Page 12 - L&T John Bonham

Redditch Heritage John Bonham

However, around this same time John had also been receiving other tempting offers
from esteemed artists such as Joe Cocker and Chris Farlowe who were in positions to
offer John more financially lucrative prospects. Plant and Grant bombarded Bonham with
telegrams of persuasion (eight from Plant and fourty from Grant) sent to John at his
favourite local pub: 'Three Men in a Boat' in Walsall.

Bonham finally decided to accept Grant's offer, joining the band in early September
1968. Bonham said: "I decided I liked their music better than Cocker's or Farlowe's."
The newly formed band temporarily used the name: The New Yardbirds to completed
previously arranged commitments made by The Yardbirds which included a tour of
Scandinavia. These duties were completed by the 17th September 1968.
A month later the group, now called Led Zeppelin, were already in the studio recording
their eponymous debut album. Manager, Peter Grant, secured one of the few decent
record deal in the history of rock and roll. He negotiated with Atlanta records an
unprecedented advance of $200,000 with high fees to be paid to the band for concert
appearances whilst also ensuring the band retained creative and financial freedom.
John Paul Jones: "We recorded in October 1968 with Glyn Johns at Olympic Studios in
Barnes. It was old style recording. We just sat there with a few screens to cover the
amps up and it was a big ‘live’ room, so everything leaked into everything else, which
was part of the sound. We did it in about 15 hours with another 15 for mixing, so it was
30 hours in all to make Led Zeppelin."

Led Zeppelin went on to record seven more studio albums, most of which were recorded
in various studios in Britain, Europe and the USA. By 1970, the band largely recorded
using mobile recording facilities at the Hampshire mansion in Headly Grange.

John’s Death

In September 1980 all four members of Led Zeppelin had begun rehearsing in prepara-
tion for their first tour of North America since 1977, which was planned to kick off on
October 17th in Montreal, Canada. The rehearsals took place near Jimmy Page’s Windsor
home where the band was staying.

It was here where John Paul Jones and Benje LeFevre (Led Zeppelin’s road manager)
discovered Bonham’s body, in the morning of September 25th. Bonham had died
tragically from inhalation of vomit in bed during his sleep, aged just 32.
In the day leading up to his premature death, Bonham had been on a 12-hour binge
drinking session, which began at noon and lasted until midnight, when he fell uncon-
scious. He had consumed an alarming 40 units of vodka. The UK’s recommended
maximum intake of alcoholic beverages per day for men is 3-4 units. After falling
unconscious on a sofa, he was put to bed by an assistant where he could sleep off his
drunkenness. The assistant laid him on his side with pillows for support.
An ambulance was called in the morning immediately after Bonham was discovered, but
it was too late for them to do anything. The police also arrived at Jimmy’s house, but no
suspicious circumstances were identified.

An inquest into John Bonham’s death was held at East Berkshire coroner’s court on
October 18th where it was determined that Bonham had died from inhalation of his own
vomit during sleep which led to pulmonary edema. The cause of death was put down as
“consumption of alcohol”. A verdict of accidental death was arrived at and recorded

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