When and why Jimmy Page decided to found Led Zeppelin: history and facts

Jimmy Page is well known to rock guitarists and classic rock fans around the world primarily for his work on the six-string instrument with the legendary band Led Zeppelin! He recorded many hits with her, including "Whole Lotta Love", "Immigrant Song", "All My Love" and, of course, the immortal "Stairway to Heaven", a legendary classic of its time and genre. "The Zeppelins broke up after the death of their drummer John Bonham in 1980: the tragedy forced the members to split up and start working on their own solo projects. As for Page, he continued to be involved in various successful musical endeavours such as The Firm, The Honeydrippers and Coverdale and Page, among others.

However, before Page established himself as one of rock 'n' roll's leading titans, he was a gifted talent session musician. He began his promising musical career playing for Neil Christian and The Crusaders when he was still a teenager. However, illness curtailed his time in the band, and so he withdrew from music a little (although still playing local gigs) and enrolled at Sutton College of Art, where he studied painting. But the call of music was too strong, and so after being invited to play guitar in a "Diamonds." Jett Harris and Tony Meehan, he agreed. He became highly sought after when the song became a number one hit in the UK. Jimmy left painting behind.

The fateful session that changed everything.

Gradually, Jimmy Page's career as a session musician went up, and soon he was playing on songs by The Kinks, The Who and Petula Clark. However, after several years of recording for other artists, Page began to tire of the lack of creative freedom in his guitar playing.

His frustrations culminated in one sessionwhich led him to give up being a session musician completely and focus on creating his own music. In the documentary film "Get ready, it's gonna be loud." 2008, he tells us:

"The day I went into that session, the breaking point came... I got really uncomfortable. Walked in, and walked out of the studio. It was literally Muzak (background music that tends to play in shopping centres and other such public places). I'm not creating anything. I'm interpreting everything that's currently recorded, and I even do Muzak sessions. That thought has devastated me..."

Page never said which specific session it was, as he's done so many sessions that it's hard for him to pinpoint it for himself. But it definitely made a huge impression on him, nonetheless. Given how much gifted and innovative is Page as a musician, it is not surprising that having to play boring department store music broke him. Fortunately, Page would soon have the opportunity to play music in a more pleasant environment, for it wasn't long before he was birth of Led Zeppelin…

The birth of Led Zeppelin

Shortly after that fateful session, Jimmy Page accepted an offer to play guitar at the The YardbirdsThe Yardbirds, a band he had previously abandoned when its first guitarist Eric Clapton left the line-up. Page was originally brought in to replace bassist Paul Samwell-Smith, but eventually switched to six-string guitar when The Yardbirds hired another bassist. At the time, another guitar guru was part of the band's line-up, Jeff Beckbut he soon left. Although the constant lineup changes signalled the impending end for the Chicks, it turned out to be a hidden blessing....

The collective officially broke up in 1968, but Page decided to continue with a new incarnation of the band, now called the New Yardbirds. This new band consisted of bassist John Paul Jones, vocalist Robert Plant and drummer John Bonham. If these names sound familiar to you, it's because these were the guys who eventually formed the Led Zeppelin - the most legendary band in the history of classic rock. And all it took was one bad session for Page to become part of one of the greatest rock bands of all time.

Now imagine how much we could have lost if things had been fine with Page in his day.....