Ozzy Osbourne Producer Says Jimmy Page Admitted He Stole ‘Stairway To Heaven’ From Somebody Else

Black Sabbath frontman Ozzy Osbourne‘s producer Max Norman opened up about songwriting credits during an appearance on The Metal Voice, and apparently, Led Zeppelin lead guitarist Jimmy Page once admitted to stealing the band’s iconic track, ‘Stairway to Heaven‘ from another band named Spirit’s track, ‘Taurus.’

As many of you know, ‘Stairway to Heaven’ is Led Zeppelin’s most iconic track, released in late 1971, composed by the legendary guitarist Jimmy Page and vocalist Robert Plant for their untitled fourth studio album. The song is often regarded as the most popular rock song of all time and was placed at number 31 on Rolling Stone’s 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.

Despite being referred to as one of the greatest rock songs ever written, Led Zeppelin once was accused in 2014 of ripping off a song called ‘Taurus’ by Spirit. Despite being undeniably similar, especially in the opening riff, the decision made in that ‘Stairway To Heaven’ did not infringe the copyright of the Spirit song.

However, during a recent interview, famous producer Max Norman opened up about songwriting credits, royalties, and ripoffs, and gave the Led Zeppelin track ‘Stairway to Heaven’ as an example while revealing that the iconic guitarist and the creator of the song Jimmy Page once admitted to stealing the track, however, he knew the law would be on their side since the components to the song is far more bigger than the entrance riff.

Here is what Norman said:

“It’s the same as Led Zeppelin stealing Spirit on ‘Stairway to Heaven.’ It’s really an unfair thing that it ended up like that, but that’s way back in the Motown days and all that other stuff. That’s a whole other conversation about why it’s like that. If that’s true, it’s about the melody and the lyrics, then Herb Alpert gets only 50% of whatever he writes because there are no lyrics, so it doesn’t really make sense.

Anyway, Jimmy stole that from somebody else actually. Jimmy Page said Robert Plant said to him when they did ‘Stairway to Heaven,’ he said, ‘Look, we kind of stole this.’ And he goes, ‘Just keep walking.’ It’s a famous thing. Jimmy Page knew because he understood the law.”

You can listen to ‘Taurus’ by Spirit and ‘Stairway to Heaven’ by Led Zeppelin below, click here to see the source.