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This is an interesting series of articles on John Bonham, this is a reprint of an article published in the June 2003 issue of Rhythm & Drum Magazine, Rhythm & Drum Magazine is no longer in publication – sadly the world lost another drum magazine. We have translated it to the best of our ability, but it’s still great reading and validation that the impact of John Bonham was global.
We will be posting each part weekly over the next four weeks. You can follow the link below if you would like to read them all at once.
PART 01:
John Bonham [Led Zeppelin] Perfect Biography Vol.01 / By: Satoshi Kishida
Today, September 25th, is the anniversary of the death of Led Zeppelin drummer John Bonham. He passed away in 1980, and this year marks the 42nd anniversary of his death. In order to perpetuate this great legend, who continues to influence musicians all over the world, we will present his perfect biography published in the June/July 2003 issue several times. !
Birth ~ My heartbeat won’t stop ringing ~
John Bonham, real name John Henry Bonham, was born on May 31, 1948, in Redditch, Worcestershire, in the Mid-West of England, about ten miles south of Birmingham. His grandfather, John Henry, and his father, Jack, were carpenters who held signs for construction shops, and his mother, Joan, also ran a stand that sold newspapers and magazines to help support the family. Diligence and dedication to work were passed down from generation to generation, from his grandfather to his father, mother, and children. The Bonham family had three children, John, the eldest, a younger brother, Michael, who was three years younger, and a younger sister, Deborah, who was fourteen years younger. Growing up, Michael became famous as a radio DJ, Deborah as a singer, and all of her siblings later went on to work in the music industry. In particular, John has a very interesting anecdote from the time of his birth, so I would like to introduce it first.
John’s birth was so difficult that his heart had stopped when he was born after 26 hours of labor pains. But with the desperate efforts of the nurse in charge, John was miraculously resuscitated and was able to save his life. It is a wonder of his life that a drummer with a heart that stopped and then started beating again would later become the strong core of Led Zeppelin. do not go. Besides, if it hadn’t been for the nurse’s efforts, we might have listened to a completely different form of Zeppelin, and rock history might have been a little different.
When John and Michael were young, they were very mischievous and were always playing with fisticuffs. But John was attracted to something other than fights. Since the age of 5, he has been making snare-drum-like sounds by slapping a wire on a container of bath salts or a can of coffee beans, then beating it with a knife and fork. It was frustrating (after all, “hitting” is the same as fighting). His mother was the first to give up, buying him a snare drum when he was 10, and then his father buying him a drum set when he was 15. In middle school, when he was 14, he had already started playing in a school band called the Avengers, and by the time he graduated, he had made it clear to everyone around him that he wanted to be a professional drummer.
His attraction to the drums was primarily due to his father’s influence. John’s father was a jazz fan and would watch Benny Goodman movies with him on TV and in the cinema, and would take him to concerts with Harry James (tp)’s big band. There he was fascinated by Gene Krupa and Sonny Payne’s flamboyant stick-wielding. For a while after starting to play the drums, John would imitate such drummers in his own way, but eventually he heard rumors of a drummer named Gary Alcock, a car mechanic living in Redditch who also played in a big band, and decided to move to his house. and began to practice together. Garry was a big fan of Kenny Clarke and taught John how to play Kenny’s dynamic double strokes and big band jazz.
The next drummer John met was Redditch’s most famous drummer at the time, Bill Harvey. Eventually, Bill and John began to share their personal and professional lives, playing drums in Bill’s band and playing drum solos together. Bill was a big fan of Dave Brubeck Quartet swing drummer Joe Morello, and eventually taught John Joe-like fingering and bare-handed drumming. John wasn’t as technically skilled as Garry or Bill at the time, but as soon as he learned of his new tricks, he picked them up and thundered away with his own personality, a thunderous sound. John’s habit of saying whenever he went to see other bands in the club was, “That drummer sucks.” He then marketed himself to the bandleader, sometimes claiming the role of drummer. John was only 15 years old. (Continued on Vol.02)
Original Article: HERE
