Led Zeppelin frontman Robert Plant recently opened up about the changes in his vocals in terms of being with his band during a recent interview with Raised on Radio. According to the singer, his voice adapted the band’s sound but since he also wrote the band’s music with the other members of the band, the change wasn’t major.
Robert Plant first gained an interest in singing and rock and roll music at an early age of ten when he was inspired by the King of Rock and Roll, Elvis Presley. Six years after, Plant left home to start his education musically which was basically about moving from band to band.
While pursuing his music career, the future Led Zeppelin frontman had various jobs to maintain his life such as working for the major British construction company Wimpey. He eventually managed to cut three obscure singles on CBS Records and performed with a variety of bands including the Crawling King Snakes, which introduced him to drummer John Bonham.
Bonham and Plant went on to play in the Band of Joy until the duo started working with their true breakthrough band, Led Zeppelin. The charismatic frontman was chosen by guitarist Jimmy Page in 1968 to be the band’s new lead singer, and the rest is history as we all know.
Since Led Zeppelin has one of the most unique styles in rock music thanks to their variety of influences from blues to folk music, Robert Plant’s vocals are also in sync with the one-of-a-kind sound of the band. During a recent interview, Plant was asked about the changes in his vocals with the distinctive sound of his band.
According to the singer, his vocals have changed over the years as a result of the aging factor since the more mature he got, the wider styles he learned apart from being a member of Led Zeppelin. However, Plant said that he adapted the band’s sound inevitably as well.
With that being said, he didn’t forget to mention that he co-wrote nearly all of the songs with the other band members. Due to this, he was in control of the melody line and other aspects of songwriting that affects his vocals which means that the entire band didn’t straightly direct his vocal style.
When asked about his vocal changes with Led Zeppelin, Plant said:
“If you can and you’ve got enough about you. Of course, it changes as you get older. The more mature you get, the more you can develop broader styles. With Zeppelin, I co-wrote %99.9 of those songs with the other guys. So I had to write the melody line and the vocal stuff to go as far as the voices were concerned. So you adapt accordingly.”
You can listen to the interview below.
