Jimmy Page

BIOGRAPHY

He was the founding member for the band Led Zeppelin. James Patrick Page, popularly known as Jimmy Page, was born in the west London suburb of Heston on January 9, 1944. His father was an industrial personnel manager and his mother was a doctor's secretary. Page started to play guitar at the age of 12. He studied nearby Kingston for a few lessons but mostly self-taught. His influences were Scotty Moore and James Burton who both played in Elvis' recordings. He got his first guiatar, a second hand 1959 Futurama Grazioso. At the age of 14, Page left school to pursue his music career. He was asked by singer Neil Christian to join his band, The Crusaders. The band toured for two years and Page even played on several of Christian's records.

But while on tour, Page got seriously ill and can't continue the tour. While recovering from his illness, he decided to put aside music and concentrate on painting. He enrolled at Sutton Art College in Surrey. While studying, Page got a chance to jam at the The Marquee with bands such as the Cyril Davis All Stars, Alexis Korner's Blues Incorporated and with guitarists Jeff Beck and Eric Clapton. He was spotted one night by John Gibb of The Silhouettes, who asked him to help record a number of singles for EMI, including "The Worrying Kind". It wasn't until an offer from Mike Leander of Decca Records that Page was to receive regular studio work. His first session for the label was the recording "Diamonds" by Jet Harris & Tony Meehan which went to Number 1 on the singles chart in early 1963.

Page then became one of the hottest session guitarist in U.K. During this time, he was able to record and play with different artists which included The Who, The Kinks, Jackie DeShannon, Al Stewart and Joe Cocker. In 1964, Page was offered by The Yardbirds to join their band and replaced Eric Clapton. But since he was a good friend of Clapton, Page turned down the offer. In 1965, Clapton quit and Page was given the spot once more but because he doesn't want to give up being a session guitarist and because of his touring conditions and illness, he passed the position to his friend Jeff Beck. In 1966, Page was offered again a spot for The Yardbirds, but this time as a bass player. But with the addition of Chris Dreja in the group, he went back to twin lead guitar together with Beck.

Because of conflicts caused by constant touring and lack of commercial success, Beck left the band. After his departure, the group continued as a quartet and manage to make a record. In 1968, it was Keith Relf and Jim McCarty's turn to leave the group. Despite of all these, Page wanted to continue and recruited vocalist Robert Plant and drummer John Bonham and then John Paul Jones joined them. The group was called "The New Yardbirds" but Keith Moon of The Who suggested that Jimmy Page's new band would go over like a "Lead Zeppelin." With this in mind, Page took the name and change it to Led Zeppelin to avoid mispronouncing it with Leed Zeppelin.

Page's experiences gave advantage to Led Zeppelin with their success. His solos credited by other guitarists and became one of most influencial guitarists of all time. He got a five straight time guitarist of the year during the 1970's. During his stint with Led Zeppelin, Page showed his versatility and creativity as a composer. He is also famous for playing with a violin bow wit hhis guitar on the songs "Dazed and Confused", "How Many More Times" and "Whole Lotta Love". Led Zeppelin broke up following the death of drummer John Bonham in 1980. Page returned on stage with a series of charity concerts in 1983. In 1984, Page recorded with Robert Plant in the guise of the Honeydrippers. Various other projects soon followed such as The Firm, with Paul Rodgers, session work for Graham Nash, Box of Frogs, The Rolling Stones, Stephen Stills and Robert Plant. In 1994, Page reunited with Plant for the penultimate performance in MTV's "Unplugged" series. The 90-minute special, dubbed Unledded, premiered to the highest ratings in MTV's history.

In the late 1998 Page worked with Puff Daddy on the single "Come With Me" and in 2001 with Fred Durst and Wes Scantlin and performed Led Zeppelin's "Thank You". In November of 2006, Led Zeppelin were inducted into the UK Music Hall of Fame. No doubt a talented composer and guitarist, Page still an inspiration to new comers of the music industry of today.