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OLD LOTTA LOVE
EXCLUSIVE Seventies rock legends Led Zeppelin to reunite for UK gig & world tour
By Sean Hamilton Showbiz Editor 24/06/2007
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IT'S the reunion rock fans thought would never happen. Led Zeppelin are planning to re-form for a massive world tour.
The surviving members of the Seventies "Whole Lotta Love" group have been approached to headline a memorial concert for the founder of their record label, who died last year.
They are understood to have agreed - and during discussions about the concert, they gave the green light for a tour afterwards.
Singer Robert Plant, guitarist Jimmy Page and bassist John Paul Jones will be joined by the late drummer John Bonham's son Jason. Led Zep, who split in 1980 following the death of Bonham, have reunited only a handful of times in the last 20 years - most famously for Live Aid in 1985.
But a tour has never been on the agenda for the group who invented hard rock with songs such as Whole Lotta Love, Stairway To Heaven and Black Dog.
Plans for the gig in London to remember Atlantic Records boss Ahmet Ertegun are in the advanced stages. Approaches have also been made to the Rolling Stones, Genesis, James Blunt, The Streets and Bloc Party.
A friend of the band said: "Page, Plant and Jones spoke and agreed to do the memorial concert. They are waiting for a definite date.
"And no-one can quite believe it, but during discussions about the concert they all gave the green light to a tour if it all goes well and they don't all fall out.
"It has been hoped-for and denied for years. But this is closest they have ever come to a reunion tour. The feeling is that this is going to happen next year.
"They have watched the way The Police and Pink Floyd have come back together.
"And, of course, they would like to step up again to the world stage before they are all too old to do it. They certainly don't need the money. But they would like the adulation."
A world tour by Led Zeppelin would generate a whole lotta cash. The Stones' epic A Bigger Bang tour has already grossed more than £200million.
But, with 300million album sales worldwide, money is not a concern for Led Zep. While they no longer make the mayhem for which they became famous - at their peak, the band wrote the rock rulebook for drink and drug-fuelled antics - the surviving members all still make music.
Jimmy Page and Robert Plant have continued to work together on-and-off and in 1998 released the album Walking Into Clarksdale.
Plant, now 58, has never left his roots in the West Midlands and still lives on a farm near Kidderminster.
Since splitting from his wife Maureen Wilson in 1982 he has remained single, although he has been romantically linked with singers Alannah Myles and Najma Akhtar.
Often voted the best rock guitarist of all time in polls, Page, 63, from Hounslow, Middx, wrote the soundtracks to the Death Wish films in the 1980s.
A renowned philanthropist, he was awarded an OBE two years ago for his charity work helping Brazilian slum children. His daughter Scarlett is a respected photographer.
John Paul Jones, 61, from Sidcup in Kent, has continued as a musician and record producer and has worked with Paul McCartney, Brian Eno and R.E.M.
John Bonham died aged 32 after choking on his own vomit following a drinking session. His son Jason is also a fine drummer and has filled in for his dad at the rare reunions as well as playing with Foreigner.
THE HITS
LED Zeppelin never released a single in the UK. But their albums (including IV, left) have sold more than 300m copies worldwide.
Their best known song, Whole Lotta Love, was used as the Top Of The Pops theme in the 1980s, while Kashmir was sampled by Puff Daddy on his 1998 hit Come With Me.
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LINK: http://www.sundaymirror.co.uk/news/...objectid=19347124&siteid=98487-name_page.html
EXCLUSIVE Seventies rock legends Led Zeppelin to reunite for UK gig & world tour
By Sean Hamilton Showbiz Editor 24/06/2007
-------------------------------------
IT'S the reunion rock fans thought would never happen. Led Zeppelin are planning to re-form for a massive world tour.
The surviving members of the Seventies "Whole Lotta Love" group have been approached to headline a memorial concert for the founder of their record label, who died last year.
They are understood to have agreed - and during discussions about the concert, they gave the green light for a tour afterwards.
Singer Robert Plant, guitarist Jimmy Page and bassist John Paul Jones will be joined by the late drummer John Bonham's son Jason. Led Zep, who split in 1980 following the death of Bonham, have reunited only a handful of times in the last 20 years - most famously for Live Aid in 1985.
But a tour has never been on the agenda for the group who invented hard rock with songs such as Whole Lotta Love, Stairway To Heaven and Black Dog.
Plans for the gig in London to remember Atlantic Records boss Ahmet Ertegun are in the advanced stages. Approaches have also been made to the Rolling Stones, Genesis, James Blunt, The Streets and Bloc Party.
A friend of the band said: "Page, Plant and Jones spoke and agreed to do the memorial concert. They are waiting for a definite date.
"And no-one can quite believe it, but during discussions about the concert they all gave the green light to a tour if it all goes well and they don't all fall out.
"It has been hoped-for and denied for years. But this is closest they have ever come to a reunion tour. The feeling is that this is going to happen next year.
"They have watched the way The Police and Pink Floyd have come back together.
"And, of course, they would like to step up again to the world stage before they are all too old to do it. They certainly don't need the money. But they would like the adulation."
A world tour by Led Zeppelin would generate a whole lotta cash. The Stones' epic A Bigger Bang tour has already grossed more than £200million.
But, with 300million album sales worldwide, money is not a concern for Led Zep. While they no longer make the mayhem for which they became famous - at their peak, the band wrote the rock rulebook for drink and drug-fuelled antics - the surviving members all still make music.
Jimmy Page and Robert Plant have continued to work together on-and-off and in 1998 released the album Walking Into Clarksdale.
Plant, now 58, has never left his roots in the West Midlands and still lives on a farm near Kidderminster.
Since splitting from his wife Maureen Wilson in 1982 he has remained single, although he has been romantically linked with singers Alannah Myles and Najma Akhtar.
Often voted the best rock guitarist of all time in polls, Page, 63, from Hounslow, Middx, wrote the soundtracks to the Death Wish films in the 1980s.
A renowned philanthropist, he was awarded an OBE two years ago for his charity work helping Brazilian slum children. His daughter Scarlett is a respected photographer.
John Paul Jones, 61, from Sidcup in Kent, has continued as a musician and record producer and has worked with Paul McCartney, Brian Eno and R.E.M.
John Bonham died aged 32 after choking on his own vomit following a drinking session. His son Jason is also a fine drummer and has filled in for his dad at the rare reunions as well as playing with Foreigner.
THE HITS
LED Zeppelin never released a single in the UK. But their albums (including IV, left) have sold more than 300m copies worldwide.
Their best known song, Whole Lotta Love, was used as the Top Of The Pops theme in the 1980s, while Kashmir was sampled by Puff Daddy on his 1998 hit Come With Me.
-----------------------
LINK: http://www.sundaymirror.co.uk/news/...objectid=19347124&siteid=98487-name_page.html
