The frontman who was “everything” Robert Plant ever wanted to be
You could reasonably say that a figure like Robert Plant was always destined to make it in the world of rock and roll, but it wouldn’t have happened without certain pillars of influence guiding him in the right direction in the first place.
There’s absolutely no secret that Plant was always a big admirer of the blues legends of the 1950s and ‘60s, often basing his vocal takes on the work of these singers, and sometimes going as far as to directly rip from them on certain tracks. While Led Zeppelin would establish themselves as more of a hard rock outfit on their first few albums, there was always a strong blues rock influence playing a role in directing the band, especially when it came to the vocal aspect of the band.
When combined with the talents of the rest of the group, he was allowed to soar and really establish himself, but he was far more ingrained in the blues than the rest of the band. Of course, Jimmy Page had had plenty of experience in playing in blues acts, but when he was allowed to let rip on a solo, he played with far more venom than you’d usually expect to find in a blues performance, and with the dominant rhythm section behind him, they were far more influential in making the band sound heavier. It was largely Plant and Page’s influence that took them in that direction.
In his early years, prior to the formation of Led Zeppelin, Plant used to frequent live performances and learn from the greats, and there was one singer in particular who had all of the traits that he’d wanted to establish for himself.
He knew full well that he was headed in a blues-oriented direction as a performer, but seeing some of his idols perform was what solidified this choice of direction. In a 2014 interview with The Guardian, he claimed that some of these early performances were the guiding light for him in pursuing this style. “The first blues festivals I ever went to, I always got a shiver every time I saw Sonny Boy Williamson, the way he strutted out on the stage,” he claimed. “Finally, I nicked one of those big bass mouth-harps off him, which I’ve still got at home.”
He continued, extolling the virtues of Williamson as a performer. “Sonny Boy really did it for me, that control that he had, and the tales I’ve heard about him since,” Plant explained, before stating that he had something that he felt was a cut above all of the other performers he was blessed to have witnessed. “He had this sort of a charm, he’d have a really good time, yet he was really coarse, and he was everything that I wanted to be at the age of 70.”
There may have been plenty of other great singers that Plant based himself on, but it’s clear that hearing the legendary vocalist known for hits like ‘Don’t Start Me Talkin’’ and ‘Bring It On Home’ was a huge rite of passage that turned out to be the biggest source of inspiration for Plant.
