Jimmy Page

February 11, 2019
Salewicz (Bob Marley) sketches an exciting portrait of the rise to fame of Led Zeppelin guitarist and songwriter Jimmy Page. Salewicz takes readers through Page’s childhood in 1950s Feltham, England, where he picked up a Spanish guitar when he was eight; by age 15, Page formed a rock group called Jimmy Page and the Paramounts. In the mid-’60s, Page played with guitarist Jeff Beck, pianist Nicky Hopkins, and drummer Keith Moon on Beck’s album Bolero. Soon after, Page, looking for a lead singer, met Robert Plant, who introduced him to drummer John Bonham and bassist John Paul Jones, which led to the formation of Led Zeppelin in 1968. Salewicz takes readers through to the early 1980s and explores the significance of the band’s music (he describes “Stairway to Heaven,” for example, as a “kind of blues lament against selfish gold-digger females”). Salewicz also chronicles Page’s drug use, his attraction to the occult and the writings of Aleister Crowley, as well as the band’s infamous infighting and aggressive behavior, especially toward women and journalists (“Do not make any eye contact with John Bonham,” stipulated written rules for interviewers). This is an excellent biography of Page, evenhanded and exhaustive.