Born
31 May 1948, in Redditch, Worcestershire, England
Family
- his parents were Joan and Jack Bonham
- he had two siblings, called Mick and Deborah
School
- Bonham attended Lodge Farm Secondary Modern School. His headmaster wrote in his report that "He will either end up a dustman or a millionaire." Well he was right, we all know how that turned out.
Drumming
- He began learning to play the drums aged five, making a kit of containers, pots and coffee tins from the kitchen and imitating his idols Max Roach, Gene Krupa and Buddy Rich, rock n roll drummers whose careers dated back to the 1930s
- His mother gave him a snare drum when he was 10.
- He received his first drum kit from his father at 15, a Premier Percussion set.
- Bonham never took formal drum lessons, though as a teen he had advice from other Redditch drummers.
- Between 1962 and 1963, whilst he was still at school, Bonham joined the Blue Star Trio, and Gerry Levene & the Avengers.
Career
- After leaving school in 1964, he worked for his father as an apprentice carpenter between drumming for local bands.
- In 1964, Bonham joined his first semi-professional band, Terry Webb and the Spiders, and met his future wife Pat Phillips around the same time.
- He played in other Birmingham bands such as The Nicky James Movement and The Senators, who made a single, "She's a Mod," in 1964.
- Bonham then took up drumming full-time. Two years later, he joined A Way of Life, but the band folded.
- Needing a regular income, he joined a blues group called Crawling King Snakes, whose lead singer at the time was Robert Plant.
- In 1967, A Way of Life asked Bonham to return to the group, and he agreed, while keeping in touch with Plant.
- Plant then formed the Band of Joy and chose Bonham as the drummer. The band recorded demos but no album.
- In 1968, American singer Tim Rose toured Britain and asked Band of Joy to open his concerts.
- When Rose returned months later, Bonham was invited by the singer to drum for Rose's band, which gave him a regular income, one of the reasons he was reluctant to accept Jimmy Page's request to join Led Zeppelin.
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Picture: John Bonham drumming
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A Book Of Led Zeppelin
Non-FictionLed Zeppelin. Arguably the greatest band of all time. In my opinion, anyway, hence 'arguably'. They hold the record for the highest number of records sold worldwide (200 million) and also the largest crowd at a concert for a single act (over 56,000)...
