biography of Robert Plant (England)

Robert Anthony Plant

 (born 20 August 1948) is an English singer and songwriter. He was the lead singer and lyricist of the rock band Led Zeppelin from its founding in 1968 until their breakup in 1980. Since then, he has had a successful solo career, sometimes collaborating with other artists such as Alison Krauss.

Plant was born and raised in the West Midlands area of England, where, after leaving grammar school, he briefly trained as a chartered accountant before leaving home at 16 years old to concentrate on singing with a series of local blues bands, including Band of Joy with John Bonham.

Plant developed a compelling image as a charismatic rock-and-roll frontman, comparable to other '70s contemporaries such as Mick Jagger of the Rolling Stones, Roger Daltrey of the Who, and Jim Morrison of the Doors.  With his band The Honeydrippers he scored a top-ten single hit with a remake of "Sea of Love", which featured former Led Zeppelin bandmate Jimmy Page on guitar. In the 1990s, another reunion project called Page and Plant released two albums and earned a Grammy Award for Best Hard Rock Performance in 1998 for "Most High".

In 1995, Led Zeppelin were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Rolling Stone ranked Plant as one of the 100 best singers of all time (2008); and he was the top pick for the greatest lead singer in a 2011 readers' poll. Plant was named one of the 50 Great Voices by NPR. In 2009, Plant was voted "the greatest voice in rock" in a poll conducted by UK classic rock radio station Planet Rock.  Billboard ranked him number 4 on their list of The 50 Greatest Rock Lead Singers of All Time (2023). 

Robert Anthony Plant was born on 20 August 1948, in the Black Country town of West Bromwich, Staffordshire, England, to Robert C. Plant, a qualified civil engineer who worked in the Royal Air Force during the Second World War, and Annie Celia Plant (née Cain), a Romani woman.  He grew up in the Hayley Green area of Halesowen, Worcestershire.

Plant's early blues influences included Johnson, Bukka White, Skip James, Jerry Miller, and Sleepy John Estes. Plant had various jobs while pursuing his music career, one of which was working for the major British construction company Wimpey in Birmingham in 1967, laying tarmac on roads.

Plant began writing song lyrics with Led Zeppelin during the making of Led Zeppelin II, in 1969. According to Jimmy Page:The most important thing about Led Zeppelin II is that up to that point I'd contributed lyrics. Robert hadn't written before, and it took a lot of ribbing to get him into writing, which was funny. And then, on the second LP, he wrote the words of Thank You. He said, "I'd like to have a crack at this and write it for my wife."

Plant was influenced by 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.Conversely, Plant sometimes used more straightforward blues themes dealing with sex, as in "The Lemon Song", "Trampled Under Foot" about giving in to sexual temptation, and "Black Dog" narrated by a man obsessed with a woman.

Page's passion for diverse musical experiences influenced Plant to explore Africa, specifically Marrakesh in Morocco, where he encountered Umm Kulthum:

I was intrigued by the scales, initially, and obviously the vocal work. The way she sang, the way she could hold a note, you could feel the tension, you could tell that everybody, the whole orchestra, would hold a note until she wanted to change. 

Both he and Jimmy Page revisited these influences during their 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 the 2002 album Dreamland.

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. 

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 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. 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:

I can't take my whole persona as a singer back then very seriously. It's not some great work of beauty and love to be a rock-and-roll singer.

mini bio :

Prior to Hobbstweedle (a pickup blues band formed to honour a gig at West Midlands College Of Education) Robert was the frontman for The Band of Joy - featuring Percy, John Bonham, Paul Lockey (bass), Chris Brown (keyboards) and Kevyn Gammond (guitar). The BOJ were on verge of making a record deal when they split a little acrinmoniously.

trivia : 

• In the years following Led Zeppelin's break-up, Jimmy Page would not allow anyone else to sing "Stairway to Heaven." Page felt that Plant was the only person who could do the song justice.
• His biggest influences were Elvis Presley and The Doors' lead singer Jim Morrison.
• Lives in Austin, TX.
• The youngest member of Led Zeppelin.
• Daughter Carmen Plant, sons Karac Plant (died of a virus) and Logan with wife Maureen Plant. Son Jesse with Maureen's sister Shirley Wilson.
• Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (as a member of Led Zeppelin) in 1995.
• Lead singer and harmonica player of Led Zeppelin.
• Daughter Carmen Plant is married to Charlie Jones, Plant's bass player for solo tours.
• When Jimmy Page heard of Plant playing in another 1960s band, Hobbstweedle, he invited him to become the lead singer for a new rock band--Led Zeppelin.
• Played in a band called Hobbstweeble prior to Led Zeppelin, and The Honeydrippers after them.
• Also had a successful solo singing career.
• In the song "Stairway to Heaven," he uses the phrase "stairway to heaven" three times.
• Was the only member of Led Zeppelin whose name did not begin with the letter "J".
• Ex-wife Maureen Plant is of East Indian descent and raised in England.
• Shares his birthday with Phil Lynott, the bass player and lead vocalist of Thin Lizzy.
• As of December 2008, he was living in Bewdley, Worcestershire, England.
• Fervent Wolverhampton Wanderers supporter.
• Led Zeppelin was voted the 14th Greatest Rock 'n' Roll Artists of all time by Rolling Stone.
• Attended the funeral in 2004 of DJ John Peel

Studio albums

• Pictures at Eleven (1982)
• The Principle of Moments (1983)
• Shaken 'n' Stirred (1985)
• Manic Nirvana (1990)
• Fate of Nations (1993)
• Mighty ReArranger (2005)
• Band of Joy (2010)
• Carry Fire (2017)

Compilation albums

• Sixty Six to Timbuktu (2003)
• Nine Lives (Box Set) (2006)
• Digging Deep: Subterranea (2020)

Live albums

• Sensational Space Shifters (Live in London July '12) (2012)

Collaborative albums

• The Honeydrippers: Volume One (1984) (with Jimmy Page and Jeff Beck)
• Raising Sand (2007) (with Alison Krauss)
• Raise the Roof (2021) (with Alison Krauss)