jimmy page

Date of Birth
9 January 1944, Heston, Middlesex, England, UK

Birth Name
James Patrick Page

Height
5' 11" (1.80 m)

Spouse
Jimena Gomez-Paratcha (April 1995 - July 2008) (separated) 2 children
Patricia Ecker (1986 - 16 January 1995) (divorced) 1 child
Charlotte Martin (14 January 1970 - October 1983) (separated) 1 child

Trade Mark

Uses a wide variety of guitars

Fast riffs

Long Guitar Solos

Frequently used a Gibson EDS-1275

"Stairway to Heaven" Guitar Solo

Frequently uses a Gibson Les Paul

Trivia

Owns much of the property around Loch Ness in Scotland, UK.

As of 1998, he ranks number 15 in the world's 100 richest rock stars with an estimated worth of £55,000,000/$78,000,000 (at the 2009 exchange rate).

Starting out as a studio session hack, his early guitar licks have featured on the recordings of artists such as Donovan, Tom Jones, P.J. Proby, Joe Cocker, Herman's Hermits, The Rolling Stones, The Yardbirds and The Who, etc. As he was then unable to read music, he was given advice by fellow session guitarist Vic Flick. His work on The Kinks's "You Really Got Me" and "All Day and All of the Night", along with his indelible licks on early Van Morrison track "Baby Please Don't Go", are legendary.

His guitar solo on Dave Berry's 1964 UK top ten hit "The Crying Game" featured some pioneering use of the wah-wah pedal, later popularized by Jimi Hendrix on his "Electric Ladyland" album.

The Gibson EDS-1275 6/12-string doubleneck that he used on live performances of the classic "Stairway to Heaven", and later on "The Song Remains the Same" and "The Rain Song", had to be especially ordered from the Gibson factory in Kalamazoo, Michigan, because it had only been available in the company catalogue from 1962 to 1966. Needless to say, Page's high-profile use of the instrument must have captured the fancy of many a budding picker, as the guitar is still in production today.

Page's fearsome foursome of guitars have included: a 1958 Gibson Les Paul Standard; a 1959 Les Paul Standard; a Sixties Danelectro and the Gibson EDS-1275 6/12-string doubleneck.

Bought the house Aleister Crowley once owned in Scotland on the Loch Ness as a retreat. Sold it to hoteliers in the 1980s.

Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, as a member of The Yardbirds, in 1992. Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, as a member of Led Zeppelin, in 1995.

Page also produced all of the Led Zeppelin albums, re-masters and some boxed sets.

Voted London's greatest guitarist in Total Guitar Magazine's poll of the greatest 12 British guitarists. [July 2001]

Was originally invited to replace Eric Clapton in The Yardbirds, but refused and reccomended his friend Jeff Beck. He later changed his mind and joined, replacing bassist Paul Samwell-Smith. However, when Chris Dreja switched to bass, he went back to playing guitar.

Son, James, born in 1988.

Daughter Scarlet, born in March 1971 to his long-time girlfriend, Charlotte Martin (a French model), who is a photographer.

Appears on the track "Beck's Bolero" on the first "Jeff Beck Group" album along with fellow Led Zeppelin member John Paul Jones and The Who's drummer Keith Moon. Jimmy plays 2nd guitar, John Paul Jones plays organ and Keith Moon plays drums on the track.

He was the first artist to be immortalised in the British Walk of Fame in London, which honours musical artists. The ceremony took place on August 23, 2004.

Played guitar on Tom Jones's hit in 1965 "It's Not Unusual". Chris Slade played drums on that track.

In the early 1980s Robert Plant, of Led Zeppelin, stated that he and Jimmy Page used to listen to Huelyn Duvall's "Three Months To Kill" to gain musical inspiration. Interestingly, legendary Nashville guitarist Hank Garland's guitar work was featured on this recording as well as on Duvall's "Little Boy Blue" and "Juliet".

December 2005: Awarded an OBE (Officer of the Order of the British Empire) by Queen Elizabeth II for his charity work in helping street children in Brazil.

He was an only child. His father was an engineer and his mother worked as a secretary for a physician.

Son named Asher born in 1999.

Winner of the 2005 Q Icon Award.

His ex-wife, Charlotte Martin, is an ex-girlfriend of Eric Clapton. Martin introduced Clapton to artist Martin Sharp. The pair co-wrote the popular Cream hit "Tales of Brave Ulysses", as well as "Anyone for Tennis?".

Led Zeppelin were inducted into the UK Music Hall of Fame for their outstanding contribution to British music and integral part of British music culture. [14 November 2006]

Reverse echo or reverb is a slightly unusual sound effect created as the result of recording an echo or delayed signal of an audio recording whilst being played backwards. The original recording is then played forwards accompanied by the recording of the echo or delayed signal which is now in reverse. The effect is also commonly used in film, often on the vocal recordings especially in Horror movies. The swelling effect is often used to create tension and intensity, but can also be used for more subtle atmospheric effect. Guitarist Jimmy Page lays claim to the invention of this effect, stating that he originally developed the method when recording the single "Ten Little Indians" with The Yardbirds in 1967.

Prior to forming Led Zeppelin, Page played with John Paul Jones and John Bonham on Donovan Leitch's recording of "Hurdy Gurdy Man".

According to Page, the spelling of "lead" was changed for the band name Led Zeppelin because he didn't want the pronunciation to be confused with the word "lead" (as in lead singer.).

When Zeppelin first played in Denmark, the Countess Zeppelin (relative of the designer of the famous dirigibles) angrily protested about the use of her family name. To defuse the situation, the band played the Danish shows under the name "The Knobs".

Played rhythm guitar on the Who classic "I Can't Explain".

Led Zeppelin is the second bestselling group in American history with, according the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), more than 111,500,000 records sold. 11.5 million more records sold than third bestselling group in US history, the Eagles. (2009).

Led Zeppelin's name came from a quip by the late Who bassist John Entwistle. When discussing the new band's prospects with Keith Moon, Entwistle said, according to [a Zeppelin roadie], "Yeah. We'll call it Lead Zeppelin. Because it'll fucking go over like a lead balloon".

After Led Zeppelin broke up, Page would not allow anybody to sing "Stairway to Heaven" during live performances; he would instead play the song as an instrumental. He felt that no one could do the song justice except Robert Plant.

He and Vic Flick played guitar on Lulu's hit recording of "Shout" in 1964.

Invited Robert Plant to become the new lead singer for Led Zeppelin, after he heard of him playing in another rock band.

Resides in Berkshire, UK.

Performed the soundtrack for the film Death Wish II.

Although best known for his role in Led Zeppelin, he also played in The Firm (with Paul Rodgers) and the short-lived XYZ (with Chris Squire and Alan White, both of Yes).

Initially formed Led Zeppelin as a way of filling Yardbirds touring obligations after that band broke up. As such, the group was initially called The New Yardbirds.

Page, along with the other future members of Led Zeppelin (with the exception of Robert Plant), appeared as the backing band on the Donovan recording Hurdy Gurdy Man.

Teamed up with Whitesnake vocalist David Coverdale in the early '90s for the short-lived Coverdale/Page project.

According to Stephen Smith's "Hammer of the Gods," Page changed the spelling of "Lead" to "Led" because he didn't want, as Page put it, "thick Americans" pronouncing it like "leed".

Rearranged his classic "Whole Lotta Love" for Leona Lewis who performed the song at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China. Page personally provided his signature guitar backing as Lewis sang atop an ornate podium high above the stage.

Lives in Windsor, United Kingdom.

Personal Quotes

My finger picking is sort of a cross between Pete Seeger, Earl Scruggs, and total incompetence.

Let me explain something about guitar playing. Everyone's got their own character, and that's the thing that's amazed me about guitar playing since the day I first picked it up. Everyone's approach to what can come out of six strings is different from another person, but it's all valid.

I believe every guitar player inherently has something unique about their playing. They just have to identify what makes them different and develop it.

Live Aid (1985) (TV) was pretty shambolic. We came together and rehearsed with a drummer we'd never met before and then we were joined by Phil Collins, who we'd never played with before, on this great Live Aid (1985) (TV) stage. We went there with the spirit of it, but actually it was pretty shambolic.

Right from the first time we went to America in 1968, Led Zeppelin was a word-of-mouth thing. You can't really compare it to how it is today.

Every musician wants to do something which will hold up for a long time, and I guess we did it with 'Stairway to Heaven.'

At Live Aid (1985) (TV), for example, we were all doing our individual things. Robert Plant had his solo career, I was working with Paul Rodgers in the Firm, John Paul Jones was doing his project. We came together in the spirit of Live Aid (1985) (TV) and we could only rehearse actually at the venue, more or less; we had about half an hour's rehearsal and it just clearly wasn't good enough. The 1988 [Atlantic Records 40th Anniversary: It's Only Rock 'n' Roll (1988) (TV)] reunion wasn't far short of the same sort of ingredients. "So if we were going to do the run-up to the O2 we needed to feel confident in our playing. We played really, really well. But we played with a totally different urgency, if you like, from how we played in the rehearsals - although the rehearsals were pretty damn good, too. I suppose in retrospect the fact there was only one gig then it's great that everyone afterwards would say that it was an historic and inspiring gig for people to hear. "It is a shame that there weren't any more that followed on and now we got to two years later and everyone's doing their own thing and that's how that is at this point of time or certainly into next year. So that's it.

[on the possibility of new solo work]: It's not like I don't have material. It's just a question of going ahead and doing it. I'd like to try some ambitious projects, that's what it is. It would be very easy just to get together and knock something out with the more accepted format of how, say, my music might be presented. However I can always do that if it comes to it.

I think what we did on [the CD release] 'How the West was Won' - that 1972 gig - is pretty much a testament of how good it was. It would have been nice to have had a little more visual recordings, but there you go. That's the conundrum of Led Zeppelin!

During a concert that's going to be about three hours long, I was trying to take new angles on the solos. Sometimes those things would be really really terrific and sometimes you'd hit a wrong note on the way and other times you'd make that wrong note actually work 'cos you work around that. But [between us] this whole musical entity locked together and it would just sort of mutate over the course of the evening's concert. Exploring and delving into that, it was just marvellous.

What I remember about that 1973 tour is that we arrived in America and we did 53,000 at Atlanta and then 55,000 at the following concert in Tampa, Florida - it was quite clear that if people were going to come along to see us in those kind of numbers we weren't going to have problems doing concerts that would fulfil the demand. It was phenomenal though - the audience reaction was just so with us, y'know.

[On refusing any labeling on the LZ IV album cover]: It wasn't easy. The record company were sort of insisting that the name go on it. There were eyes looking towards heaven if you like. It was hinted it was professional suicide to go out with an album with no title. The reality of it was that we'd had so many dour reviews to our albums along the way. At the time each came out it was difficult sometimes for the reviewers to come to terms with what was on there, without an immediate point of reference to the previous album. But the ethic of the band was very much summing up where we were collectively at that point in time. An untitled album struck me as the best answer to all the critics - because we knew the way that the music was being received both by sales and attendance at concerts.

We were recording another number ['Four Sticks']; we'd just finished a take and John Bonham did the drum intro and we just followed on. I started doing pretty much half of that riff you hear on 'Rock n Roll' and it was just so exciting that we thought, "let's just work on this". The riff and the sequence was really immediate to those 12-bar patterns that you had in those old rock songs like [from] Little Richard, etc, and it was just so spur-of-the-moment the way that it just came together more or less out of nowhere.

[On recording 'Led Zeppelin IV']: I must say that when you had four musicians that were really without doubt at the top of their game there and they played really superbly as a band and that whole aspect took on a fifth element - this alchemy of it that was really ripe for creation. When you mention 'Four Sticks,' for example, at the time that really sounded quite avant-garde compared with anything else that had gone before it, not from us but from other quarters. We were able to do, collectively, so much. It was a wonderful vehicle to be able to develop.

The one thing I don't want to do is to try to make it look as though I'm trying to be controversial about what they're doing. Whatever anyone else does is fine. Theirs [Robert Plant and Alison Krauss''s] was a really acclaimed album, and it's really good.

[On various so-called biographies of Led Zeppelin]: I don't actually read them, I just hear about them from other people. I did see Wall the other day at one of those award ceremonies and I just told him: 'I wanted you to know I'm writing a book on Mick Wall . . .'

[As of 2010, does he still have his stage costumes from the 1970s?] Yes I do. Oh, yeah! Carefully stored. The only thing is I'll never get in 'em again! I think the waist on them is 26in. Absolutely ridiculous!

The tours took a lot ... well, did it take a lot out of me? I don't know whether it did. It gave as much to me as it took out. It was like being on a permanent adrenalin drip, d'you know what I mean? Playing live, at least, was to be right on the edge of the moment.

The point about the music and the album covers was to be something that would be thought-provoking, hopefully on an intellectual or an emotional level. Whatever Mick Wall's written about the hermit [from the LZ IV cover] is probably so off. It doesn't matter. The cover was supposed to be something that was for other people to savour rather than for me to actually spell everything out, which would make the whole thing rather disappointing on that level of your own personal adventure into the music.

[On LZ IV]: I think every track on it has proved to be an absolute classic. In the rehearsal, Robert Plant was very quiet while he wrote most of the lyrics; then he just let fire!

[On offers to write his autobiography]: I've had a lot of offers. The idea of a posthumous book appeals to me . . . When I look back at it it's still in focus. Most of it is clear.

[On his own picture on Royal Mail stamps issued in 2010]: It's the most unexpected experience. Having been a kid learning about stamps ... well, it's quite a shock to be honest with you - A pleasant shock! I'm thrilled!

[In 2010, looking back on Led Zeppelin's 2007 one-show reunion]: At the time of the run-up and rehearsals towards the show I think we assumed that there were going to be more dates. It would have been nice to have played more concerts. But, even while I was going round doing Christmas shopping people were still coming up and saying: 'Is there a chance of a reunion?' I don't have any real answer, apart from that it doesn't look like it.

Where Are They Now

(Curr) Active in the ABC Trust, a charity benefiting the street children of Brazil, home of his wife Jimena. His daughter Scarlet is a photographer in the rock 'n roll world and is frequently published in Kerrang!, Q, Revolver, and Guitar World.

(December 2005) He went to pick up his O.B.E. (Officer of the Order of the British Empire) at Buckingham Palace in London, England for his services to charity.

(2007) Release of the book, "Jimmy Page: Magus, Musician, Man: An Unauthorized Biography" by George Case.