Led Zeppelin

Led Zeppelin were an English rock band formed in 1968 by Jimmy Page, Robert Plant, Jone Paul Jones and John Bonham. Led Zeppelin is one of the most influential and important rock bands to come out of the UK during that period and their influence continues to this day. Led Zeppelin has sold over 300 million albums. All of their studio albums have reached the Billboard Top 10 and continue to sell to each new generation introduced to rock music. Led Zeppelin mainly drew on blues influences for their early work but their music quickly expanded to include folk, country, rockabilly and even Arabic influences.

Jimmy Page was originally a member of the Yardbirds. As the popularity of the group waned after a series of line-up changes, Page set about creating a new band around his vision. John Paul Jones was a session player Page had worked with in the past and contacted Page when he heard about the new band Page was forming. Robert Plant was recommended to Page by Terry Reid after Reid declined the offer to join the band. Robert Plant had worked with John Bonham and recommended Bonham for the drums.

The origin of the band’s name supposedly came from a comment made by John Entwistle from The Who. At one point Entwistle, Keith Moon (The Who), Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page would get together to form a supergroup. Entwistle commented that the band would go over like a “lead zeppelin”, insinuating the performance would be bad. The name stuck. Peter Grant, Led Zeppelin’s manager, removed the ‘a’ from Lead so no one would mispronounce the word as ‘leed’.

Led Zeppelin released 9 studio albums and a film and soundtrack called “The Song Remains The Same” featuring clips from a three night run at the Madison Square Garden. Since disbanding Led Zeppelin has release boxed sets, a BBC show and most recently Led Zeppelin DVD and How the West Was Won (Live 1972).

Led Zeppelin officially ended when John Bonham passed away in September 1980. Led Zeppelin has reformed a few times over the years, most recently at a tribute concert for Ahmet Ertegün at the end of 2007.