b. 20 August 1948, West Bromwich, Staffordshire, England. Former accounts clerk Plant’s early career was spent in several Midlands-based R&B bands, including the New Memphis Bluesbreakers and Crawling King Snakes, the latter of which featured drummer and future colleague John Bonham. In 1965, Plant joined John Crutchley, Geoff Thompson and Roger Beamer in Listen, a Motown Records -influenced act, later signed to CBS Records. A cover version of ‘You’d Better Run’, originally recorded by the Young Rascals made little headway, and Plant was then groomed for a solo career with two 1967 singles, ‘Our Song’/‘Laughin’, Cryin’, Laughin’’ and ‘Long Time Coming’/‘I’ve Got A Secret’. Having returned to Birmingham, the singer formed Band Of Joy in which his growing interest in US west coast music flourished. This promising outfit broke up in 1968 and following a brief association with blues veteran Alexis Korner, Plant then joined another local act, Obstweedle. It was during this tenure that guitarist Jimmy Page invited the singer to join Led Zeppelin.
Plant’s reputation as a dynamic vocalist and frontman was forged as a member of the hugely successful Led Zeppelin, but he began plans for a renewed solo career following the death of drummer John Bonham in 1980. Pictures At Eleven (1982) unveiled a new partnership with Robbie Blunt (guitar), Paul Martinez (bass) and Jezz Woodroffe (keyboards) and while invoking the singer’s past, also showed him open to new musical directions. The following year’s The Principle Of Moments contained the restrained transatlantic Top 20 hit, ‘Big Log’, and inspired an ambitious world tour.
Plant then acknowledged vintage R&B in the Honeydrippers, an ad hoc group that featured Page, Jeff Beck and Nile Rodgers, whose 1984 mini-album spawned a US Top 5 hit with a remake of Phil Phillips’ 50s classic ‘Sea Of Love’. Having expressed a desire to record less conventional music, Plant fashioned Shaken ’N’ Stirred, which divided critics who either praised its ambition or declared it too obtuse. Plant then disbanded his group, but resumed recording in 1987 on becoming acquainted with a younger pool of musicians, including songwriter Phil Johnstone, Chris Blackwell and Phil Scragg. Now And Zen was hailed as a dramatic return to form and a regenerated Plant felt confident enough to include Led Zeppelin material in live shows. Indeed, one of the album’s stand-out tracks, ‘Tall Cool One’, featured a cameo from Jimmy Page and incorporated samples of ‘Black Dog’, ‘Whole Lotta Love’ and ‘The Ocean’, drawn from their former band’s extensive catalogue.
The singer’s artistic rejuvenation continued on Manic Nirvana (1990) and the excellent Fate Of Nations (1993), before again joining up with Jimmy Page in 1994 for the live recording No Quarter. Recorded for MTV in a number of countries, the album featured several Led Zeppelin classics reworked in a world music style, reflecting the direction in which Plant’s musical tastes were beginning to move. The duo was suitably inspired to complete a new studio project, teaming up with engineer Steve Albini on the solid 1998 collection Walking Into Clarksdale.
In complete contrast, in 1999 Plant formed the folk rock quintet Priory Of Brion with former Band Of Joy bandmate Kevyn Gammon. The band toured small venues and clubs throughout the UK and several European countries performing cover versions of their favourite songs. In 2001, Plant began touring larger venues with his new band, Strange Sensation. He released his first solo album in almost 10 years, Dreamland, the following June. On this Plant performed material by a number of his longtime heroes and influences. Among those celebrated were Bob Dylan (‘One More Cup Of Coffee’), Alexander ‘Skip’ Spence (‘Skip’s Song’, which is a revised version of Moby Grape’s epic ‘Seeing’), Tim Buckley (‘Song To The Siren’), and Tim Rose (‘Morning Dew’). This excellent album was later nominated for two Grammy awards.
Following the completion of promotional duties for 2003’s compilation set Sixty Six To Timbuktu, which featured rare solo material from Plant’s pre-Led Zeppelin days in addition to a host of b-sides and previously unreleased songs, Plant reconvened Strange Sensation and completed work on a new studio album with the band. Guitarist Justin Adams was a notable influence in helping Plant fuse all his musical influences into a cohesive and exciting whole, with the singer sounding equally at home on the African-flavoured ‘Takamba’ as he was on the hard rocking ‘Freedom Fries’. Plant’s creative renaissance continued apace on Raising Sand, his 2007 collaboration with bluegrass artist Alison Krauss. Guided by the assured hand of producer T. Bone Burnett, the duo breathed new life into material by songwriters including Gene Clark, Mel Tillis, Tom Waits and Townes Van Zandt. At the end of the year, Plant reunited with the other surviving Led Zeppelin members Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones to play at a tribute concert for the late Atlantic Records co-founder Ahmet Ertegun.
