...guitarist James Patrick Page came screeching into the world on this day back in 1944 in Heston, Middlesex, England...Page, who taught himself to play by ear, is considered one of the godfathers of the rock 'n roll genre and whose Delta blues-infused, electrified sound is also partially credited as the Rosetta Stone that lead to the Metal genre...Page got his start working as a session musician for British Invasion-era stalwart acts like Them, the Kinks and the Stones- his early work can be heard on hits like "Here Comes the Night" (the Diamonds), "I Can't Explain" (the Who) and "Is it True" (Brenda Lee)...he'd eventually get his chance to play in a proper band of his own when he joined up with the Yardbirds after Eric Clapton left which provided the opportunity for Page to play with Jeff Beck who soon left the group for whatever reasons......Jimmy would regroup with the Yardbirds bassist Chris Dreja to form "the New Yardbirds" who soon quits the outfit and is replaced by John Baldwin (later changed to John Paul Jones)...queries for vocalists are kindly declined but Page is told (by Procol Harum's B.J. Wilson+) of a 19-year old singer from Midlands (who'd recently dropped out of accounting school) named Robert Plant who mentions a drummer he knows in a group called Band of Joy named John Bonham-- TNY hit the studio, crank out their first LP in fourteen days, start touring Scandinavia and soon change their name to how the Who's drummer Keith Moon described the way a bad gig goes down: on October 15th 1968 the newly-christened *"Led Zeppelin"* make their live debut at Surrey University...happy birthday, mah man...(+: thanks Ivy!)
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