that appears on their album, Houses of the Holy, released in 1973. It was written by bassist/keyboardist John Paul Jones, guitarist Jimmy Page and singer Robert Plant.- Overview :...
", "Ramble On
Ramble On
-Cover versions:Train did a cover of the song in early 2001 and released it as a single. Producer Brendan O'Brien heard Train's version and agreed to produce their second album, Drops of Jupiter...
" and "Over the Hills and Far Away
Over the Hills and Far Away (Led Zeppelin song)
"Over the Hills and Far Away" is the third track from English rock band Led Zeppelin's 1973 album Houses of the Holy.-Overview:Jimmy Page and Robert Plant originally constructed the song in 1970 at Bron-Yr-Aur, a small cottage in Wales where they stayed after completing a gruelling North American...
" contain verses referencing Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings
The Lord of the Rings
The Lord of the Rings is a high fantasy epic written by English philologist and University of Oxford professor J. R. R. Tolkien. The story began as a sequel to Tolkien's earlier, less complex children's fantasy novel The Hobbit , but eventually developed into a much larger work. It was written in...
and The Hobbit
The Hobbit
The Hobbit, or There and Back Again, better known by its abbreviated title The Hobbit, is a fantasy novel and children's book by J. R. R. Tolkien. It was published on 21 September 1937 to wide critical acclaim, being nominated for the Carnegie Medal and awarded a prize from the New York Herald...
. Conversely, Plant sometimes used more straightforward blues-based lyrics dealing primarily with sexual innuendo, as in "The Lemon Song
The Lemon Song
"The Lemon Song" is a song by English rock band Led Zeppelin, featured on their 1969 album Led Zeppelin II. It was recorded at Mystic Studios in Hollywood when the band was on their second concert tour of the United States....
", "Trampled Under Foot
Trampled Under Foot
"Trampled Under Foot" is a song by English rock group Led Zeppelin, featured on their 1975 album Physical Graffiti.-Overview:The song was written by Robert Plant, Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones, and evolved out of a jam session in 1972...
", and "Black Dog
Black Dog (song)
"Black Dog" is a song by English rock band Led Zeppelin, the lead off track of their fourth album, released in 1971. It was also released as a single in the United States and Australia with "Misty Mountain Hop" on the B-side, and reached #15 on Billboard and #11 in Australia.In 2010, the song was...
".
Welsh mythology
Welsh mythology
Welsh mythology, the remnants of the mythology of the pre-Christian Britons, has come down to us in much altered form in medieval Welsh manuscripts such as the Red Book of Hergest, the White Book of Rhydderch, the Book of Aneirin and the Book of Taliesin....
also forms a basis of Plant's interest in mystical lyrics. He grew up close to the Welsh border and would often take summer trips to Snowdonia
Snowdonia
Snowdonia is a region in north Wales and a national park of in area. It was the first to be designated of the three National Parks in Wales, in 1951.-Name and extent:...
. Plant bought a Welsh sheep farm in 1973, and began taking Welsh lessons and looking into the mythology of the land (such as Black Book of Carmarthen
Black Book of Carmarthen
The Black Book of Carmarthen is thought to be the earliest surviving manuscript written entirely or substantially in Welsh. Written in around 1250, the book's name comes from its association with the Priory of St. John the Evangelist and Teulyddog at Carmarthen, and is referred to as black due to...
, Book of Taliesin
Book of Taliesin
The Book of Taliesin is one of the most famous of Middle Welsh manuscripts, dating from the first half of the 14th century though many of the fifty-six poems it preserves are taken to originate in the 10th century. The manuscript, known as Peniarth MS 2 and kept at the National Library of Wales,...
, etc.) Plant's first son, Karac, was named after the Welsh warrior Caratacus
Caratacus
Caratacus was a first century British chieftain of the Catuvellauni tribe, who led the British resistance to the Roman conquest....
. The song "Bron-Y-Aur Stomp
Bron-Y-Aur Stomp
"Bron-Y-Aur Stomp" is a song on English rock band Led Zeppelin's third album, Led Zeppelin III, released in 1970.-Song history:Jimmy Page and Robert Plant constructed the song in 1970 at Bron-Yr-Aur, a small cottage in Wales where they stayed after completing a gruelling concert tour of the United...
" is named after the 18th Century Welsh cottage Bron-Yr-Aur
Bron-Yr-Aur
Bron-Yr-Aur , sometimes misspelled as Bron-Y-Aur, is an 18th century cottage in South Snowdonia, Wales, best known for its association with the English rock band Led Zeppelin....
owned by a friend of his father; it later inspired the song "Bron-Yr-Aur". The songs "Misty Mountain Hop", "That's the Way", and early dabblings in what would become "Stairway to Heaven
Stairway to Heaven
"Stairway to Heaven" is a song by the English rock band Led Zeppelin, released in late 1971. It was composed by guitarist Jimmy Page and vocalist Robert Plant for the band's untitled fourth studio album . The song, running eight minutes and two seconds, is composed of several sections, which...
" were written in Wales and lyrically reflect Plant's mystical view of the land. Critic Steve Turner suggests that Plant's early and continued experiences in Wales served as the foundation for his broader interest in the mythologies he revisits in his lyrics (including those myth systems of Tolkien and the Norse).
The passion for diverse musical experiences drove Plant to explore Africa, specifically Marrakesh in Morocco
Morocco
Morocco , officially the Kingdom of Morocco , is a country located in North Africa. It has a population of more than 32 million and an area of 710,850 km², and also primarily administers the disputed region of the Western Sahara...
where he encountered Umm Kulthum.
That musical inspiration eventually culminated in "Kashmir
Kashmir (song)
"Kashmir" is a song by the English rock band Led Zeppelin from their sixth album Physical Graffiti, released in 1975. It was written by Jimmy Page and Robert Plant over a period of three years, with the lyrics dating back to 1973.-Overview:The song centres around a signature chord progression...
". Both he and Jimmy Page revisited these influences during their reunion album No Quarter: Jimmy Page and Robert Plant Unledded
No Quarter: Jimmy Page and Robert Plant Unledded
No Quarter is a live album by Page and Plant, both formerly of English rock band Led Zeppelin. It was released by Atlantic Records on 14 October 1994. The long awaited reunion between Page and Plant occurred on a 90 minute "UnLedded" MTV project, recorded in Morocco, Wales, and London, which rated...
in 1994. In his solo career, Plant again tapped from these influences many times, most notably in the 2002 album, Dreamland
Dreamland (Robert Plant album)
Dreamland is singer Robert Plant's seventh solo album and the first with the band "Strange Sensation". The album was released in July 2002.Many of the songs are cover versions, mainly blues, but also some rock...
.
Arguably one of Plant's most significant achievements with Led Zeppelin was his contribution to the track "Stairway to Heaven
Stairway to Heaven
"Stairway to Heaven" is a song by the English rock band Led Zeppelin, released in late 1971. It was composed by guitarist Jimmy Page and vocalist Robert Plant for the band's untitled fourth studio album . The song, running eight minutes and two seconds, is composed of several sections, which...
", an epic rock ballad
Ballad
A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads were particularly characteristic of British and Irish popular poetry and song from the later medieval period until the 19th century and used extensively across Europe and later the Americas, Australia and North Africa. Many...
featured on Led Zeppelin IV
Led Zeppelin IV
The fourth album by the English rock band Led Zeppelin was released on 8 November 1971. No title is printed on the album, so it is generally referred to as Led Zeppelin IV, following the naming standard used by the band's first three studio albums...
that drew influence from folk
Folk music
Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....
, blues
Blues
Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...
, Celtic traditional music
Celtic music
Celtic music is a term utilised by artists, record companies, music stores and music magazines to describe a broad grouping of musical genres that evolved out of the folk musical traditions of the Celtic people of Western Europe...
and hard rock
Hard rock
Hard rock is a loosely defined genre of rock music which has its earliest roots in mid-1960s garage rock, blues rock and psychedelic rock...
among other genres. Most of the lyrics of the song were written spontaneously by Plant in 1970 at Headley Grange
Headley Grange
Headley Grange is a former poorhouse in Headley, East Hampshire, England, UK. It is best known as a recording and rehearsal venue in the 1960s and 1970s for bands such as Led Zeppelin, Bad Company, Fleetwood Mac, Genesis, Peter Frampton, the Pretty Things, Ian Dury and Clover.-Early history:Built...
. While never released as a single, the song has topped charts as the greatest song of all time on various polls around the world.
Plant is also recognised for his lyrical improvisation in Led Zeppelin's live performances
Led Zeppelin concerts
From September 1968 through the summer of 1980, English rock group Led Zeppelin were one of the world's most popular live music attractions, performing hundreds of sold-out concerts around the world.-History:...
, often singing verses previously unheard on studio recordings. One of the most famous Led Zeppelin musical devices involves Plant's vocal mimicking of band mate Jimmy Page's guitar effects. This can be heard in the songs "How Many More Times
How Many More Times
"How Many More Times" is the ninth and final track on English rock band Led Zeppelin's 1969 debut album Led Zeppelin. The song is credited in the album liner to Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones, and John Bonham, but is listed by ASCAP as written by all four members of the band.-Album version:At eight...
", "Dazed and Confused", "The Lemon Song
The Lemon Song
"The Lemon Song" is a song by English rock band Led Zeppelin, featured on their 1969 album Led Zeppelin II. It was recorded at Mystic Studios in Hollywood when the band was on their second concert tour of the United States....
", "You Shook Me
You Shook Me
"You Shook Me" is a blues song written by Willie Dixon and J. B. Lenoir. Earl Hooker first recorded it as an instrumental which was then overdubbed with vocals by Muddy Waters in 1962....
", "Nobody's Fault but Mine
Nobody's Fault But Mine
"Nobody's Fault but Mine" is a traditional blues song that has been covered by many musicians since the late 1960s. A gospel song under the title "It's Nobody's Fault but Mine" is listed in the 1924 Cleveland Library's Index to Negro Spirituals...
" and "Sick Again
Sick Again
"Sick Again" is a song by English rock band Led Zeppelin, from their 1975 album Physical Graffiti.This song was written by Robert Plant about teenage groupies, or as he called them, the "L.A. Queens", with whom the band were acquainted on their 1973 US Tour. He took pity upon these girls who would...
".
He is also known for his light-hearted, humorous, and unusual on-stage banter, often referred to as "plantations". Plant often discusses the origin and background of the songs during his shows, and sometimes provides social comment as well. He frequently talks about American blues musicians as his inspiration, mentioning artists like Robert Johnson, Howlin' Wolf
Howlin' Wolf
Chester Arthur Burnett , known as Howlin' Wolf, was an influential American blues singer, guitarist and harmonica player....
, Blind Willie Johnson
Blind Willie Johnson
"Blind" Willie Johnson was an American singer and guitarist, whose music straddled the border between blues and spirituals....
, and Willie Dixon
Willie Dixon
William James "Willie" Dixon was an American blues musician, vocalist, songwriter, arranger and record producer. A Grammy Award winner who was proficient on both the Upright bass and the guitar, as well as his own singing voice, Dixon is arguably best known as one of the most prolific songwriters...
at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum is a museum located on the shore of Lake Erie in downtown Cleveland, Ohio, United States. It is dedicated to archiving the history of some of the best-known and most influential artists, producers, engineers and others who have, in some major way,...
induction ceremony and the 2007 Ahmet Ertegün Tribute Concert
Ahmet Ertegün Tribute Concert
The Ahmet Ertegun Tribute Concert was a benefit concert held in memory of music executive Ahmet Ertegün at The O2 in London on December 10, 2007. The headline act was the English rock band, Led Zeppelin, who performed their first full-length concert since the death of drummer John Bonham in 1980,...
with Led Zeppelin.
Stage persona
Charisma
The term charisma has two senses: 1) compelling attractiveness or charm that can inspire devotion in others, 2) a divinely conferred power or talent. For some theological usages the term is rendered charism, with a meaning the same as sense 2...
tic rock-and-roll front man, similar to his contemporary in The Who
The Who
The Who are an English rock band formed in 1964 by Roger Daltrey , Pete Townshend , John Entwistle and Keith Moon . They became known for energetic live performances which often included instrument destruction...
, singer Roger Daltrey
Roger Daltrey
Roger Harry Daltrey, CBE , is an English singer and actor, best known as the founder and lead singer of English rock band The Who. He has maintained a musical career as a solo artist and has also worked in the film industry, acting in a large number of films, theatre and television roles and also...
(who adopted the look in the late 1960s), Mick Jagger
Mick Jagger
Sir Michael Philip "Mick" Jagger is an English musician, singer and songwriter, best known as the lead vocalist and a founding member of The Rolling Stones....
of the Rolling Stones, and his other fellow contemporary, Jim Morrison
Jim Morrison
James Douglas "Jim" Morrison was an American musician, singer, and poet, best known as the lead singer and lyricist of the rock band The Doors...
of The Doors
The Doors
The Doors were an American rock band formed in 1965 in Los Angeles, California, with vocalist Jim Morrison, keyboardist Ray Manzarek, drummer John Densmore, and guitarist Robby Krieger...
. With his mane of long blond hair and powerful, bare-chested appearance, Plant helped to create the "god of rock and roll" or "rock god" archetype. On stage, Plant was particularly active in live performances, often dancing, jumping, skipping, snapping his fingers, clapping, making emphatic gestures to emphasise a lyric or cymbal crash, throwing back his head, or placing his hands on his hips. As the 1960s-1970s progressed he, along with the other members of Led Zeppelin, became increasingly flamboyant on-stage and wore more elaborate, colourful clothing and jewellery.
According to Classic Rock
Classic Rock (magazine)
Classic Rock is a British magazine dedicated to the radio format of classic rock, published by Future Publishing, who are also responsible for its "sister" publication Metal Hammer. Although firmly focusing on key bands from the 1960s through early 1990s, it also includes articles and reviews of...
magazine, "once [Plant] had a couple of US tours under his belt, 'Percy' Plant swiftly developed a staggering degree of bravado and swagger that irrefutably enhanced Led Zeppelin's rapidly burgeoning appeal." In 1994, during his "Unledded" tour with Jimmy Page, Plant himself reflected tongue-in-cheek upon his Led Zeppelin showmanship:
I can't take my whole persona as a singer back then very seriously. It's not some great work of beauty and love to be a rock-and-roll singer. So I got a few moves from ElvisElvis PresleyElvis Aaron Presley was one of the most popular American singers of the 20th century. A cultural icon, he is widely known by the single name Elvis. He is often referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll" or simply "the King"....
and one or two from Sonny Boy Williamson IISonny Boy Williamson IIWillie "Sonny Boy" Williamson was an American blues harmonica player, singer and songwriter, from Mississippi. He is acknowledged as one of the most charismatic and influential blues musicians, with considerable prowess on the harmonica and highly creative songwriting skills...
and Howlin' WolfHowlin' WolfChester Arthur Burnett , known as Howlin' Wolf, was an influential American blues singer, guitarist and harmonica player....
and threw them all together.
As a solo artist
After the break-up of Led Zeppelin in 1980 (following the death of John BonhamJohn Bonham
John Henry Bonham was an English musician and songwriter, best known as the drummer of Led Zeppelin. Bonham was esteemed for his speed, power, fast right foot, distinctive sound, and "feel" for the groove...
), Plant pursued a successful solo career beginning with Pictures at Eleven
Pictures at Eleven
Pictures at Eleven is the debut solo album by former Led Zeppelin singer Robert Plant, released in 1982. Genesis drummer Phil Collins played drums for six of the album's eight songs...
in 1982, followed by 1983's The Principle of Moments
The Principle of Moments
The Principle of Moments is the second solo album by former Led Zeppelin singer Robert Plant. It was Plant's second top 10 album in the US and UK. It also gave him his first solo Top 40 hit with "Big Log". The most popular track on album-oriented rock radio in the US was "Other Arms", which reached...
. Popular tracks from this period include "Big Log
Big Log
"Big Log" is a song by Robert Plant from his album The Principle of Moments, released in 1983. It was the first single from the album and became his first Top 40 solo hit, peaking at number 11 on the UK Singles Chart and number 20 on the US Billboard Hot 100...
" (a Top 20 hit in 1983), "In the Mood
In the Mood (Robert Plant song)
"In the Mood" is a rock song performed by English rock singer Robert Plant, from his 1983 album The Principle of Moments. It was released as a single and entered the Billboard Hot 100 on November 19, 1983, peaking at number 39...
" (1983), "Little by Little
Little by Little (Robert Plant song)
"Little by Little" is a rock song performed by English rock singer Robert Plant, from his 1985 album Shaken 'n' Stirred. It was released as a single and entered the Billboard Top 40 on June 15, 1985, peaking at number 36...
" (from 1985's Shaken 'n' Stirred
Shaken 'n' Stirred
Shaken 'n' Stirred is an album by former Led Zeppelin vocalist Robert Plant, released in 1985 on the Es Paranza label. It featured his second Mainstream Rock Tracks top hit, "Little by Little", which was #1 on the chart for two weeks....
), "Tall Cool One
Tall Cool One (song)
"Tall Cool One" is a rock song performed by English rock singer Robert Plant. It was the third single released from his 1988 album Now and Zen, following "Heaven Knows" and "Ship of Fools". It reached number 87 on the UK singles chart, number 25 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number 1 on the...
" (a #25 hit off 1988's Now and Zen
Now and Zen
Now and Zen is an album by the former Led Zeppelin singer Robert Plant, released in 1988 under the label Es Paranza. The album made the top 10 in both the U.S. and the UK, reaching #6 in the former, and #10 in the latter...
) and "I Believe
I Believe (Robert Plant song)
"I Believe" is a song from Robert Plant's 1993 Fate of Nations LP. The song was written for and dedicated to Plant's late son, Karac....
" (from 1993's Fate of Nations
Fate of Nations
Fate of Nations is Led Zeppelin singer Robert Plant's sixth studio album. It was released in 1993 and re-released in a remastered edition on March 20, 2007. It features former Cutting Crew guitarist Kevin Scott MacMichael. The lead singer of Clannad, Máire Brennan is featured on the track "Come...
), another song written for and dedicated to his late son, Karac. In 1984, Plant formed a short-lived all-star group with Jimmy Page and Jeff Beck
Jeff Beck
Geoffrey Arnold "Jeff" Beck is an English rock guitarist. He is one of three noted guitarists to have played with The Yardbirds...
called The Honeydrippers
The Honeydrippers
The Honeydrippers was a rock band of the 1980s. Former Led Zeppelin lead singer Robert Plant formed the group in 1981 to satisfy his long-time goal in having a rock band with a heavy R&B basis. Formed originally in Worcestershire, the band went on to record an EP in the US...
, who had a #3 hit with a remake of the Phil Phillips
Phil Phillips
Phil Phillips is an American singer and songwriter, best known for his 1959 hit, "Sea of Love".-Biography:...
' tune, "Sea of Love
Sea of Love (song)
"Sea of Love" is a song written by John Phillip Baptiste and George Khoury. Phillips' 1959 recording of the song peaked at #1 on the U.S. Billboard R&B chart and #2 on the Billboard Hot 100. In the UK, Marty Wilde covered the song, and Phillips' version failed to chart there...
" and a followup hit with a cover of Roy Brown
Roy Brown (blues musician)
Roy James Brown was an American R&B singer, songwriter and musician, who had an influence on the early development of rock and roll music. His "Good Rocking Tonight" was covered by Wynonie Harris, Elvis Presley, Ricky Nelson, Jerry Lee Lewis, Pat Boone, and the rock group Montrose. In addition,...
's "Rockin' at Midnight". Although Plant avoided performing Led Zeppelin songs through much of this period, his tours in 1983 (with drummer Phil Collins
Phil Collins
Philip David Charles "Phil" Collins, LVO is an English singer-songwriter, drummer, pianist and actor best known as a drummer and vocalist for British progressive rock group Genesis and as a solo artist....
) and 1985 were very successful, often performing to sold-out arena-sized venues.
Through the 1980s and 1990s, Plant co-wrote three solo albums with keyboardist/songwriter Phil Johnstone
Phil Johnstone
Phil Johnstone is a songwriter, keyboardist, guitarist and record producer, best known for his work with singer Robert Plant. His songwriting credits include Plant's number-one Mainstream Rock hits "Heaven Knows", "Tall Cool One" and "Hurting Kind ".- Details :Johnstone first worked with Plant on...
. Now and Zen, Manic Nirvana
Manic Nirvana
Manic Nirvana is the fifth solo album by former Led Zeppelin singer Robert Plant, released in 1990. Although the lead single "Big Love" was only a modest success, its follow-up single "Hurting Kind" turned out to be a major hit, reaching #1 on the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart for six consecutive...
, and Fate of Nations (featuring Moya Brennan of Clannad). It was Johnstone who talked Plant into playing Led Zeppelin songs in his live shows, something Plant had resisted, not wanting to be forever known as "the former Led Zeppelin vocalist."
Although Led Zeppelin split in 1980, Plant and Page occasionally collaborated on various projects, including The Honeydrippers: Volume One
The Honeydrippers: Volume One
The Honeydrippers: Volume One is an EP released on 24 September 1984, by a band led by rock singer Robert Plant. The project originated when Atlantic Records president Ahmet Ertegün wanted to record an album of his favourite songs from the 1950s. Plant was chosen because Ertegün had seen his...
album in 1984. In the spring 2 years later Robert performed at the Birmingham Heart Beat Charity Concert 1986. The pair again worked together in the studio on the 1988 Page solo effort, Outrider
Outrider (album)
Outrider is an album by Jimmy Page, released by Geffen Records on 19 June 1988. It is his first genuine solo album, and the first time since 1969 he recorded with a record label other than Atlantic Records/Swan Song Records. It was recorded at The Sol, Page's personal studio...
, and in the same year Page contributed to Plant's album Now and Zen. Also, on 15 May 1988 Plant appeared with Page as a member of Led Zeppelin (and in his own right as a solo artist) at the Atlantic Records 40th Anniversary
Atlantic Records 40th Anniversary
On 14 May 1988 the Atlantic Records label held its 40th Anniversary Celebration by staging a non-stop concert lasting almost 13 hours at Madison Square Garden, New York. The event was dubbed "It's Only Rock And Roll"....
concert.
As Page and Plant (1994-1998)
Page and PlantPage and Plant
Jimmy Page and Robert Plant, both formerly of English hard rock band Led Zeppelin, recorded and toured in the mid-1990s under the title Page and Plant. The pair re-united in 1994 and, after recording a highly successful first album, they embarked on a world tour. They then recorded a second album,...
became a full-fledged performing act from 1994 through 1998, releasing the Unledded album in 1994 and following with an enormously successful tour in 1995: Fourteen years of speculation from their fans and occasional sniping between the two former members ended when Jimmy Page and Robert Plant of Led Zeppelin reconvened their former musical partnership to produce No Quarter. Having long resisted offers from MTV to reform to do an Unplugged show, they finally accepted as part of a deal that also allowed them to visit Morocco to record new material. The album combines the results of both of these projects. The Led Zeppelin material features new arrangements and new instrumentation, including strings, Egyptian musicians and the haunting vocals of British-Asian star Najma Akhtar.
Page and Plant recorded their only post-Zeppelin album of original material on the 1998 album, Walking into Clarksdale
Walking into Clarksdale
Walking into Clarksdale is a studio album by Jimmy Page and Robert Plant, both formerly of English rock band Led Zeppelin. It was released by Atlantic Records on 21 April 1998. The follow-up album to No Quarter: Jimmy Page and Robert Plant Unledded, Walking into Clarksdale took 35 days to record....
, an effort that was unsuccessful commercially, leading Plant to return to his solo career. A song from this album, "Please Read the Letter
Please Read the Letter
"Please Read the Letter" is a song originally recorded by Robert Plant and Jimmy Page for the 1998 album Walking into Clarksdale. It was released as the second single off the album....
", was re-recorded by Plant with Alison Krauss
Alison Krauss
Alison Maria Krauss is an American bluegrass-country singer, songwriter and fiddler. She entered the music industry at an early age, winning local contests by the age of ten and recording for the first time at fourteen. She signed with Rounder Records in 1985 and released her first solo album in...
, winning the 2009 Grammy Award for Record of the Year
Grammy Award for Record of the Year
The Record of the Year is one of the four most prestigious Grammy Awards presented annually. It has been awarded since 1959.-History:The honorees through its history have been:*1959-1965: Artist only.*1966-1998: Artist and producer....
.
With Priory of Brion (1999-2000)
Starting in mid-1999, Plant performed until the end of 2000 at several small venues with his folk-rock band, named Priory of Brion.In 1999, Plant contributed to the tribute album
Tribute album
A tribute album is a recorded collection of cover versions of songs or instrumental compositions. Its concept may be either various artists making a tribute to a single artist, a single artist making a tribute to various artists, or a single artist making a tribute to another single artist.There...
for Moby Grape
Moby Grape
Moby Grape is an American rock group from the 1960s, known for having all five members contribute to singing and songwriting and that collectively merged elements of folk music, blues, country, and jazz together with rock and psychedelic music...
co-founder Skip Spence
Skip Spence
Alexander Lee "Skip" Spence was a Canadian-born musician and singer-songwriter. He was co-founder of Moby Grape, and played guitar with them until 1969. He released one solo album, 1969's Oar, and then largely withdrew from the music industry...
, who was terminally ill. The album, More Oar: A Tribute to the Skip Spence Album
More Oar: A Tribute to the Skip Spence Album
More Oar: A Tribute to the Skip Spence Album is a 1999 tribute album completed shortly before and released shortly after the death of Moby Grape founding member Skip Spence. The album contains cover versions by various artists of Spence's music from his Oar album, released in 1969, presented in...
(Birdman
Birdman Records
Birdman Records is an independent record label based in South San Francisco, founded by former Warner Bros. Records A&R vice-president David Katznelson.-History:...
, 1999), with the album title referring to Spence's only solo album, Oar
Oar (Skip Spence album)
Oar is a 1969 album by the late Skip Spence. It is Spence's only solo album, recorded over seven days in Nashville, on which Spence plays all of the instruments.- History :...
(Columbia
Columbia Records
Columbia Records is an American record label, owned by Japan's Sony Music Entertainment, operating under the Columbia Music Group with Aware Records. It was founded in 1888, evolving from an earlier enterprise, the American Graphophone Company — successor to the Volta Graphophone Company...
, 1969), contained Plant's version of Spence's "Little Hands". Plant had been an admirer of Spence and Moby Grape since the release of Moby Grape's eponymous 1967 debut album
Moby Grape (album)
Moby Grape is the rock band Moby Grape's eponymous 1967 debut album. Coming from the San Francisco scene, their reputation quickly grew to immense proportions, leading to a bidding war and a contract with Columbia Records...
.
In 2001, Plant appeared on Afro Celt Sound System
Afro Celt Sound System
The Afro Celt Sound System is a musical group which fuses modern electronic dance rhythms with traditional Irish and West African music...
's album Volume 3: Further in Time
Volume 3: Further in Time
Volume 3: Further in Time is the third studio album from Afro Celt Sound System, released June 19, 2001 through Real World Records.-Track listing:# "North" - 6:48# "North 2" - 2:59# "When You're Falling" - 5:14...
. The song "Life Begin Again" features a duet with Welsh folksinger Julie Murphy
Julie Murphy
Julie Murphy is a singer who sings in Welsh and English. She sings in the Welsh band Fernhill, as well as performing and recording as a solo artist.She has also collaborated musically with John Cale , and Afro Celt Sound System .-Biography:Murphy was born in Highgate, London,...
, emphasising Plant's recurring interest in Welsh culture (Murphy would also tour in support of Plant).
With The Strange Sensation (2001-2007)
In 2002, with his then newly-formed band Strange Sensation, Plant released a widely acclaimed collection of mostly blues and folk remakes, DreamlandDreamland (Robert Plant album)
Dreamland is singer Robert Plant's seventh solo album and the first with the band "Strange Sensation". The album was released in July 2002.Many of the songs are cover versions, mainly blues, but also some rock...
. Contrasting with this lush collection of often relatively obscure remakes, the second album with Strange Sensation, Mighty ReArranger
Mighty ReArranger
Mighty ReArranger is a studio album by British rock singer Robert Plant and his band the Strange Sensation. It was released internationally on 25 April 2005, on 9 May in the United Kingdom and 10 May in the United States...
(2005), contains new, original songs. Both have received some of the most favourable reviews of Plant's solo career and four Grammy nominations, two in 2003 and two in 2006.
Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award
The Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award is awarded by the Recording Academy to "performers who, during their lifetimes, have made creative contributions of outstanding artistic significance to the field of recording."...
in 2005 and the Polar Music Prize in 2006.
From 2001 to 2007, Plant actively toured the US & Europe with The Strange Sensation
Strange Sensation
The Strange Sensation is Robert Plant's backing band, formed during his nine year break from solo recording. After 1993's Fate of Nations, Plant teamed up with former Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page to form Page and Plant...
. His sets typically included recent, but not only, solo material and plenty of Led Zeppelin favourites, often with new and expanded arrangements. A DVD titled Soundstage: Robert Plant and the Strange Sensation
Soundstage: Robert Plant and the Strange Sensation
Soundstage: Robert Plant and the Strange Sensation is the first live DVD by Robert Plant and the Strange Sensation, featuring a performance filmed for the Soundstage television series in Chicago on September 16, 2005, in addition to bonus features from prior to the founding of the Strange Sensation...
, featuring his Soundstage performance (filmed at the Soundstage Studios in Chicago on 16 September 2005), was released in October 2006.
On 23 June 2006, Plant was the headliner (backed by Ian Hunter
Ian Hunter (singer)
Ian Hunter Patterson is an English singer-songwriter. He was the lead singer of the English rock band Mott the Hoople from its inception in 1969 to its dissolution in 1974, and he again fronted them at the time of their 2009 reunion. Hunter was a musician and songwriter before Mott The Hoople, and...
's band) at the Benefit For Arthur Lee
Arthur Lee (musician)
Arthur Lee was the frontman, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist of the Los Angeles rock band Love, best known for the critically acclaimed 1967 album, Forever Changes.-Early years:...
concert at New York's Beacon Theatre, a show which raised money for Lee's medical expenses from his bout with leukaemia. Plant and band performed thirteen songs - five by Arthur Lee & Love, five Led Zeppelin songs and three others including a duet with Ian Hunter. At the show, Plant told the audience of his great admiration for Arthur Lee dating back to the mid-Sixties. Lee died of his illness six weeks after the concert.
An expansive box set of his solo work, Nine Lives
Nine Lives (Robert Plant album)
Nine Lives is a box set of Robert Plant's solo work, released on 21 November 2006. It includes remastered and expanded editions of nine albums with unreleased tracks and b-sides and a DVD....
, was released in November 2006, which expanded all of his albums with various b-sides, demos, and live cuts. It was accompanied by a DVD. All his solo works were re-released with these extra tracks individually.
In 2007, Plant contributed two tracks to the Fats Domino
Fats Domino
Antoine Dominique "Fats" Domino, Jr. is an American R&B and rock and roll pianist and singer-songwriter. He was born and raised in New Orleans, Louisiana, and Creole was his first language....
tribute album Goin' Home: A Tribute to Fats Domino
Goin' Home: A Tribute to Fats Domino
Goin' Home: A Tribute to Fats Domino is a 2007 tribute album by various artists to Fats Domino, issued by Vanguard Records.-History:In contrast to an earlier tribute album, That's Fats: A Tribute to Fats Domino , which mostly contained previously released cover versions, Goin' Home: A Tribute to...
, "It Keeps Rainin'" with the Lil' Band O' Gold and "Valley of Tears" with The Soweto Gospel Choir.
With Alison Krauss (2007-2008)
Alison Krauss
Alison Maria Krauss is an American bluegrass-country singer, songwriter and fiddler. She entered the music industry at an early age, winning local contests by the age of ten and recording for the first time at fourteen. She signed with Rounder Records in 1985 and released her first solo album in...
. A duet album, Raising Sand
Raising Sand
Raising Sand is a collaboration album by rock singer Robert Plant and bluegrass-country singer Alison Krauss. It was released on October 23, 2007 by Rounder Records...
, was released on 23 October 2007 on Rounder Records. The album, recorded in Nashville and Los Angeles and produced by T-Bone Burnett
T-Bone Burnett
Joseph Henry Burnett , widely known as T-Bone Burnett, is an American musician, songwriter, and soundtrack and record producer.He was a guitarist in Bob Dylan's band on the Rolling Thunder Revue...
, includes performances of lesser-known material from R&B, Blues, folk
Folk music
Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....
, and country
Country music
Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...
songwriters including Mel Tillis
Mel Tillis
Lonnie Melvin Tillis , known professionally as Mel Tillis, is an American country music singer. Although he recorded songs since the late 1950s, his biggest success occurred in the 1970s, with a long list of Top 10 hits....
, Townes Van Zandt
Townes Van Zandt
John Townes Van Zandt , best known as Townes Van Zandt, was an American Texas Country-folk music singer-songwriter, performer, and poet...
, Gene Clark
Gene Clark
Gene Clark, born Harold Eugene Clark was an American singer-songwriter, and one of the founding members of the folk-rock group The Byrds....
, Tom Waits
Tom Waits
Thomas Alan "Tom" Waits is an American singer-songwriter, composer, and actor. Waits has a distinctive voice, described by critic Daniel Durchholz as sounding "like it was soaked in a vat of bourbon, left hanging in the smokehouse for a few months, and then taken outside and run over with a car."...
, Doc Watson
Doc Watson
Arthel Lane "Doc" Watson is an American guitar player, songwriter and singer of bluegrass, folk, country, blues and gospel music. He has won seven Grammy awards as well as a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. Watson's flatpicking skills and knowledge of traditional American music are highly regarded...
, Little Milton
Little Milton
James Milton Campbell, Jr. , better known as Little Milton, was an American electric blues, rhythm and blues, and soul singer and guitarist, best known for his hit records "Grits Ain't Groceries" and "We're Gonna Make It."-Biography:Milton was born James Milton Campbell, Jr., in the Mississippi...
and The Everly Brothers
The Everly Brothers
The Everly Brothers are country-influenced rock and roll performers, known for steel-string guitar playing and close harmony singing...
. The song "Gone Gone Gone (Done Moved On)" from Raising Sand won a Grammy for Best Pop Collaboration With Vocals in 2008. Raising Sand also won Album of the Year at the 51st Grammy Awards
51st Grammy Awards
The 51st Annual Grammy Awards took place at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, CA on February 8, 2009. Robert Plant and Alison Krauss were the biggest winners of the night, jointly winning five awards including Album of the Year and Record of the Year...
. The album has been successful critically and commercially, and was certified platinum on 4 March 2008.
Plant and Krauss began an extended tour of the US and Europe in April 2008, playing music from Raising Sand and other American roots music as well as reworked Led Zeppelin tunes. The album was nominated for the Mercury Prize
Mercury Prize
The Mercury Prize, formerly called the Mercury Music Prize and currently known as the Barclaycard Mercury Prize for sponsorship reasons, is an annual music prize awarded for the best album from the United Kingdom and Ireland. It was established by the British Phonographic Industry and British...
in July 2008. Also in 2008, Plant performed with bluegrass musicians at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival
New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival
The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, often known as Jazz Fest, is an annual celebration of the music and culture of New Orleans and Louisiana...
and Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival. He appeared as a surprise guest during Fairport Convention
Fairport Convention
Fairport Convention are an English folk rock and later electric folk band, formed in 1967 who are still recording and touring today. They are widely regarded as the most important single group in the English folk rock movement...
's set at the 2008 Cropredy Festival, performing Led Zeppelin's "The Battle of Evermore
The Battle of Evermore
"The Battle of Evermore" is a folk rock duet sung by Robert Plant and Sandy Denny, by the English rock band Led Zeppelin, featured on their untitled fourth album , released in 1971...
" with Kristina Donahue as a tribute to Sandy Denny
Sandy Denny
Sandy Denny , born Alexandra Elene Maclean Denny, was an English singer and songwriter, perhaps best known as the lead singer for the folk rock band Fairport Convention...
.
In October 2008, it was reported that Plant collaborated on an album by original Fairport vocalist Judy Dyble
Judy Dyble
Judith Aileen Dyble, better known as Judy Dyble , is an award winning British singer/songwriter most notable for being one of the vocalists with, and founder members of, Fairport Convention and Trader Horne; in between these she was very briefly with Giles, Giles and Fripp, which evolved into...
, but the album has not materialised.
On 8 February 2009, Plant and Krauss won Grammy Awards for Album of the Year, Record of the Year, Pop Collaboration with Vocals, Country Collaboration with Vocals, and Contemporary Folk/Americana Album.
In 2010, Plant realised a lifelong ambition by playing live at Molineux Stadium
Molineux stadium
Molineux Stadium is a Premier League football stadium situated in Whitmore Reans, Wolverhampton, England. It has been the home ground of Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club since 1889, and has a long and illustrious history as the first 'new build' stadium in Football League history, one of the...
, home of the Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C.
Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C.
Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club is an English professional association football club that represents the city of Wolverhampton in the West Midlands region. They are members of the Premier League, the highest level of English football. The club was founded in 1877 and since 1889 has played at...
Plant performed with the amateur cover band No Rezerve.
With Band of Joy (2010)
In July 2010, Robert Plant embarked on a twelve-date summer tour in the United States with a new group called Band of JoyBand of Joy
The Band of Joy are a rock band from England. Various lineups of the group performed from 1965 to 1968 and from 1977 to 1983...
(reprising the name of his very first band in the 1960s). The group includes singer Patty Griffin
Patty Griffin
Patty Griffin, born Patricia Jean Griffin, March 16, 1964, is an American Grammy award-winning singer-songwriter and musician. She is especially known for her down-home crafting of songs and her connection to musicians including Emmylou Harris, Ellis Paul, and the Dixie Chicks, who have played with...
, singer-guitarist Buddy Miller, multi-instrumentalist and vocalist Darrell Scott
Darrell Scott
James Darrell Scott known as Darrell Scott , the son of musician Wayne Scott with whom he has collaborated, is an American singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. He moved as a child to East Gary, Indiana. He was playing professionally by his teens in Southern California, later living in...
, bassist-vocalist Byron House, and drummer-percussionist-vocalist Marco Giovino.
After a unique show in the United States on 12 September 2010 at the Bowery Ballroom in New York
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, another eleven-date autumn tour in Europe was announced to last from October to November 2010. North America tour dates were announced 16 November 2010, with the first show being 18 January 2011 in Asheville, North Carolina.
A new studio album called Band of Joy
Band of Joy (album)
- Personnel :* Bekka Bramlett - backing vocals * Marco Giovino – drums, percussion, backing vocals * Patty Griffin – vocals, backing vocals * Byron House – bass guitar, double bass...
was released on 13 September 2010 on the Rounder Records
Rounder Records
Rounder Records, originally of Cambridge, Massachusetts, but now based in Burlington, Massachusetts, is a record label founded in 1970 by Ken Irwin, Bill Nowlin and Marian Leighton-Levy, while all three were still university students...
label.
The band played their final scheduled show together at the Big Chill Festival at Eastnor Castle Deer Park in Herefordshire
Herefordshire
Herefordshire is a historic and ceremonial county in the West Midlands region of England. For Eurostat purposes it is a NUTS 3 region and is one of three counties that comprise the "Herefordshire, Worcestershire and Gloucestershire" NUTS 2 region. It also forms a unitary district known as the...
on 7 August 2011. The show ended with Plant bidding his bandmates "a fond farewell".
On 30 September 2011, Plant and Band of Joy played in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park, as part of the 11th Hardly Strictly Bluegrass festival.
Led Zeppelin-related projects and reunion rumours
Plant performed with living members of Led Zeppelin both on 13 July 1985 for Live AidLive Aid
Live Aid was a dual-venue concert that was held on 13 July 1985. The event was organized by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure to raise funds for relief of the ongoing Ethiopian famine. Billed as the "global jukebox", the event was held simultaneously in Wembley Stadium in London, England, United Kingdom ...
(with Phil Collins
Phil Collins
Philip David Charles "Phil" Collins, LVO is an English singer-songwriter, drummer, pianist and actor best known as a drummer and vocalist for British progressive rock group Genesis and as a solo artist....
and Tony Thompson
Tony Thompson
Anthony T. "Tony" Thompson was a session drummer best known as a member of Chic. He was raised in the middle-class community of Springfield Gardens, in Queens, NY.-Chic:...
on drums) and on 15 May 1988 for Atlantic Records 40th Anniversary
Atlantic Records 40th Anniversary
On 14 May 1988 the Atlantic Records label held its 40th Anniversary Celebration by staging a non-stop concert lasting almost 13 hours at Madison Square Garden, New York. The event was dubbed "It's Only Rock And Roll"....
. At the 1988 reunion, Jason Bonham
Jason Bonham
Jason John Bonham is an English drummer. Jason's parents are Led Zeppelin drummer John Bonham and his wife Pat Phillips. After his father's death in 1980, he has played with Led Zeppelin on different occasions, including the Ahmet Ertegün Tribute Concert at The O2 Arena in London in...
, the son of Led Zeppelin's late drummer John Bonham
John Bonham
John Henry Bonham was an English musician and songwriter, best known as the drummer of Led Zeppelin. Bonham was esteemed for his speed, power, fast right foot, distinctive sound, and "feel" for the groove...
, played drums. Both sets featured only a few songs, performed with minimal rehearsal. Plant was unhappy with both performances, saying that "it was like sleeping with your ex-wife but not making love." At the 1990 Silver Clef Award
Silver Clef Award
The Silver Clef Award is an annual music award event based in the UK, which has been running since as early as 1976.-History:The Silver Clef fund-raising organization was founded in 1976 by musicians and managers from the British music industry to support all the charity and awarding activities of...
Winners Concert at Knebworth, Plant was joined by Jimmy Page. Some of their set was released on the subsequent live album and video. In 1995, Led Zeppelin were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum is a museum located on the shore of Lake Erie in downtown Cleveland, Ohio, United States. It is dedicated to archiving the history of some of the best-known and most influential artists, producers, engineers and others who have, in some major way,...
, and Plant performed at the induction show with Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones, Jason Bonham
Jason Bonham
Jason John Bonham is an English drummer. Jason's parents are Led Zeppelin drummer John Bonham and his wife Pat Phillips. After his father's death in 1980, he has played with Led Zeppelin on different occasions, including the Ahmet Ertegün Tribute Concert at The O2 Arena in London in...
, Neil Young
Neil Young
Neil Percival Young, OC, OM is a Canadian singer-songwriter who is widely regarded as one of the most influential musicians of his generation...
, Steven Tyler
Steven Tyler
Steven Tyler is an American singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist, best known as the frontman and lead singer of the Boston-based rock band Aerosmith, in which he also plays the harmonica, and occasional piano and percussion. He is known as the "Demon of Screamin'", due to his high screams...
and Joe Perry
Joe Perry (musician)
Anthony Joseph "Joe" Perry is the lead guitarist, backing and occasional lead vocalist, and contributing songwriter for the rock band Aerosmith. He is influenced by many rock artists especially The Rolling Stones and The Beatles...
, performing spirited versions of "Bring It On Home", "Honeybee", and "When the Levee Breaks".
After years of reunion rumours, Led Zeppelin performed a full two-hour set on 10 December 2007 at the Ahmet Ertegün Tribute Concert
Ahmet Ertegün Tribute Concert
The Ahmet Ertegun Tribute Concert was a benefit concert held in memory of music executive Ahmet Ertegün at The O2 in London on December 10, 2007. The headline act was the English rock band, Led Zeppelin, who performed their first full-length concert since the death of drummer John Bonham in 1980,...
, with Jason
Jason Bonham
Jason John Bonham is an English drummer. Jason's parents are Led Zeppelin drummer John Bonham and his wife Pat Phillips. After his father's death in 1980, he has played with Led Zeppelin on different occasions, including the Ahmet Ertegün Tribute Concert at The O2 Arena in London in...
again filling in on drums. Despite enormous public demand, Plant declined a $200 million offer to tour with Led Zeppelin after the 2007 show. In interviews following the 2007 show, Plant left the door open to possible future performances with Led Zeppelin, saying that he enjoyed the reunion and felt that the show was strong musically. Although Page, Jones, and Bonham have expressed the strong desire to tour as Led Zeppelin, Plant has consistently opposed a full tour and has responded negatively to questions about another reunion. In a January, 2008 interview, he stated that he does not want to "tour like a bunch of bored old men following the Rolling Stones around." In a statement on his web site in late 2008, Plant stated, "I will not be touring with Led Zeppelin or anyone else for the next two years. Anyone buying Led Zeppelin tickets will be buying bogus tickets."
Personal life
Robert Plant married Maureen Wilson on 9 November 1968. The couple had three children: daughter Carmen Jane (1968) (married to Charlie JonesCharlie Jones (musician)
Charlie Jones is a British bassist, songwriter and record producer. He has toured and recorded with Robert Plant, Page and Plant, The Strange Sensation, Goldfrapp and many others. He was married to Robert Plant's daughter Carmen Plant, they divorced in 2010....
, Plant's bass player for solo tours); and sons Karac Pendragon (1972–1977) (died of a virus; the reason Led Zeppelin's 1977 North American Tour
Led Zeppelin North American Tour 1977
Led Zeppelin's 1977 North American Tour was the eleventh and final concert tour of North America by the English rock band. The tour was divided into three legs, with performances commencing on 1 April and concluding on 24 July 1977...
was cut short), and Logan Romero (1979). The couple divorced in August 1983. Also, Plant has a younger son, Jesse Lee (1991), the son of Shirley Wilson, sister of Maureen.
On 14 August 2009, it was announced via the Wolverhampton Wanderers text message news service that "Rock Legend and lifelong Wolves fan Robert Plant is to become the club's third Vice President." Plant officially received the honour before kick off at the club's first match of the season against West Ham. Plant was five years old when he first visited Molineux
Molineux stadium
Molineux Stadium is a Premier League football stadium situated in Whitmore Reans, Wolverhampton, England. It has been the home ground of Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club since 1889, and has a long and illustrious history as the first 'new build' stadium in Football League history, one of the...
. He recalled in an interview with his local paper Express & Star
Express & Star
The Express & Star is an evening newspaper based in Wolverhampton, England, published Monday to Saturday in nine different editions covering the Black Country, Birmingham and the wider West Midlands area from Tamworth to Kidderminster. It as widely perceived as being moderately right-wing...
in August 2010: "I was five when my dad took me down for the first time and Billy Wright waved at me. Honest, he did. And that was it – I was hooked from that moment.
According to The Sunday Times
The Sunday Times (UK)
The Sunday Times is a Sunday broadsheet newspaper, distributed in the United Kingdom. The Sunday Times is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News International, which is in turn owned by News Corporation. Times Newspapers also owns The Times, but the two papers were founded...
Rich List
Sunday Times Rich List
The Sunday Times Rich List is a list of the 1,000 wealthiest people or families in the United Kingdom, updated annually in April and published as a magazine supplement by British national Sunday newspaper The Sunday Times since 1989...
Plant is worth £80 million as of 2009.
In late 2010 on BBC2, a documentary featured Robert Plant discussing his journey with Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin were an English rock band, active in the late 1960s and throughout the 1970s. Formed in 1968, they consisted of guitarist Jimmy Page, singer Robert Plant, bassist/keyboardist John Paul Jones, and drummer John Bonham...
and various projects since.
Legacy
Robert Plant is one of the most significant singers in rock music and has influenced the style of many of his contemporaries, including Geddy LeeGeddy Lee
Gary Lee Weinrib, OC, better known as Geddy Lee , is a Canadian musician, best known as the lead vocalist, bassist, and keyboardist for the Canadian rock group Rush...
, Ann Wilson
Ann Wilson
Ann Dustin Wilson is an American musician, best known as the lead singer, flute player, songwriter, and occasional guitar player of the rock band Heart.-Personal life:...
, Sammy Hagar
Sammy Hagar
Sam Roy "Sammy" Hagar , also known as The Red Rocker, is an American rock singer, guitarist, and songwriter. Also sings Country Music....
, and later rock vocalists such as Jeff Buckley
Jeff Buckley
Jeffrey Scott "Jeff" Buckley , raised as Scotty Moorhead, was an American singer-songwriter and guitarist. He was the son of Tim Buckley, also a musician...
and Jack White
Jack White (musician)
Jack White , often credited as Jack White III, is an American musician, songwriter, record producer and occasional actor...
who imitated his performing style extensively. Freddie Mercury
Freddie Mercury
Freddie Mercury was a British musician, singer and songwriter, best known as the lead vocalist of the rock band Queen. As a performer, he was known for his flamboyant stage persona and powerful vocals over a four-octave range...
of Queen
Queen (band)
Queen are a British rock band formed in London in 1971, originally consisting of Freddie Mercury , Brian May , John Deacon , and Roger Taylor...
, and Axl Rose
Axl Rose
W. Axl Rose is an American singer-songwriter and musician. He is the lead vocalist and only remaining original member of the hard rock band Guns N' Roses, with whom he enjoyed great success and recognition in the late 1980s and early 1990s, before disappearing from the public eye for several years...
of Guns N' Roses
Guns N' Roses
Guns N' Roses is an American hard rock band, formed in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, in 1985. The band has released six studio albums, three EPs, and one live album...
were also influenced by Plant. Encyclopædia Britannica
Encyclopædia Britannica
The Encyclopædia Britannica , published by Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., is a general knowledge English-language encyclopaedia that is available in print, as a DVD, and on the Internet. It is written and continuously updated by about 100 full-time editors and more than 4,000 expert...
notes "Exaggerating the vocal style and expressive palette of blues singers such as Howlin' Wolf
Howlin' Wolf
Chester Arthur Burnett , known as Howlin' Wolf, was an influential American blues singer, guitarist and harmonica player....
and Muddy Waters
Muddy Waters
McKinley Morganfield , known as Muddy Waters, was an American blues musician, generally considered the "father of modern Chicago blues"...
, [Robert] Plant created the sound that has defined much hard rock and heavy metal singing: a high range, an abundance of distortion, loud volume, and emotional excess". Plant received the Knebworth
Knebworth
Knebworth is a village and civil parish in the north of Hertfordshire, England immediately south of Stevenage. The civil parish covers an area between the villages of Datchworth, Woolmer Green, Codicote, Kimpton, Whitwell, St Paul's Walden and Langley, and encompasses the village of Knebworth, the...
Silver Clef Award
Silver Clef Award
The Silver Clef Award is an annual music award event based in the UK, which has been running since as early as 1976.-History:The Silver Clef fund-raising organization was founded in 1976 by musicians and managers from the British music industry to support all the charity and awarding activities of...
in 1990.
In 2006, heavy metal magazine Hit Parader
Hit Parader
Hit Parader is an American music magazine focusing on the genres of hard rock, pop, and heavy metal.The magazine was originally started as a pop song lyric magazine by Charlton Publications in 1942. Charlton sold off the magazine before the company went under in 1991...
named Plant #1 on their list of the 100 Greatest Metal Vocalists of All-Time, a list which included Rob Halford (2), Steven Tyler (3), Freddie Mercury (6), Geddy Lee (13), and Paul Stanley (18), all of whom were influenced by Plant. In 2008, Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
named Plant as number 15 on their list of the 100 Greatest Singers of All-Time. In 2009, he was voted the "greatest voice in rock" in a poll conducted by Planet Rock. Plant was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2009 New Year Honours for his "services to popular music". He was included in the Q magazine
Q (magazine)
Q is a popular music magazine published monthly in the United Kingdom.Founders Mark Ellen and David Hepworth were dismayed by the music press of the time, which they felt was ignoring a generation of older music buyers who were buying CDs — then still a new technology...
's 2009 list of "Artists Of The Century" and was ranked at number 8 in their list of "100 Greatest Singers" in 2007. In 2009, Plant also won the Outstanding Contribution to Music prize at the Q Awards. He was placed at no. 3 on SPIN
Spin (magazine)
Spin is a music magazine founded in 1985 by publisher Bob Guccione Jr.-History:In its early years, the magazine was noted for its broad music coverage with an emphasis on college-oriented rock music and on the ongoing emergence of hip-hop. The magazine was eclectic and bold, if sometimes haphazard...
s list of "The 50 Greatest Rock Frontmen of All Time".
On 20 September 2010 National Public Radio (NPR) named Plant as one of the "50 Great Voices" in the world.