Early years By July 1968, guitarist
Jimmy Page was searching for a singer after the breakup of
the Yardbirds. Page's first choice,
Terry Reid, declined, but directed him to Robert Plant, who was then singing with Obs-Tweedle. Page travelled to hear Plant perform and subsequently invited him to his home, where the two found a shared enthusiasm for blues, rock, and folk music. Plant suggested his friend
John Bonham for drummer, and the group—initially billed as the New Yardbirds—soon became
Led Zeppelin. Led Zeppelin's self-titled debut album and its early British and American tours quickly established Plant as the band's lead vocalist and lyricist. In 1975, Plant and his wife, Maureen, were seriously injured in a car crash while on holiday in
Rhodes, Greece. In July 1977, while Led Zeppelin were touring the United States, Plant learned that his five-year-old son Karac had died from a stomach virus. However, the song "
No Quarter" is often misunderstood to refer to the god
Thor; the song actually refers to
Mount Thor (which is named after the god). Another example is "
The Rain Song". Plant was influenced by the English writer and philologist
J. R. R. Tolkien, whose book series inspired lyrics in some early Led Zeppelin songs. Most notably, "
The Battle of Evermore", "
Misty Mountain Hop", "
No Quarter", "
Ramble On" and "
Over the Hills and Far Away" contain verses referencing Tolkien's
The Lord of the Rings and
The Hobbit. and "
Black Dog" narrated by a man obsessed with a woman.
Welsh mythology forms a basis of Plant's interest in mystical lyrics. He grew up close to the Welsh border and would often take summer trips to
Snowdonia. Plant bought a Welsh sheep farm in 1973, and began taking Welsh lessons and looking into the mythology of the land (such as the
Black Book of Carmarthen, the
Book of Taliesin, etc.) Plant's first son, Karac, was named after the Welsh chieftain
Caratacus. The song "
Bron-Y-Aur Stomp" is named after the 18th-century Welsh cottage
Bron-Yr-Aur, owned by a friend of his father; it later inspired the title of the instrumental song "Bron-Yr-Aur" from their sixth studio album
Physical Graffiti (1975). The songs "Misty Mountain Hop", "
That's the Way", and early dabblings in what would become "
Stairway to Heaven" were written in Wales and lyrically reflect Plant's mystical view of the land. Critic Steve Turner suggests that Plant's early and continued experiences in Wales served as the foundation for his broader interest in the mythologies he revisits in his lyrics (including those myth systems of Tolkien and the Norse). Page's passion for diverse musical experiences influenced Plant to explore Africa, specifically
Marrakesh in Morocco, where he encountered the Egyptian singer and film actress
Umm Kulthum: Both he and Jimmy Page revisited these influences during their live reunion album
No Quarter: Jimmy Page and Robert Plant Unledded in 1994. During his solo career Plant tapped into these influences many times, most notably on his seventh studio album
Dreamland (2002). Most of the lyrics of "
Stairway to Heaven" from
Led Zeppelin IV were written spontaneously by Plant in 1970 at
Headley Grange while the track was being recorded. While never released as a single, the song has topped polls as the greatest song of all time.
Stage persona ,
Illinois, 1977 Plant enjoyed great success with Led Zeppelin throughout the 1970s and developed a compelling image as the
charismatic rock and roll front man, similar to his contemporaries
the Who's lead singer
Roger Daltrey,
Mick Jagger of
the Rolling Stones, and
Jim Morrison of
the Doors. With his mane of long blond hair and powerful, bare-chested appearance, Plant helped to create the "god of rock and roll" or "rock god" archetype. On stage, Plant was particularly active in live performances, often dancing, jumping, skipping, snapping his fingers, clapping, making emphatic gestures to emphasise a lyric or cymbal crash, throwing back his head, or placing his hands on his hips. As the 1970s progressed he, along with the other members of Led Zeppelin, became increasingly flamboyant on-stage, and wore more elaborate, colourful clothing and jewellery. According to
Classic Rock magazine, "once he had a couple of US tours under his belt, "Percy" Plant swiftly developed a staggering degree of bravado and swagger that irrefutably enhanced Led Zeppelin's rapidly burgeoning appeal." In 1994, during his "Unledded" tour with Jimmy Page, Plant himself reflected
tongue-in-cheek upon his Led Zeppelin showmanship: One of the oddest awards he received was the
Rock Scene magazine "Chest O Rama". Readers of the magazine had to decide who had the best chest in rock, and Plant was the winner. When they contacted him about it, he replied: "I'm really greatly honoured although it's hard for me to be eloquent on the subject of my chest." == Solo career (1981–present) ==