If you missed our last post, check out Jimmy Page Part 1
Jimmy Page was singularly responsible for the amazing sound effects created within Led Zeppelin. His guitar of choice was a Gibson Les Paul. (At last count he owned 1500 guitars.) He alternatively made use of fuzz, distortion, pedal steel guitars, slide guitars and acoustic guitars in different recordings to create the effect he wanted.
Page was famous for playing his guitar with a violin bow and his creativity and versatility as a composer shone through in his innovative use of feedback devices and amplifiers. He used two microphones for each amplifier, one very close to it and the other at a distance of twenty feet, and then recorded the balance between them to produce what he called ambient sound.
Led Zeppelin recorded their first three albums, each with different sound engineers, to prove to the world that it was Jimmy Page alone who was responsible for the fantastic sound. By the mid-seventies, Led Zeppelin had become the foremost heavy metal band in the world.
Around this time, Jimmy Page got involved in drugs like heroin and cocaine. By 1977, he was a full- blown addict. He also became unusually interested in the occult and went as far as buying the Boleskine House, the former residence of occultist Aleister Crowley. His playing suffered as a result of his drug addiction and he remained absent for long periods from the recording studio. The band drifted apart and the final nail in the coffin was John Bonham’s tragic alcohol related death in Page’s home in 1980. By the end of that year, Led Zeppelin disbanded.
Led Zeppelin Reunion – “Black Dog” Live
Page went on a self-imposed exile and emerged only for longtime friend Jeff Beck’s show in 1981. The show marked his return to public life and he composed the soundtrack to the movies Death Wish I and Death Wish II, and took part in the A.R.M.S. charity concerts tour which had the trio of great guitarists, Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton and Jimmy Page playing together on stage for the first time in their entire career.
Jimmy also took part in the Live Aid concert in 1985 with the other surviving band members of Led Zeppelin. He formed a band The Firm with Paul Rodgers of Bad Company and issued two albums which were quite successful after which the two parted ways.
In 1994, Jimmy Page appeared on the MTV Unplugged show with Robert Plant for a ninety minute special dubbed “Unledded”. The show opened to the highest ratings in MTV’s history and was released as a CD and DVD set titled “No Quarter”. It was a huge hit and the tour to promote the record was hugely successful as well.
Over the years Page has been involved in projects with various musicians and has also appeared sporadically with the other Led Zeppelin members in concert shows. He has also been busy remastering the entire Led Zeppelin back catalogue.
Jimmy Page & Robert Plant – “Whole Lotta Love”
Jimmy Page has been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame twice – in 1992 as a member of The Yardbirds and in 1995 as a member of Led Zeppelin. In 2005, Page was awarded the Order of the British Empire and in 2006, Led Zeppelin was inducted into the UK Music Hall of Fame. Page was listed as #9 in Rolling Stone magazines top 100 great guitarists of all time. His philanthropic endeavors with wife Jimena Gomez-Paratcha have brought him spiritual fulfillment.
Jimmy Page represented Britain for the 2008 Olympics closing ceremony and performed Whole Lotta Love to mark the change in Olympic venue to London for the 2012 games. In the meanwhile he harbors hopes of Led Zeppelin getting back together for good.
Scotty Smith
Guitarist Rock ©2008-2009
