Robert Plant pays homage to Terry Reid, who refused Led Zeppelin

Following the disappearance of Terry “Superlungs” Reid, who passed away yesterday – 5 August – at the age of 75, Robert Plant paid tribute to singer, who in 1968 refused to become the voice of the Led Zeppelin. As you know, Jimmy Page had contacted Reid to propose to become the New Yardbirds frontman for a short tour, but It was Reid to suggest a young plant instead. That band, of course, would then become the Led Zeppelin.

“Terry Reid’s enthusiasm and encouragement were incrediblethen, “said Robert Plant in a shared message on social networks:” We were still teenagers, we made to make up for their respective concerts and unleashed ourselves on ‘Season of the Witch’ over and over again. What fun. We were a thousand. He was all. A crazy charisma. “He added:” His voice, his extension. His songs, which captured that carefree era perfectly. ‘Superlungs’, really. He catapulted me into a new and intense world that he has chosen to refuse. Now I listen to his album ‘The River’ and to a tear for my arms brother“.

There are different versions of history according to which Reid “refused the Led Zeppelin”. Second one of these, Reid declined the proposal because the dates coincided with a tour of the Doors and Jefferson Airplane to whom he had already joined. In another version, Terry Reid was expected in the United States to perform with the Rolling Stones, and Page would have been too shy to go to Keith Richards to ask that Reid be freed from the commitment. In a third, Reid would have refused because Jimmy did not want to equalize the compensation that the Stones offered him. Whatever the truth, the fact is that Reid advised Page to contact Robert Plant and the drummer John Bonham, having already shared the stage with their band before the Led Zeppelin, the band of Joy.