Jimmy Page

Jimmy Page: biography

Jimmy Page is a musician whose name will become a legend even for those who are not fans of rock music. The masterly guitarist, producer, composer and arranger — we can mention Jimmy Page's talents for a long time. However, certainly, the cult rock band Led Zeppelin which creativity still remains actual and popular became the major achievement of the musician and the main business of all his life.

Childhood and youth

The future rock star was born on the 9th of January, 1944 in London. The musician spent his early childhood in Heston, in the suburbs of London, and in 1952 Jimmy's family moved to the city of Epsom. As Page confessed later in one of the interviews, he was growing a closed child and till the age of five, he didn't communicate with his peers.

By the words of Jimmy, his voluntary isolation built up his character: the musician isn’t afraid of being alone and even, on the contrary, feels harmonious, without communication with other people.

For the first time Jimmy tried to play the guitar at the age of twelve – on the attic, the boy found his father’s old musical instrument.

The musical instrument which wasn't tuned didn't impress the young man. Though sometime later he was inspired by the song of Elvis Presley, and he began to have a desire to learn to play the guitar. Jimmy’s schoolmate showed him how to play several chords — in such a way Page's path to the glory has begun.

In a short time, the young man already began to attend the classes at the music school and to study hard on his own. As Jimmy confessed, Scotty Moore and James Burton — are the guitarists who performed together with Elvis Presley became his best teachers at that time, and the song "Baby Let’s Play House" became his favorite song forever.

At the age of fourteen, Jimmy received his first electric guitar as a present from his parents. Since then the young man practically spent all the time with the electric guitar in his hands: school teachers even had to take Page's guitar away until the end of the lessons. Almost at the same time, Page began to have companions on his hobby.

Young people tried to create music groups, composed the songs and re-recorded popular hits. After finishing the studies at school, Jimmy entered the at college. Though he didn’t have enough time for the studies: Page spent all his forces on the concerts and performances and paid most attention to it. As a result, the young man, at last, gave preference to the music career.

Мusic

Jimmy Page began his professional musical biography when he became the member of the music band The Yardbirds where the artist became a bass guitarist. The first concerts and fans of the musician are connected with this group. Unfortunately, in 1968 the group broke up. Later, Page decided to found his own collective — this allowed him to embody all his ideas which weren’t realized in The Yardbirds band.

The vocalist Robert Plant, the bass player John Paul Jones and the drummer John Bonham became the members of the first structure of the newly founded Led Zeppelin band. The first album called by the band’s name gained popularity in a short time and brought long-awaited fame to the musicians. The public began to call Page the guitarist of the epoch — virtuous playing of Jimmy conquered the listeners.

At the same time, in 1969 in the discography of the band, there was released the second album called "Led Zeppelin II" which again enchanted the melomaniacs. At that time it was the original "stringed" technique of Jimmy’s play which became the reason for admiration: the musician played the guitar with a bow for string musical instruments, trying to obtain a unique effect of the combination of rock blues.

In 1970 and 1971 there were released one by one the albums with the serial numbers III and IV. This period is considered to be the booming period of the popularity of the music band — almost every composition became a hit, and the song "Stairway to Heaven" - still remains popular. Jimmy Page called this song the most personal song which discloses a little bit the inner world of the musicians.

The album "Presence" which was recorded in 1976 became the next album the music from which became the reflection of the events happening with the musicians of Led Zeppelin. It was a hard time for the band: they spent 20 hours a day at the studio, and Robert Plant, the vocalist, was at the hospital chained in the plaster at that time.

As Jimmy Page confessed later, the band was on the verge of the breakup. The songs from this album sound very sharply and "hard" that was not characteristic of Led Zeppelin. Nevertheless, Page considered this disc his favorite.

Moreover, in a major part, Jimmy's fancy for occult literature has influenced the creativity of Led Zeppelin. In the early seventies, the musician even bought the shop and at the same time the publishing house of books of the similar genre. Apparently, he began to be seriously engaged in his mission.

The literary works written by Aleister Crowley who positioned himself as a magician and the Satanist became the major books for Page. Under the influence of his new hobby, Jimmy Page even started to perform in the suit of the dragon on which there was represented the zodiac sign of the musician - the Capricorn. Also, the zodiac signs of Cancer and the Scorpion were depicted on the suit.

Since 1980, after the death of the drummer of the band – John Bonham, Jimmy Page continued to record compositions and videos on his own and also in collaboration with other musicians. In such a way there appeared joint compositions with Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton, Paul Rogers, Roy Harper, David Coverdale (the vocalist of Deep Purple and Whitesnake). According to the rumors, at the same time, Jimmy Page managed to cope with the heroin abuse from which the musician was suffering during more than one year.

From the moment the breakup of Led Zeppelin the musicians tried to reestablish the band twice, but there was no more progress than just a couple of the concerts. However, Jimmy Page continued to give concerts and to appear at the charitable actions. Moreover, the musician composed a couple of several songs for the movies.

In 2008 the musician was honored to present his native country at the closing ceremony of the Olympic Games together with David Beckham and Leona Lewis.

Personal life

The personal life of Jimmy Page was developing not less brightly, than his musical career. The musician had two spouses. With the first wife, Patricia Ecker, the actor has lived for ten years. The second wife of Page - Jimena Gomez-Paratcha has been together with the rock musician for thirteen years. However, none of the marriages hasn't subdued the affection of the tall, handsome musician (Jimmy Page is 180 cm tall).

There were a lot of rumors about the numerous love affairs of Jimmy. According to the public’s opinion, the love affair with the girl called Lori Maddox who was just fourteen years old at the time of the fling with the musician was the most shocking of all.

By hearsay, before Jimmy and the young beauty got acquainted the girl had already had close relations with David Bowie. However, the girl preferred Page who was twice older than her. One more scandal burst in 2015 when 71-year-old Jimmy Page told about the love affair with the actress Scarlett Sabet who just turned 25 years old.

There is also information about five children of the musician who were born from three different women.

Jimmy Page at present

In 2018 the photos of Jimmy Page, Robert Plant, and John Paul Jones again appeared on the pages of the news editions. That time the book about the story of the group on which the ex-participants of Led Zeppelin are working now has become the reason for this.

It will be the first edition with the illustrations dedicated to the cult band. It’s already known that the volume of the book is more than 400 pages. The presentation of the book is set for October of 2018: it will be held in conjunction with the 50-year anniversary of Led Zeppelin.

Discography

• 1969 — Led Zeppelin
• 1969 — Led Zeppelin II
• 1970 — Led Zeppelin III
• 1971 — Led Zeppelin IV
• 1973 — Houses of the Holy
• 1975 — Physical Graffiti
• 1976 — Presence
• 1979 — In Through the Out Door
• 1982 — Coda

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