Robert Plant: A Life

The mystique surrounding 65-year-old Robert Plant%E2%80%94a man who reimagined the role of rock star while in Led Zeppelin%E2%80%94makes it nearly impossible to write the singer's first comprehensive biography, and an unauthorized one at that. British veteran music journalist Rees attempts to find a balance between the man, the myth, the music, and the darkness, but he ultimately delivers a piece of general reportage with intermittent moments of drama and clarity. The one-time editor of Kerrang! and Q magazines gleaned details from other books and articles, as well as his own previous conversations with Plant and many of Plant's former classmates, band mates, and tour mates%E2%80%94some who weren't afraid to speak candidly and critically. Even as a mischievous English grammar-school student, Plant had the talent and looks that eventually propelled him to self-described "golden god" status. He sang in regional bands before guitarist Jimmy Page recruited him for a new group that became Led Zeppelin. Groupies, drugs, and tragedy followed as Zeppelin's legend grew. The band dissolved after drummer John Bonham's death in 1980, and Plant reemerged as an ever-evolving solo artist who kept his distance from Zeppelin, rarely reuniting with his former band mates. This book is billed as the singer's definitive story, but that will remain untold until Plant writes it himself. Agent: Matthew Hamilton, Aitkin Alexander Associates. (Oct.)