When Jimmy Page Was 19 He Was Making Good Money Playing Sessions but Had to Work With Some ‘A**holes’
Before starting the rock band Led Zeppelin with Robert Plant, John Paul Jones, and John Bonham, guitarist Jimmy Page had an extensive music career. The guitarist toured with Neil Christian & the Crusaders, was a session musician, and played with the Yardbirds. According to Bob Spitz’s 2021 biography Led Zeppelin: The Biography, some of the “producers” Page worked with as a session musician “were a**holes.”
Jimmy Page became a session musician
When Page was a teenager, session musicians were in demand because of the growing music scene. Young musicians with a knack for rock ‘n roll music were especially needed.
As a result, Page was frequently called in as one of the guitarists alongside Jim Sullivan. Together, the two became known as Big Jim and Little Jim.
According to Led Zeppelin: The Biography, Sullivan shared that “You had to be a special breed of person to do sessions, almost insensitive. Some of the producers were a**holes.”
While Page had the skill and personality to handle being a session musician, he still found the work to be difficult at times.
“You never knew what you were going to do,” Page said in Led Zeppelin: The Biography. “Sometimes it would be someone you were happy to see, other times it was ‘What am I doing here?'”
The guitarist thought one session was ‘phenomenal’
Page started working as a session musician in 1963 when he was 19 years old. During one particular session, Page was present when Shirley Bassey recorded the theme song for the 1964 James Bond film Goldfinger.
“That was a phenomenal session,” Page said in Led Zeppelin: The Biography. “She arrived, took off her coat and went straight in. [Arranger] John Barry counted us in, she sang and at the end, just collapsed on the floor.”
While the work was demanding, Page worked as a session musician as much as possible, oftentimes working a full five days a week.
According to Spitz’s biography, the money combined with the rule that complaints resulted in an unpaid suspension kept session musicians from verbally complaining about the work.
What Jimmy Page thought of being a session musician
In Led Zeppelin: The Biography, Page called working in sessions to be “stifling” because of the inconsistency regarding the music each day.
“What was stifling,” Page said, “was not really knowing what you were going to be doing when you were booked for a session at a particular time. It could be anything from a group to some sort of Muzak type of thing.”
Of course, there were still days when being a session musician was exciting. One day, Page found himself recording music with singer Cliff Richard and musician Hank Marvin.
“It just happened to be Cliff [Richard] and Hank [Marvin],” Page said in Led Zeppelin: The Biography. “I wasn’t on guitar, obviously, but I played harmonica on ‘Time Drags By!'”
