Page and Plant (also known as Jimmy Page & Robert Plant) were an English rock band active between 1994 and 1998. The group consisted of guitarist

Jimmy Page James Patrick Page (born 9 January 1944) is an English musician and producer who achieved international success as the guitarist and founder of the Rock music, rock band Led Zeppelin. Page began his career as a studio session musician in Lo ...

and vocalist

Robert Plant Robert Anthony Plant (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 ca ...

(both formerly of English rock band

Led Zeppelin Led Zeppelin were an English rock music, rock band formed in London in 1968. The band comprised vocalist Robert Plant, guitarist Jimmy Page, bassist-keyboardist John Paul Jones (musician), John Paul Jones and drummer John Bonham. With a he ...

), accompanied by bassist Charlie Jones and drummer Michael Lee. Formed in 1994 for an

MTV Unplugged ''MTV Unplugged'' is an American television series on MTV. It showcases recorded live performances of popular music artists playing acoustic instrument, acoustic or "unplugged" variations of songs. The show aired regularly from 1989 to 1999. F ...

reunion, Page and Plant released the platinum-selling live album ''No Quarter'', featuring both new material and Middle Eastern-influenced covers of classic Led Zeppelin songs. Following the success of the live album, they embarked on a world tour featuring a full orchestra. In 1998, Page and Plant released '' Walking into Clarksdale'', comprising entirely new material and featuring the

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious ...

-winning single " Most High". Following the album's release, they embarked on a second world tour before disbanding at the end of 1998. The band reunited for a final performance in 2001.

History

The initial plans for a reunion were made in 1993, with discussions between the two of collaborating emerging from casual small talk and then an invitation to perform on

. Music producer Bill Curbishley, who had been managing Plant since the 1980s and who assumed management of Page in 1994, was integral in the reuniting of Page and Plant. Despite failed attempts by others to reunite the pair, Curbishley was able to persuade the previously reluctant Plant into working with Page again.Lewis, Dave and Pallett, Simon (1997) ''Led Zeppelin: The Concert File'', London: Omnibus Press. . In an interview he gave in 2004, Page recounted the background: Plant's recollection of the reunion was as follows:

MTV Unplugged, ''No Quarter'', and Unledded World Tour (1994–1997)

Led Zeppelin's main songwriters reformed on 17 April 1994 as a part of the Alexis Korner Memorial Concert at

Buxton Buxton is a spa town in the High Peak, Derbyshire, Borough of High Peak, Derbyshire, in the East Midlands region of England. It is England's highest market town, sited at some above sea level.Alston, Cumbria also claims this, but lacks a regu ...

, England. On 25 and 26 August they taped performances in London,

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

, and

Morocco Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...

with

Egyptian ''Egyptian'' describes something of, from, or related to Egypt. Egyptian or Egyptians may refer to: Nations and ethnic groups * Egyptians, a national group in North Africa ** Egyptian culture, a complex and stable culture with thousands of year ...

and Moroccan orchestration of several Led Zeppelin tunes along with four new songs. The performances aired on 12 October, and were so successful that the two coordinated a tour which kicked off in February 1995. The Unplugged performance was released as an album in November 1994 as '' No Quarter: Jimmy Page and Robert Plant Unledded''. Page and Plant's touring line-up included Charlie Jones on bass and percussion, Michael Lee on drums, plus

Pearl Thompson Pearl Thompson (born Paul Stephen Thompson,Chris Gerrard (2021)The Cure FAQ: All That’s Left to Know About the Most Heartbreakingly Excellent Rock Band the World Has Ever Known. Backbeat, ISBN 9781493053988, p. 155 8 November 1957) is an Engl ...

(of

The Cure The Cure are an English Rock music, rock band formed in Crawley in 1976 by Robert Smith (musician), Robert Smith (vocals, guitar) and Lol Tolhurst (drums). The band's current line-up comprises Smith, Perry Bamonte (guitar and keyboards), Reev ...

fame, then credited as "Porl Thompson") on guitar and

banjo The banjo is a stringed instrument with a thin membrane stretched over a frame or cavity to form a resonator. The membrane is typically circular, and in modern forms is usually made of plastic, where early membranes were made of animal skin. ...

, Najma Akhtar providing backup vocals, Jim Sutherland on

mandolin A mandolin (, ; literally "small mandola") is a Chordophone, stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is generally Plucked string instrument, plucked with a plectrum, pick. It most commonly has four Course (music), courses of doubled St ...

and

bodhrán The bodhrán (, ; plural ''bodhráin'') is a frame drum used in Irish music ranging from in diameter, with most drums measuring . The sides of the drum are deep. A Goatskin (material), goatskin head is tacked to one side (synthetic heads or ot ...

, Nigel Eaton playing the

hurdy-gurdy The hurdy-gurdy is a string instrument that produces sound by a hand-turned crank, rosined wheel rubbing against the strings. The wheel functions much like a violin (or nyckelharpa) bow, and single notes played on the instrument sound similar ...

, and Ed Shearmur adding Hammond organ with orchestral arrangements. Page spoke fondly of the lineup, stating: The band, joined by keyboardist Phil Andrews, recorded a cover of "Rude World" by Rainer Ptacek for the 1997 charity album ''The Inner Flame: A Tribute to Rainer Ptacek''.

''Walking into Clarksdale'' and Walking into Everywhere World Tour (1998)

In 1998, Page and Plant entered the studio to record '' Walking into Clarksdale''. The album, recorded and mixed by engineer

Steve Albini Steven Frank Albini (; July 22, 1962 – May 7, 2024) was an American musician and audio engineer. He founded and fronted the influential post-hardcore and noise rock bands Big Black (1981–1987), Rapeman (1987–1989) and Shellac (band), ...

, featured the single "Most High", which won the Grammy Award for Best Hard Rock Performance. ''Walking into Clarksdale'' was certified gold with over 500,000 copies sold. Despite the critical acclaim for "Most High", the album received mixed reviews from critics and was not as commercially successful as 1994's platinum-certified ''No Quarter''. To promote ''Walking into Clarksdale'', Page and Plant embarked on a world tour consisting of 97 tour dates in North America and Europe. Their concert in Bucharest, Romania was professionally filmed an
aired live
on MTV for the special "Live from the 10 Spot".

Dissolution and final performance (1998–2001)

After the 1998 supporting tour for ''Walking into Clarksdale'', Robert Plant left to focus on other projects, dissolving the reunion. The pair briefly reunited for a final performance in 2001 at the

Montreux Jazz Festival The Montreux Jazz Festival (formerly Festival de Jazz Montreux and Festival International de Jazz Montreux) is a music festival in Switzerland, held annually in early July in Montreux on the Lake Geneva shoreline. It is the second-largest annu ...

. In a 2005 interview with ''Uncut'' magazine, Plant attributed his decision to dissatisfaction with the production on ''Walking Into Clarksdale'', along with a desire to "get back to playing clubs": Page later revealed that he had written songs for a follow-up studio album, stating:

Members

– acoustic and

electric guitar An electric guitar is a guitar that requires external electric Guitar amplifier, sound amplification in order to be heard at typical performance volumes, unlike a standard acoustic guitar. It uses one or more pickup (music technology), pickups ...

, production *

–

vocals Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define sing ...

, production * Charlie Jones –

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Wood * Bass or basswood, the wood of the tilia americana tree Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in th ...

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a percussion mallet, beater including attached or enclosed beaters or Rattle (percussion beater), rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or ...

* Michael Lee –

drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

, percussion ;Additional personnel * Porl Thompson – guitar,

* Nigel Eaton –

* Ed Shearmur – orchestral arrangements,

organ Organ and organs may refer to: Biology * Organ (biology), a group of tissues organized to serve a common function * Organ system, a collection of organs that function together to carry out specific functions within the body. Musical instruments ...

*Lynton Naiff – string arrangements *Jim Sutherland – mandolin, bodhran *Tim Whelan – keyboards *Phil Andrews – mixing, keyboards * Martin Meissonnier – pre-production

Discography

;Albums ;Contributions to compilations ;Singles ;Videos

References

{{Authority control English rock music groups Led Zeppelin Grammy Award winners English rock music duos Jimmy Page Robert Plant Musical groups established in 1994 Musical groups disestablished in 1998 Rock music groups from London Mercury Records artists Atlantic Records artists Fontana Records artists English musical quartets English male musical duos British songwriting teams