Robert Plant

Robert Plant
Plant performing live at the Palace Theatre, Manchester in 2010
Born
Robert Anthony Plant

(1948-08-20) 20 August 1948 (age 75)
Occupations
  • Singer
  • songwriter
Years active1965–present
Spouse
  • Maureen Wilson
    (m. 1968; div. 1983)
Children4
Musical career
OriginHalesowen, England[1]
Genres
Instrument(s)
  • Vocals
Labels
Formerly of
Websiterobertplant.com

Robert Anthony Plant CBE (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. Regarded by many as one of the greatest singers in rock music, he is known for his flamboyant persona and raw stage performances.

Plant was born and brought up 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. In 1968, he was invited by Peter Grant and Jimmy Page to join The Yardbirds, which Grant and Page were attempting to keep going. The new version of The Yardbirds changed their name to Led Zeppelin, and from the late 1960s to the end of the 1970s the band enjoyed considerable success.

Plant developed a compelling image as a charismatic rock-and-roll front man, comparable to contemporaries such as Mick Jagger of the Rolling Stones, Roger Daltrey of the Who, Jim Morrison of the Doors, and Freddie Mercury of Queen.[2] After Led Zeppelin dissolved in 1980, Plant continued to perform and record continuously on a variety of solo and group projects. His first well known post-Led Zeppelin project was The Honeydrippers, alongside former Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page, among others. In 1988, he released the solo album Now and Zen, from which came the hit singles "Tall Cool One" and "Ship of Fools". In the 1990s, another reunion project named Page and Plant released two studio albums and a live album from an MTV Unplugged performance, as well as winning the Grammy Award for Best Hard Rock Performance in 1998 for "Most High". In 2007, Plant began a collaboration with bluegrass artist Alison Krauss, releasing the album Raising Sand, which won the Grammy Award for Album of the Year in 2009 and produced the hit song "Please Read the Letter", which won the Grammy Award for Record of the Year the same year. In 2010, he revived the Band of Joy (which shared its name with an early band he performed with in the 1960s), and in 2012 formed a new band, the Sensational Space Shifters, followed by a reunion with Alison Krauss in 2019.

In 1995, Led Zeppelin were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.[3] Rolling Stone ranked Plant as one of the 100 best singers of all time (2008);[4] and was the top pick for the greatest lead singer in a 2011 readers poll.[5] Hit Parader named Plant the "Greatest Metal Vocalist of All Time" (2006).[6] 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.[7][8] Billboard ranked him number 4 on their list of The 50 Greatest Rock Lead Singers of All Time (2023).[9]

  1. ^ Andrews, Mark (18 December 2021). "Robert Plant interview: Why Led Zeppelin legend still loves the Beverly Hills of the Black Country". Express & Star. Retrieved 19 December 2021.
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference theirtime was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference Hall was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ 100 Greatest Singers Of All Time: Robert Plant Rolling Stone. Retrieved 30 June 2015
  5. ^ "Rolling Stone Readers Pick the Best Lead Singers of All Time (1. Robert Plant)". Rollingstone.com. Retrieved 16 March 2013.
  6. ^ "Hit Parader's Top 100 Metal Vocalists Of All Time". Theinsider.com. Archived from the original on 17 February 2011. Retrieved 27 February 2011.
  7. ^ "Robert Plant voted rock's greatest voice". MusicRadar. 4 January 2009. Retrieved 17 December 2018.
  8. ^ Cite error: The named reference NME was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  9. ^ Unterberger, Katie Atkinson,Katie Bain,Eric Renner Brown,Kyle Denis,Frank DiGiacomo,Thom Duffy,Ingrid Fajardo,Paul Grein,Lyndsey Havens,Jason Lipshutz,Joe Lynch,Taylor Mims,Melinda Newman,Isabela Raygoza,Andrew; Atkinson, Katie; Bain, Katie; Brown, Eric Renner; Denis, Kyle; DiGiacomo, Frank; Duffy, Thom; Fajardo, Ingrid; Grein, Paul (16 August 2023). "The 50 Greatest Rock Lead Singers of All Time". Billboard. Retrieved 18 August 2023.{{cite magazine}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)

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