Led Zeppelin

A tragic moment that would forever compromise the relationship between Robert Plant and Led Zeppelin. The English musician, in a new interview with the Sunday Times, revisited one of the most painful moments of his life, the death of his son Karac, explaining how that tragedy had suddenly drained even the band's success of all meaning. Karac was just five years old when, on 26 July 1977, he died of a severe gastrointestinal infection that rapidly worsened. Plant learned the news while in the United States with Led Zeppelin, in the midst of the tour following the release of "Presence". The tour was immediately cancelled, with seven dates still on the schedule. The band would never again return to tour American soil.

Dead end

"There were no maps or instructions for Led Zeppelin, and we just carried on," Plant recalled. "But after losing my son, I no longer needed the band. These musical partnerships are wonderful when everything's working. But when life takes an unexpected turn, who wants to spend hour after hour backstage with people you've been together with since 1968? You don't play cards, you don't go to the cinema, you just sit there waiting. I was constantly looking for a way out." Words that convey the growing distance between the singer and the giant machine that Led Zeppelin had become, by then one of the most celebrated and powerful outfits in world rock.

This isn't the first time Plant has publicly addressed the subject. Back in 2007, in an interview with Rolling Stone, he had expressed the same sentiment in even blunter terms: "I'd lost my son. I didn't want to be in Led Zeppelin anymore. I wanted to be with my family."
After the tragedy, Jimmy Page and Robert Plant's band still managed to regroup in the studio to make "In Through The Out Door", released in 1979. But their story would come to an end the following year, with the death of drummer John Bonham. In 1982, "Coda", a collection of previously unreleased recordings, would also follow.

A secluded present

Today Plant leads an existence far removed from the excess and frenzy of the Seventies. He lives in Shatterford, a small village in Worcestershire, where his fame seems to carry very little weight. A condition the singer describes with evident amusement: "I've been some kind of big shot for so long that here in Worcestershire nobody gives a damn. At most they ask me: 'Alright, Bob? Still doing a bit of singing?' I tell them I won five Grammys with Alison Krauss, and they ask me: 'What's a Grammy?'" A quiet everyday life that Plant seems to appreciate far more than any celebration of his past. He describes it with one final detail, a far cry from the glories of Led Zeppelin: "Tuesday night is bingo night. You can win 25 quid!"

Ride the wave of great music

Add OndaRock to your favorite sources on Google Discover. Don't miss our reviews, milestones and latest news straight in your feed.

Follow on Google

20/10/2026