The singer Robert Plant was touring with Led Zeppelin in the United States back in 1977 when his son Karac died at the age of 5 due to a stomach virus.
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After that tragedy, the musician considered becoming a teacher to be more close to his family and John Bonham “saved” him from that idea as he recalled in an interview with BBC Radio 4 in 2022 (Transcribed by Rock and Roll Garage).
Robert Plant recalls when John Bonham “saved him” from becoming a teacher
“So I came back, gathered what was left, the shards of the family and tried to put it together. I didn’t want to do anything after that. In that whole world, really. But time is time, momentum, encouragement and kindness from everybody. Especially John Bonham, he and his wife were really good to me at the time.”
“The kids were at School and I thought I could do much better than be a singer. I went to Forest Road where the Steiner Center is and then walked around. Then I got back and John Bonham was at the gate going: ‘Come on!’ I said ‘No!’ and he said ‘Get in the car! Get in the car!'”
“He was driving a six-door Mercedes with a chauffeur’s cap on taking me to the pub in the back so he could never get nicked on the way home. Because the cops would always go: ‘Oh, poor driver. He is driving some twerp around (laughs). He was magnificent, love him,” Robert Plant said.
They knew each other since they were teenagers
Plant and Bonham knew each other since they were only 15, when the drummer saw Plant playing with his band. Bonham came to him and said he needed the best drummer in the world if he wanted to go far in his career. It turns out, Bonham was right and he became one of Led Zeppelin’s driving forces. The band came to an end after his tragic death in 1980 at the age of 32, only two years after the death of his friend and The Who’s drummer Keith Moon, who died at the same age.
Led Zeppelin became one of the best selling bands of all time. They have sold an estimated amount of 200 to 300 million records sold worldwide.
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