Random Fascinating Facts You Didn't Know About Robert Plant (12 items)

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  (#10) He Allegedly Faked Being Sick On Tour In Order To Watch Soccer

  Back in the Zeppelin days, Plant reportedly used to fake being sick in order to watch his team play while on tour. He even remembers watching his team's League Cup victory in 1974 while working with Zeppelin, though he doesn't remember how he was able to get home and see the game. 
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  (#6) He's Repeatedly Refused A Led Zeppelin Reunion

  Besides a one-off reunion show in 2007 in honor of their former label head, the late Ahmet Ertegun, Led Zeppelin has only reunited for short sets a handful of times since disbanding in 1980 - and Plant has no desire to do it again.

  "A tour would have been an absolute menagerie of vested interests and the very essence of everything that’s sh*tty about big-time stadium rock. We were surrounded by a circus of people that would have had our souls on fire. I’m not part of a jukebox!" he told Rolling Stone in 2014.

  He doubled down on his resistance to a reunion in 2018:

  If it’s easy, and it’s not of a great deal of consequence, OK. But when you’re in your seventies? You have to be really careful about maybe putting a bit more time into playing bingo, and enjoying the time you have left. For me, my time has got to be filled with joy and endeavor and humor and power and absolute self-satisfaction. That’s not with Led Zeppelin. 
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  (#7) Paul Rodgers Helped Him Join Led Zeppelin

  Without Paul Rodgers, there might not have been a Led Zeppelin. The Bad Company singer was a friend of Plant's in the early days of his career, and one night Plant told Rodgers he had received an offer to join a band Page was putting together. 

  "They've offered me 30 quid a week or a percentage. What do you think?" Rodgers recalled Plant asking him. "I said, 'Well, you know what I would do? I'd take the percentage.'" 

  Years later, when Rodgers disbanded his original group Free and formed Bad Company, he signed with Zeppelin's record label and hired their manager, Peter Grant. He told Grant the story of how he convinced Plant to join Zeppelin, and the manager was completely surprised that his now-client had played a role in kickstarting his own career. 
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  (#4) He Paid A Radio Station $10,000 To Never Play 'Stairway To Heaven' Again

  Once, while driving through Portland, Oregon, Plant overheard an offer on a local radio station. The DJ announced that the station needed donations to stay on the air, and in exchange they promised to never again play "Stairway To Heaven."

  Plant pulled his car over, called the station, and pledged $10,000 - effectively saving the station while removing his own music from their catalog.

  "It's not that I don't like it, it's just that I've heard it before," he later said. 
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  (#3) He Was Supposed To Be An Accountant

  Plant's parents were adamant about him becoming an accountant, but the singer was having none of it. He attended school for two weeks before dropping out and joining a band. He even took a job at a paving company to help make ends meet while he launched his musical career. However, he ended up getting steady musical work before joining Led Zeppelin. 
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  (#11) He Bought A Struggling Music Venue

  Plant was part of a community effort to buy the Bell Inn, a popular music venue in Bath, England. His contribution helped save the struggling venue and keep it running.

  "For the last 10 years or so many of my musical adventures have been with friends from Bristol and Bath, so I'm fully aware of the Bell and its legacy and its contribution to the musicians and audience in the surrounding area," he said in a statement. 

  Peter Gabriel was another renowned rocker to donate to the cause, saying that the Bell Inn "has always been a key part of Bath's live music scene, often giving musicians their first break and always providing music that is vibrant, diverse and free."

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