The Reason Steven Tyler Refused Jimmy Page’s Offer To Replace Robert Plant In Led Zeppelin
For every Led Zeppelin fan, the band has one and only lead singer and that is Robert Plant who is often regarded as one of the greatest vocalists of all time. However, the band considered working with other singers from time to time such as Terry Reid who was considered to be the frontman of the band before Plant. In addition to this, when the band members considered a reunion years after their disbandment, lead guitarist Jimmy Page had other musicians in mind to replace their original lead singer.
Following Led Zeppelin’s dissolution, the band reunited for special occasions such as the time when they performed at the Ahmet Ertegun Tribute Concert at the O2 Arena in London, on December 10, 2007. With Jason Bonham taking his late father’s duty on drums, the concert set a record for the ‘Highest Demand for Tickets for One Music Concert’ as 20 million requests were submitted online.
After numerous music critics praised the performance, rumors about a full reunion of Led Zeppelin started to speculate. While Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones, and Jason Bonham were reported to be willing to tour and to be working on material for a new Zeppelin project, Robert Plant stated that he wouldn’t tour to record with the band and continued his touring commitments with Alison Krauss.
Apparently, John Paul Jones and Jimmy Page started looking for a replacement for their lead singer and candidates included Aerosmith frontman Steven Tyler. Although his band members has a different story about his audition, Tyler revealed that he refused to work with Led Zeppelin as their lead singer despite Page’s insistence. Let’s take a closer look at the story of two different takes on the incident.
Steven Tyler Turned Down The Offer By Jimmy Page
For those of you who might not remember, it was already public knowledge that Steven Tyler had auditioned to join Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones, and Jason Bonham. Nonetheless, the singer was rejected by the Led Zeppelin members after a chaotic audition during which Tyler forgot the lyrics to the song according to Aerosmith guitarist Joe Perry.
However, Steven Tyler painted a different picture of his audition with Led Zeppelin during an interview with US radio presenter Howard Stern and stated that the audition was a triumph. Furthermore, Tyler claimed that Jimmy Page wanted to record a studio album with him, however, the singer turned him down mainly because of his tenure with Aerosmith.
During his appearance on Howard Stern Radio Show, Tyler stated:
“I spoke to Jimmy Page’s manager, Peter Mench, who’s been a good friend of mine forever. He said Robert wouldn’t play with them again, and would I want to come over and jam with the guys? I went over and played.
It came time for Jimmy to say, ‘You want to write a record with me?’ I went, ‘No.’ I’m in Aerosmith. He’s in the biggest band in the world and I’m in a band like that. I have such an allegiance to my band and I love it so much.”
Although the project of reuniting Led Zeppelin with another singer in the front had been abandoned in January 2009, fans couldn’t help themselves but wonder how the band would be if it had Steven Tyler as its lead singer. In addition to Tyler, Alter Bridge frontman Myles Kennedy was also considered for the spot and he recalls the experience of performing with Led Zeppelin members with much love and respect.
