by Rees, Paul
Plant with Zeppelin’s formidable manager Peter Grant. “Everybody was shit-scared of ‘G.’ ”
(© Getty Images)
Zeppelin’s crowning moment, on stage at London’s Earl’s Court, May 1975.
(© Redferns)
The last U.S. Zeppelin show: Plant at the Alameda County Coliseum, Oakland, July 24, 1977. Within two days he had lost his seven-year-old son Karac.
(© Redferns)
Plant and Page en route to the stage at Knebworth, August 1979.
(© LFI/Photoshot)
The final curtain: the Tour Over Europe, June 1980. “That tour sounded more of a shambles than they like to make out.”
(© Redferns)
Plant, the solo artist, 1982. “I’d cut my hair and hadn’t played or listened to a Zeppelin record for two years.”
(© Redferns)
“It was like being on a Bumble Bee.” The Viscount prop plane Plant and his band toured the U.S. aboard during 1983.
(© Jezz Woodroffe)
Plant with his band drummer and sounding board, Phil Collins.
(© Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images)
A new-look Zeppelin re-form for Live Aid, July 13, 1985. “We virtually ruined the whole thing because we sounded so awful,” Plant said later.
(© Redferns)
Page–Plant recording with the Gnaoua master musicians in Marrakech, August 1994.
(© Andy Earl)
Taking it easy during a cover shoot for Rolling Stone magazine, 1988.
(© David Montgomery/Getty Images)
The Unledded touring party on the road in America, 1995.
(© Nigel Eaton)
Enjoying some “R&R” with hurdy-gurdy player Nigel Eaton in Arizona on the Unledded tour, May 1995.
(© Nigel Eaton)
Plant with Najma Akthar, far right, at a Black Country wedding. “He’s very patriotic about his little village,” she said.
(© Bev Pegg)
Plant entertaining the patrons of his local tennis club with old friend Bev Pegg, to Plant’s immediate left, and his band.
(© Bev Pegg)
(© Ross Halfin)
Zeppelin rehearsing for and performing at their reunion concert at London’s O2 Arena, December 2007. “Robert really, really didn’t want to do that.”
At his 60th birthday party with Black Country comic Tommy Mundon, August 2008.
(© Bev Pegg)
“A beautiful woman with a voice like an angel.” Plant and Alison Krauss raise sand, 2008.
(© Camera Press/Perou)
Plant on the pitch at Molineux, home of Wolverhampton Wanderers, the football team he has supported for fifty-five years.
(© Sam Bagnall/AMA Photo Agency/Wolves FC)
With the “delicate and charming” Patty Griffin, his collaborator and partner.
(© Getty Images)
Plant, Page and Jones, together again in New York, October 2012 . . .
(© Ross Halfin)
. . . and later that same year in Washington DC, receiving the Kennedy Center Honors from President Barack Obama. “I’d definitely rule another reunion out,” Plant has said. “I’m up for doing anything that’s new.”
(© Pete Souza/dpa/Corbis)
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Paul Rees has written about music for more than three decades. In that time he has interviewed everyone from Paul McCartney, Bruce Springsteen, and Madonna to Bono, Take That, and AC/DC—and his work has appeared in a range of publications, including The Sunday Times Magazine, The Telegraph, The Independent, Classic Rock, and the Evening Standard. He was also editor of two of the UK’s most successful and long-standing music publications, Q and Kerrang!, for a total of twelve years.
Visit www.AuthorTracker.com for exclusive information on your favorite HarperCollins authors.
CREDITS
Cover design by Amanda Kain
Cover photograph © Peter Simon/Retna ltd
COPYRIGHT
ROBERT PLANT: A LIFE. Copyright © 2013 by Paul Rees. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
While every effort has been made to trace the owners of copyright material reproduced herein and secure permissions, the publishers would like to apologise for any omissions and will be pleased to incorporate missing acknowledgments in any future edition of this book.
FIRST EDITION
EPUB Edition November 2013 ISBN 9780062281401
ISBN 978-0-06-228138-8
13 14 15 16 17 OV/RRD 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
ABOUT THE PUBLISHER
Australia
HarperCollins Publishers (Australia) Pty. Ltd.
Level 13, 201 Elizabeth Street
Sydney, NSW 2000, Australia
http://www.harpercollins.com.au
Canada
HarperCollins Canada
2 Bloor Street East - 20th Floor
Toronto, ON, M4W, 1A8, Canada
http://www.harpercollins.ca
New Zealand
HarperCollins Publishers (New Zealand) Limited
P.O. Box 1
Auckland, New Zealand
http://www.harpercollins.co.nz
United Kingdom
HarperCollins Publishers Ltd.
77-85 Fulham Palace Road
London, W6 8JB, UK
http://www.harpercollins.co.uk
United States
HarperCollins Publishers Inc.
10 East 53rd Street
New York, NY 10022
http://www.harpercollins.com