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Robert Plant

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

Robert Plant was born in 1948 in West Bromwich and grew up in the Black Country in the English Midlands. He began training as an accountant, but quickly gave it up. At sixteen he left home to sing in local blues bands, including Band of Joy with the drummer John Bonham. In 1968 the manager Peter Grant and the guitarist Jimmy Page asked him to join the Yardbirds. With him that group turned into Led Zeppelin, of which he was the singer and lyricist until it broke up in 1980.

Music and breakthrough

Plant was a charismatic frontman with a raw, powerful voice with a wide range. His blues influences could be heard in Led Zeppelin. After 1980 he carried on solo with Pictures at Eleven in 1982 and The Principle of Moments in 1983, both in the American top ten. With the Honeydrippers he had a hit in 1984 with Sea of Love, a cover of a 1959 song on which Page played. Now and Zen from 1988 is his best-selling solo album. In the 1990s he worked with Page again, which earned a Grammy in 1998 for Most High.

Influence

Later he kept choosing different paths, including with Strange Sensation, the album Mighty ReArranger in 2005 and Raising Sand in 2007 with Alison Krauss. That album won the Grammy for album of the year in 2009. Led Zeppelin entered the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1995. Plant is regarded as one of the great rock singers and as the model for the hard rock vocalist.

Listening

Listening tip. Listen to a Led Zeppelin song with Plant, for example Whole Lotta Love, and notice how his voice pushes against Page's guitar. Can you hear the blues in his phrasing?

Discography

Studio albums

In School of Rock

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See also

Categories: Artists