Jimmy Page: The Definitive Biography
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- €8.49
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- €8.49
Publisher Description
Founder of one of the most influential and successful rock bands of all time, legendary Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page has nevertheless remained an enigma. In this definitive and comprehensive biography of his life so far, Chris Salewicz draws on his own interviews with Page and those closest around him to unravel the man behind the mystery.
Having sold over 300 million copies worldwide, Led Zeppelin was the biggest band of the ’70s and has been loved by the legions ever since. From his own conversations with Jimmy, the rest of Led Zeppelin, old girlfriends, tour managers and session musicians to name but a few, Salewicz reveals the many trials and tribulations which transformed the middle class boy from the Surrey suburbs into one of rock’s most enigmatic frontmen.
Detailed, thrilling and expertly researched, Salewicz discovers a man who was prepared to die for his art; who justified heroin use so he could harness its narcotic focus whilst making albums, and who overcame numerous death threats during this time. A warrior magician, Salewicz delves into the many skeletons and eccentricities in Page’s closet, contextualising him against a background of London gangsters, deaths, and power struggles which Page has continued to rail against to this day, even within his own band.
As entertaining as it is insightful, and from a writer who experienced first-hand the Led Zeppelin furore, this promises to be as close to a Jimmy Page autobiography as fans can get.
Reviews
‘[An] ever-readable tome… Anyone intrigued by how a soft-spoken boy from the west London suburbs became one of the world’s most famous musicians won’t be disappointed.’
– The Times
‘A hard-riffing new book that reveals how Jimmy Page became the dark heart of Led Zeppelin’
– The Mail on Sunday
‘[Salewicz] lovingly records all the highs and bathetic lows of the rock-star afterlife’
– The Sunday Times
About the author
Chris Salewicz is an acclaimed music journalist and writer. He worked at the NME in the late 1970’s and early ‘80’s and has written extensively for the Sunday Times and Q magazine.
His previous books include Redemption Song and Bob Marley: The Untold Story
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
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.
