"It was my wife who told me to call up Jimmy Page. I knew him through session work. There was a news item in Disc saying he was forming a band. I was working seven days a week doing sessions and arrangements - 20 or 30 arrangements a month. It was fantastic money. I'd even doubled my price to try to cut the work down, but that just made people think I was good and gave me more. I was overworking and getting grumpy and my wife said, 'For goodness sake, call'. Jimmy had gone to see Robert Plant in Birmingham because Terry Reid, his first choice, wasn't available. Plant had recommended John Bonham, who was playing with Tim Rose. We booked a room in Lisle Street in what is now Chinatown in London and filled it with amps. We played "Train Kept A-Rollin'", "Smokestack Lightning", "Dazed and Confused". It was unbelievable. I knew immediately John was a killer drummer. He was really cocky, he would show off, but he could back it up. As for Robert, as soon as he opened his mouth, it was fantastic. I knew this band was going to be something different, not the normal blues-rock band. Plant has said he was wary because he and Bonzo had been told I was a session man. They assumed I'd have a pipe and read The Golfing Times. But I think Bonzo recognised a proper bass player. Rhythm sections always recognise each other. Bonzo hadn't wanted to leave Tim Rose because he was on good money so Jimmy and I paid his and Plant's wages for about a year. I was still working during Zeppelin rehearsals because I had commitments. I was arranging an album for P.J. Proby, "Three Week Hero". In order to get a bit of money for the lads I booked them all for the sessions, so it was John on drums, Jimmy on rhythm guitar and what can Robert do? Percussion. So I booked him in on tambourine. With Zeppelin the press were really slow to catch on. We filled gigs by word of mouth. You'd drive to the Pig & Whistle somewhere and there'd be lines around the block."

Goodbye
Sept. 1980

"I found him. Me and Benji the roadie. It was at Jimmy's house in Windsor. It was like, 'Let's go upstairs and have a look at Bonzo. Kick him out of bed.' We banged into the bedroom but there was no movement from him. It was drink. It could have happened to anybody. You drink too much and you end up on your back instead of your side. That's all it was. It was after the first day of rehearsals - at Shepperton Studios I think - and there was a lot of waiting around. I had to tell Robert and Jimmy, and they had been in high spirits at the time because the band was almost in a rebirth situation. We'd gone back on the road after a lot of hardship, a lot of bad times with Robert's son dying, and his car accident. In our shows we'd stripped down to the core and everyone was looking forward to the American tour. John could drink a lot, but then we all used to take all sorts of things. I spent a few hairy nights with him. To be honest, he hated being away from home. We used to stay up until daylight and then he could go to sleep. And so he'd do anything to stay up...I was very fond of him. After his death we dissolved the band immediately, there was no discussion. The band was such that it really was four people. It wasn't a song-based band where the songs were famous with musicians backing them. The whole point of Led Zeppelin was four members and how they interacted and the music we all made. It simply wasn't Led Zeppelin when there were only three of us. I didn't know what to do then. But I'd been working solidly for 18 years, I was about ready to stop. The family was growing up, I had three daughters who were moving into the teenage world. Maybe it was time to stay at home more - so that's what I did."