Plant, Robert Anthony

Robert Anthony Plant was born and raised in Helsone (a Birmingham area bordering the countryside of Worcestershire and Shropshire ), attended King Edward's School in Stourbridge . The father wanted the boy to do accounting , but he, early fascinated by the blues of Robert Johnson and Sonny Boy Williamson , decided to devote himself to music. Getting acquainted with the Birmingham musical environment, he began to rapidly absorb new influences for himself: jazz , soul , West Indies rhythms. His favorite bands included Love , Buffalo Springfield, and Moby Grape .

Plant's first performance on stage was at the Sturbridge Seven Stars Blues Club . By this time, he sang in several compositions, including Crawling King Snakes: it was here that he met John Bonham . In 1966, speaking with the group Listen, Plant first attracted the attention of representatives of CBS Records , signed a contract with the company and even recorded three singles for it, however, which did not succeed.

Much more promising for Plant could be the transition to the Birmingham ensemble Band of Joy. The composition of the latter was constantly changing, but the most interesting is the one in which John Bonham and guitarist Kevin Gammond played . The group gained popularity not only in local, but also in London clubs, but could not get a contract and, leaving behind only a few demos, broke up in the summer of 1968.

Robert collaborated with bluesman Alexis Corner for a while, performing in parallel with another local band Obs-Tweedle (where Bill Bonham, a cousin of John played), but, contrary to all efforts, considered his own prospects hopeless. "Helped" the collapse of The Yardbirds , the London band that became famous for their guitar trio: Clapton - Beck - Page . Manager Peter Grant invited Chris Dreja , a bass player, to participate in the revived line-up, but he soon left, deciding to become a professional photographer, and Page, one of the most active session musicians of the 60s, easily found a replacement in the face John Paul Jones , by then already an experienced arranger and instrumentalist who had valuable ability to play bass and keyboards at the same time.

In search of a vocalist, Peter Grant and Jimmy Page initially opted for Terry Reed , but he, already bound by a contract (obliging him to tour the Rolling Stones for three years), recommended Robert Plant. The performance of the latter as a member of Obs-Tweedle at a concert at Walsall College of Education made a strong impression on Grant and Page. Moreover, the guitarist with the new vocalist immediately established friendly relations. Plant, in turn, proposed the place of drummer John Bonham, and thus on a Scandinavian tour the new roster had already gone under the name The New Yardbirds . Soon after its end, the group turned into Led Zeppelin and on October 25, 1968 gave its first concert.

On November 9, 1968, Robert Plant married Maureen Wilson , with whom he had been in close relationship for two years. Later they had a daughter, Carmen Jane, and a son, Karac . The family settled at Jennings Farm, near Kidderminster .

Already in the album Led Zeppelin I Plant declared himself as an outstanding vocalist; he immediately began to appear on the tops of various polls — both journalistic and “popular.” The art of Planta-vocalist influenced a whole galaxy of outstanding rock artists (this was subsequently discussed by such different artists as Stephen Tyler , Paul Stanley , Freddie Mercury , Jeff Buckley , Axl Rose ).

Planted’s talent for songwriting first appeared in Led Zeppelin II : all ^{[ who? ]} noted his passion for the works of J. R. R. Tolkien . Ramble On (as well as the later The Battle of Evermore and Misty Mountain Hop ) contain mini-quotes from The Lord of the Rings . However, a significant part of Plant's early texts was a blues stylization, an “exercise” in rock formalism: refusing semantic load, they seemed to artificially open up space for direct musical influence ^{[ unknown term ]} (“ The Lemon Song ”, “ Trampled Under Foot ”, “ Black Dog ”).

It was Robert Plant who chose the Welsh cottage Bron Yr Aur ^[1] to work on his third album, where he rested in early childhood. The disc, met with perplexity by many critics, who expected the group to make the sound heavier, was and remains one of its favorite for the vocalist: from the very beginning, he believed that LZ should complicate the arrangements, use more acoustics and move away from the heavy metal camp, to which many of her attributed.

Plant's top is considered ^{[by whom? ]} Led Zeppelin IV and “ Stairway To Heaven ” - a composition with a mysterious text, full of mystical and existential hints and images . (Others ^{[ who? ]} consider two of his other texts as the best: “ Kashmir ” and “Achilles Last Stand” .) Contrary to the opinion that in the early 1970s Jimmy Page was “responsible” for everything mystical in Led Zeppelin’s work (which was attributed to his passion for black magic ), in reality these are poetic improvisations of the group’s vocalist . In the lyrics of “No Quarter” and “Immigrant Song”, Plant paid tribute to his passion for Scandinavian folklore. In a broader sense, mysticism is related to The Rain Song (where pagan rituals are mentioned).

A passion for exploring exotic musical cultures prompted Plant to start exploring Indian music: this first appeared in Kashmir later in Paige's joint album No Quarter: Jimmy Page and Robert Plant Unledded (1994) and solo albums (in particular Dreamland) .

At Led Zeppelin concerts, Plant often indulged in improvisation, producing completely new lines and even quatrains. Equally unusual was his talent for voice copying guitarist moves ( How Many More Times , Dazed and Confused , You Shook Me , Nobody's Fault But Mine , Sick Again ). At the same time, the vocalist of the group always behaved on the stage lightly and naturally, entering into joking conversations with the audience - this style of stage clowning was soon called the "plantations". All this looked especially unusual in combination with a certain inclination of Robert Plant to narcissism and the image of a “rock deity” (which he himself sometimes ironically called himself). In 1975, Plant from the balcony of the Continental Hyatt House in Los Angeles proclaimed: “I am the golden-haired God!” (Cameron Crowe later reflected this episode in his film “Almost Famous”).

Robert Plant's solo career began with the album Pictures at Eleven (1982), in which, stylistically continuing the Zeppelin tradition, the author used several prominent drummers ( Phil Collins , Barrymore Barlow , Cozy Powell , Ritchie Hayward ). ^[2] Collaboration with Collins continued in the second album, The Principle of Moments , but his style was softened here, for example, “Big Log” and “In the Mood” (1984). ^[2] Among Planta’s other famous things of that period are Little By Little (1985), Tall Cool One (1988) and I Believe (1993), a dedication to his son Karak, who died in 1977 .

In 1984, Plant (realizing a long-standing love for Elvis's work) formed The Honeydrippers , inviting Jimmy Page and Jeff Beck to participate. This supergroup broke up, releasing two singles: “Sea of ​​Love” (# 3) and “Rockin 'at Midnight”. At that time, the singer did not include Led Zeppelin in his concert repertoire, not wanting to remain in history as just a “former vocalist”.

The next album, Shaken 'N' Stirred (1985), marked an unexpected turn for many to new-wave sound, the main components of which were Jez Woodruff's “decorative” keyboards, Robbie Blunt's guitar variations and Hayward's electronic drums. ^[2] The collaboration with songwriter and keyboardist Phil Johnston resulted in the following three albums: Now and Zen , Manic Nirvana , Fate of Nations . It was Johnston who persuaded Plant to start performing Led Zeppelin songs on stage again.

After his sixth studio album, “Fate of Nations”, was released in 1993, Plant, along with former Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page, created the Page and Plant project for collaborative recordings and tours. Classical “Led Zeppelin”, recorded with the participation of Arab musicians, sounded incomparable thanks to the oriental flavor, and their first album “No Quarter” took fourth place in “Billboard”. In the wake of success, Page and Plant tried to continue the collaboration, but the result in the form of “ Walking into Clarksdale ” ^[3] was not successful enough, after which Page and Plant stopped the collaboration.

In 2002, with a new lineup, which was later called Strange Sensation , the singer released the Dreamland album, composed primarily of blues and folk cover versions and highly praised by critics.

The following year, a retrospective compilation of Sixty Six to Timbuktu was born, which included both his early solo recordings for CBS Records and the very song, “Win ​​My Train Fare Home (If I'm Lucky)”.

In the second Mighty Rearranger album (2005), in contrast, only the original material was used. Dreamland and Mighty Rearranger received a total of 4 Grammy nominations.

In October 2006, the Soundstage: Robert Plant and the Strange Sensation DVD was released, followed by Nine Lives , a full anthology of his solo work, a month later, and a year later Plant returned to first place in Billboard Top 200 for the first time in many years. CD Raising Sand , recorded in a duet with country singer Alison Krauss . The album was sold in three million copies worldwide; 700 thousand were sold in the UK ^[4] .

On September 13, 2010, Robert Plant released a solo album Band of Joy , recorded with a band of the same name. The album, recorded in Nashville with the participation of well-known country musicians, in particular, guitarist Buddy Miller, who acted here as a co-producer ^[4] , was highly praised by critics (85/100 in the Metacritic composite rating) ^[5] .

September 8, 2014 released a new solo album by Robert Plant Lullaby and ... The Ceaseless Roar .

On October 13, 2017, Plant's eleventh album, “ Carry Fire, ” was released. The producer of "Carry Fire" was the musician himself. This is Robert’s second album, recorded with Sensational Space Shifters (despite the fact that their name does not appear on the cover). The tracklist included 11 songs, one of which (Bluebirds Over The Mountain) was featured by The Pretenders vocalist Chrissy Hind.

• Robert Plant is the Honorary Vice President of the Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club ^[6] , whose fan became 50 years ago.

• Pictures at Eleven (1982)
• The Principle of Moments (1983)
• The Honeydrippers: Volume One (1984) (with The Honeydrippers )
• Shaken 'n' Stirred (1985)
• Now and Zen (1988)
• Manic Nirvana (1990)
• Fate of Nations (1993)
• Walking into Clarksdale (1998) (with Jimmy Page )
• Dreamland (2002)
• Mighty ReArranger (2005) (with Strange Sensation )
• Nine Lives (2006) (compilation)
• Raising Sand (2007) (with Alison Krauss - “ Grammy ” in the “Album of the Year” nomination (2008))
• Band of Joy (2010) ^[4]
• Lullaby and the Ceaseless Roar (2014)
• Carry Fire (2017)

• The official website of Robert Plant
• Robert Plant. Discography.