Robert Plant
On 20/08/1948: Robert Plant was born. He was born in West Bromwich, Staffordshire, England and his full birth name was Robert Anthony Plant. Plant became interested in singing and rock and roll from an early age. He left grammer school in his mid teens and developed a taste for blues music. His early blues influences included Robert Johnson, Bukka White, Skip James, Jerry Miller, and Sleepy John Estes. He started training to be a chartered accountant, but gave it up after two weeks to attend college instead. He would also start to become part of the Midlands blues scene, working various jobs including laying tarmac on roads and working in a Woolworths store. He record three singles on CBS records and sang with various bands. When in the band Crawling King Snakes he met John Bonham. They would join each other again in the group Band of Joy.In 1968 he met guitarist Jimmy Page. Page was looking for a lead singer for his new band and his first choice Terry Reid had recommended he go to a show at a Birmingham teacher training college, where Plant was singing in a band called Obs-Tweedle. Plant and Page began writing together and Bonham was recruited into the band, along with John Paul Jones who had worked with Page as a studio musician. The group were initially known as the New Yardbirds but were soon renamed as Led Zeppelin. The band became hugely successful and are regarded as one of most popular and influential rock bands in history.
In 1975 Plant and his wife Maureen were seriously injured in a car crash in Rhodes, Greece. Plant took a few months to recover, delaying the production of Led Zeppelin's seventh album "Prescence".
In 1977 Plant's son Karac died at the age of five with a stomach infection. It was a devastating loss for the family and Plant questioned his future. He has written several songs in tribute to his son including "All My Love", "Blue Train" and "I Believe".
Led Zeppelin dissolved in December 1980, after the death of John Bonham. Plant considered becoming a teacher and was accepted for teacher training. Encouraged by drummer Phil Collins though, he began a solo career.
In 1982 he recorded "Pictures at Eleven", followed by "The Principles of Moments in 1983.
In 1984 he joined Page again briefly for the super group the Honeydrippers, with Jeff Beck. They released an album called "The Honeydrippers: Volume One".
In 1985 he joined Page and John Paul Jones to perform at Live Aid, along with Phil Collins and Tony Thompson.
In 1986 he performed at the Birmingham Heat Beat Charity Concert with other famous musicians from the Midlands.
In 1988 he joined Page again for Page's album "Outrider". They would also perform together that year for Atlantic Records 40th Anniversary concert.
Plant teamed up with keyboardist/songwriter Phil Johnstone to record three albums; "Now and Zen" in 1988 (also featuring Page), "Manic Nirvana" in 1990 and "Fate of Nations" in 1993.
In 1992 he performed at The Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert for AIDS Awareness.
In 1993 he would perform at Glastonbury festival.
From 1994 to 1998 Page and Plant became a duo. They would release the album "No Quarter: Jimmy Page and Robert Plant Unledded" in 1994 featuring reworked Led Zeppelin material and did a show for MTV unplugged. In 1995 they toured including playing at Glastonbury and they were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as part of Led Zeppelin. In 1998 they recorded the album "Walking into Clarksdale".
In 1999 and 2000 Plant performed with his folk-rock band Priory of Brion.
Also in 1999 he contributed to a tribute album for Skip Spence, who was teminally ill, the album was called "More Oar: A Tribute to the Skip Spence Album".
In 2001 Plant contributed to Afro Celt Sound System's album "Volume 3: Further in Time"
In 2002 he released the album "Dreamland" with his new band Strange Sensations. They would follow it with "Mighty ReArranger" in 2005. The two albums would receive four Grammy nominations.
In 2005 he received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award and the Polar Music Prize in 2006.
In 2006 he performed at the Benefit for Arthur Lee concert in New York.
In 2007 the remaining members of Led Zeppelin reformed with Jason Bonham on drums to perform at the Ahmet Ertegün Tribute Concert. Also that year he contributed two tracks to the Fats Domino tribute album "Goin' Home: A Tribute to Fats Domino". From 2007 to 2008 he recorded and performed with bluegrass artist Alison Krauss. They released the ablum "Raising Sand" in 2007, produced by T-Bone Burnett. It won the Grammy for Album of the Year, Best Contemporary Folk/Americana Album, Record of the Year, Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals and Best Country Collaboration with Vocals. It would also receive a Mercury Prize nomination. Also in 2008 Plant performed at New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival and Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival. He would also appear as a guest during Fairport Convention's set at Cropredy Festival.
In 2010 he joined a new group called Band of Joy, with singer Patty Griffin, singer-guitarist Buddy Miller, multi-instrumentalist and vocalist Darrell Scott, bassist-vocalist Byron House, and drummer-percussionist-vocalist Marco Giovino. They released the album "Band of Joy" in the same year. It was nominated for the Grammy for Best Americana Album and Best Solo Rock Vocal Performance. They played their last performance at San Francisco's Golden Gate Park, as part of the 11th Hardly Strictly Bluegrass festival.
In 2012 he formed a new band the Sensational Space Shifters. They released a download live album called "Sensational Space Shifters" in the same year. In 2014 they released "Lullaby and... The Ceaseless Roar" and they played that year at Glastonbury. In 2015 Plant released the EP "More Roar" for Record Store Day. The band have hinted they may release a new album soon.