Page 11 - L&T John Bonham

John Bonham Redditch Heritage

The Formation of Led Zeppelin

John met Robert Plant in late 1965 when he joined The Crawling King Snakes (Robert
sang lead vocals) in between his two spells of playing with A Way Of Life. Plant was born
just a few months after John (August 20th 1948) and grew up in Kidderminster,
Worcester. He was young and full of determination to 'make it' in a successful band.
Meanwhile, Jimmy Page was playing lead guitar with the successful group The Yardbirds
which he joined in 1966. The Yardbirds had been busy touring America and were
managed by Peter Grant.

After The Yardbirds had broken up, Jimmy decided to build up a new band with the
expertise of Peter Grant, with the aim of signing with a major record label.
The talented bassist John Paul Jones heard about Jimmy's new group and asked if he
could join. Jimmy agreed as he already knew what John Paul Jones was capable of as a
musician when he'd been recruited as a session bassist for The Yardbirds recording of
their album 'Little Games' released in 1967.

Robert Plant was recommended to Jimmy as a potential singer for his new musical
project. Jimmy Page followed up on this recommendation, finding Robert Plant to be the
right person for the group on both an artistic and personal level. It was Robert Plant who
suggested including his previous bands drummer John Bonham.

By this time John had been touring around the UK with American folk singer Tim Rose,
and was earning a substantial living, with much interest showed in his abilities. Jimmy
Page and manager Peter Grant went to check out John's drumming first hand at a Tim
Rose concert which took place at a club in Hampstead, North London, July 1968. Jimmy
was iimpressed and invited John to join the band.

Led Zeppelin

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