Page and Plant (also known as Jimmy Page & Robert Plant) was 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 who achieved international success as the guitarist and founder of the rock band Led Zeppelin. Page is prolific in creating guitar riffs. His style involves various alternative ...

and vocalist

Robert Plant Robert Anthony Plant (born 20 August 1948) is an English singer and songwriter, best known as the lead singer and lyricist of the English rock band Led Zeppelin for all of its existence from 1968 until 1980, when the band broke up following the ...

(both formerly of English rock band Led Zeppelin), accompanied by bassist

Charlie Jones Charles, Charlie, Charley or Chuck Jones may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Chuck Jones (1912–2002), American animator, director, and producer * Charles Jones (c. 1889–1942), American actor better known as Buck Jones * Charles Jones (pho ...

and drummer Michael Lee. Formed in 1994 for an MTV Unplugged 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-winning single "

Most High Elyon ( he, ''ʿElyōn'') is an epithet of the God of the Israelites in the Hebrew Bible. ' is usually rendered in English as "God Most High", and similarly in the Septuagint as ("God the highest"). The term also has mundane uses, such as " ...

". 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 MTV Unplugged. 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, England. On 25 and 26 August they taped performances in London, Wales, and Morocco 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 years of ...

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

on bass and percussion, Michael Lee on drums, plus

Pearl Thompson Pearl Thompson (born 8 November 1957 as Paul Stephen ThompsonChris 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) is an E ...

(of The Cure 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 usually made of plastic, or occasionally animal skin. Early forms of the instrument were fashi ...

, Najma Akhtar providing backup vocals, Jim Sutherland on

mandolin A mandolin ( it, mandolino ; literally "small mandola") is a stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is generally plucked with a pick. It most commonly has four courses of doubled strings tuned in unison, thus giving a total of 8 ...

and bodhrán, Nigel Eaton playing the hurdy-gurdy, and

Ed Shearmur Edward Shearmur (also known as Ed Shearmur; born 28 February 1966) is a British film composer. Born in London, England, at age seven he sang in the boys' choir at Westminster Cathedral. Educated at Eton College, he studied at the Royal College o ...

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, 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''. 1998 Page Plant

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. 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,

, production *

– vocals, production *

–

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in the bass range: ** Bass (instrument), including: ** Acoustic bass gui ...

, percussion * Michael Lee –

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

, percussion ;Additional personnel * Porl Thompson – guitar,

* Nigel Eaton – hurdy-gurdy *

– orchestral arrangements,

organ Organ may refer to: Biology * Organ (biology), a part of an organism Musical instruments * Organ (music), a family of keyboard musical instruments characterized by sustained tone ** Electronic organ, an electronic keyboard instrument ** Hammond ...

*Lynton Naiff – string arrangements *Jim Sutherland – mandolin, bodhran *Tim Whelan – keyboards *Phil Andrews – mixing, keyboards *

Martin Meissonnier Martin Meissonnier is a French musician, producer, journalist, and filmmaker. He is known for his work with African pop musicians such as Fela Kuti and King Sunny Adé among other diverse artists. His producing and film directing credits include ...

– pre-production

Discography

;Albums ;Contributions to compilations ;Singles ;Videos

References

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