Jimmy Page | Artist

James Patrick Page OBE is an English rock musician born 1944 in Heston, Middlesex. He achieved international success as guitarist and founder of Led Zeppelin but prior to that was in the Yardbirds and one of the UK's most sought-after session men during the '60s. Prolific in creating guitar riffs, Page’s style involves various alternative tunings and melodic solos, coupled with aggressive, distorted guitar tones and occasional use of a cello bow to extract droning sound textures. It is also characterised by his folk and eastern-influenced acoustic work. Page is widely considered to be one of the greatest and most influential rock guitarists of all time, with Rolling Stone magazine describing him as "the pontiff of power riffing" and ranking him number three in their list of the "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time", behind Jimi Hendrix and Eric Clapton. While still a student, Page often performed at the Marquee Club with bands such as Cyril Davies' All Stars and Alexis Korner's Blues Incorporated, along with Jeff Beck and Eric Clapton. He soon became a sought-after studio session man in London, backing artists as diverse as Donovan, the Kinks, Chris Farlowe, John Mayall, Nico, and Marianne Faithfull. Page was the favoured session guitarist of record producer Shel Tamy, who produced the Kinks and the Who, and was later hired by Stones manager Andrew Loog Oldham as house producer for the newly formed Immediate label. When questioned about which songs he played on, especially ones where there is controversy, Page often points out that it is hard to remember exactly what he did given the enormous number of sessions he was playing at the time. As he explained, "I was doing three sessions a day, fifteen sessions a week", over the course of several years. Between 1966-1968 Page was a member of the Yardbirds and when they broke up, he founded Led Zeppelin, which was initially called the New Yardbirds. Zeppelin of course became one of the greatest bands in rock music history, being active from 1968 to 1980, when drummer John Bonham passed away. Page then participated in a number of groups throughout the 1980s and 1990s, including XYZ, The Firm, the Honeydrippers, Coverdale & Page, and Page & Plant. Since 2000, he has worked with many artists, both live and in studio recordings, and participated in a one-off Led Zeppelin reunion in 2007 that was released as the 2012 concert film Celebration Day. Along with the Edge and Jack White, he participated in the 2008 documentary 'It Might Get Loud'. Having more than a passing interest in the occult, Page also wrote and performed music for the Kenneth Anger film Lucifer Rising, which was released on vinyl exclusively through his web page on the Spring Equinox of 2012. From an early age Page developed a keen interest in occultist-magician Aleister Crowley (1875-1947) and was an avid collector of Crowley memorabilia. In 1970 he bought Crowley's Scottish manor, Boleskine House, which he held until 1992. During that time he restored the house to how it would have looked during Crowley's ownership, commissioning artist Charles Pace to paint Crowley-esque murals on the walls, based on the murals in Crowley's Abbey of Thelema in Sicily, discovered by Kenneth Anger in 1955. The appearance of four symbols on the jacket of Led Zeppelin IV has been linked to Page's interest in the occult. The four symbols represented each member of the band. Page's own so-called "Zoso" symbol originated in Ars Magica Arteficii (1557) by Gerolamo Cardano, an old alchemical grimoire, where it has been identified as a sigil consisting of zodiac signs. As a recording artist, Page's releases outside his group work, collaborations and backing contributions, are relatively sparse. Standout releases include Live at the Greek with The Black Crowes (2000), Lucifer Rising and Other Sound Tracks (2012), Tribute to Alexis Korner: Live at the Club Palais Ballroom, Nottingham 1984 (2019), and the excellent compilations of early work Hip Young Guitar Slinger (2000) and Have Guitar, Will Travel (2003). In 2005, Page was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in recognition of his Brazilian charity work for Task Brazil and Action For Brazil's Children's Trust.

Artist Website: jimmypage.com

Featured Albums: Jimmy Page

Related Artists: Yardbirds, Led Zeppelin, Page & Plant, The Black Crowes, Roy Harper