Celebrating Jimmy Page on His 79th Birthday!

Today we celebrate the birthday of James Patrick "Jimmy" Page, who turns 79 today!

He started playing guitar at the age of 12, and by 13, had appeared on Huw Wheldon's show, All Your Own in a skiffle quartet. When asked by Wheldon what he wanted to do post graduation, he replied, "I want to do biological research to find a cure for cancer, if it isn't discovered by then."

Source: Michael Ochs Archives

Page eventually left secondary school (which is like a combination of middle and high school for us American folk) to pursue music full time, but eventually enrolled in Sutton Art College when he kept coming down with infectious mononucleosis.

In the late '60s, he joined the Yardbirds, although he was initially reluctant. He was offered Eric Clapton's spot but declined out of loyalty to his friend, but ended up replacing former bassist Paul Samwell-Smith before moving to 2nd lead guitar weeks later. 

He joined Led Zeppelin in 1968, whose sound was largely influenced by Page not only as a musician, but as a producer. They became one of the best selling bands in history, with an estimate of 200-300 million sales worldwide. They remained a band until 1980, when John Bonham passed away in Page's home. 

It took him a while to even touch a guitar again due to grief, but he eventually got back into music and has been part of various groups such as XYZ, Coverdale-Page, Page and Plant, as well as making guest appearances with other performers to this day.

Happy birthday, Jimmy Page!

Happy listening!

Hey there! I'm Olive, and I'm a part-time blog writer hoping to share my love of older music and countercultural history. I started this blog during my freshman year of college as a means to get a head start doing what I love most - writing. I've always loved writing and music, and wanted to do something that would involve doing both. Now, I've got this cool (totally not biased) blog page!

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