With Led Zeppelin, Jimmy Page changed rock music forever. However, the guitarist became known beforehand. An overview of his life.
When we talk about the most important and greatest guitarists in music history, names like Chuck Berry, Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck or Eddie Van Halen come up – and always Jimmy Page. The Brit, who turns 80 today, has had a lasting impact on rock music with Led Zeppelin.
His guitar solo for “Stairway To Heaven” always ends up high on best lists. Over 40 years after their dissolution, Led Zeppelin are undisputedly one of the most influential rock bands in the world.
“I wanted to make music to create something that would change people’s lives and make them happy for a while,” Page said in a Rolling Stone interview a few years ago. Starting with “a few chords,” he managed to make music his career and pass on everything he learned from musical role models like BB King and Muddy Waters to younger generations. “So that’s really cool.”
A new genre
Combining elements of blues, rock ‘n’ roll, hard rock, folk and even Middle Eastern music, “Led Zep” created a new, distinctive sound in the late 1960s and 1970s that shaped many subsequent musical genres and countless musicians. Whether Bon Jovi, Kiss, the Foo Fighters or the suspiciously Zeppelin-sounding Greta Van Fleet – hardly a rock band of the past few decades has not been influenced by Led Zeppelin in some way.
Crashing and epic songs like “Whole Lotta Love”, “Kashmir” or “Immigrant Song” are milestones in the genre. The accomplished Page, who started playing guitar at the age of twelve, knew no creative limits. He experimented with the sound, distorting the sound of the strings, playing his instrument with a cello bow and moving naturally between aggressive riffs and harmonic melodies.
When recording “Stairway To Heaven,” Page used several guitars, including a twelve-string. In order to be able to play the song live without changing instruments, he used a two-necked Gibson EDS-1275 at concerts, which has a neck with twelve and one with six strings.
The success story
When the debut album was released at the beginning of 1969 with a picture of the burning German zeppelin Hindenburg on the LP cover, pop singer Heintje (“Mama”) was leading the album hit parade in Germany. The British rockers’ LP, with cracking songs like “Good Times Bad Times”, “Communication Breakdown” and the psychedelic “Dazed And Confused” – not least thanks to Page’s distinctive guitar playing – was like a musical earthquake.
What is even more astonishing from today’s perspective is that the reviews were originally poor to poor. But thanks to their qualities as a live band and through word of mouth, Led Zeppelin quickly became successful worldwide despite bad press. Between 1968 and 1979 they released eight studio albums. After the death of drummer John Bonham in 1980, the group disbanded.
Actually famous for a long time
James Patrick Page, born on January 9, 1944 in Heston/Middlesex, had already made a name for himself as a studio musician before Led Zeppelin. In the 60s – back then he had the nickname “Little Jim” – he was on recordings with Marianne Faithfull (“As Tears Go By”), Donovan (“Sunshine Superman”), Petula Clark (“Downtown”), the Kinks (” I’m A Lover Not A Fighter”) and many other stars were involved.
He is said to have played the acoustic guitar on Shirley Bassey’s James Bond anthem “Goldfinger”. The young Page played so many sessions that he can no longer say how many there were – especially since not all of the takes were used with him. Even the Rolling Stones and The Who have demos with him.
When he was offered to replace his friend Eric Clapton in the Yardbirds in 1964, Page initially declined. When Clapton left the band of his own accord, Page suggested his friend Jeff Beck. It wasn’t until 1966 that he became a member himself, but initially as a bass player. However, the commercial success of the group, whose line-up was constantly changing, was limited. After two years it was over.
The breakthrough
In 1968, the guitar guru formed the New Yardbirds and recruited singer Robert Plant, bassist John Paul Jones and drummer John Bonham. Shortly thereafter they changed their name to Led Zeppelin. “Not only did I have a great band, I had created a real phenomenon,” Jimmy Page told Guitarist magazine in 2014. “Everyone dreams of being in a band like this.”
Even after the breakup, Page continued to play with his old bandmates, for example at the legendary “Live Aid” concert in 1985 – with Phil Collins and Tony Thompson on drums – or in 2007 for a benefit concert in London for the last time as Led Zeppelin. While the 2007 show was released as a live album and concert video “Celebration Day”, perfectionist Page is still preventing an official release of the “Live Aid” performance, with which the band members say they were not satisfied.
Page also played with Robert Plant in the R&B supergroup The Honeydrippers (“Sea Of Love”). He played with Graham Nash and Stephen Stills as well as the Black Crowes and made a guest appearance on the Rolling Stones’ 1986 single “One Hit (To The Body)”. He recorded the album “Coverdale-Page” with Whitesnake singer David Coverdale sounds unmistakably like Led Zeppelin.
The private life
In his private life, Jimmy Page, who is twice divorced, has several children and an adopted daughter, is, according to media reports, in a relationship with the 34-year-old British poet and performer Scarlett Sabet and lives near London. Behind the scenes he continues to work on Led Zeppelin’s legacy, taking care of reissues and other releases. He expressed his openness to a reunion several times. But that is no longer to be expected, because singer Robert Plant in particular says he is not interested in it.
After all, Jimmy Page performed live again for the first time in twelve years at the annual induction ceremony of the “Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame” last November. In honor of US guitarist Link Wray, who died in 2005, whom he described as his “hero”, Page played his classic “Rumble” and also brought his iconic Gibson doubleneck guitar with him.