The Beatles era was dawning, but Bonham had a taste for jazz drummers like Gene Krupa, Joe Morello and Sonny Payne he loved their stick-twirling showmanship. Then his dad bought him a complete kit.Īs well as working for his dad as a builder, John drummed with local bands. After adding pots and pans to his armoury, when he was 10 his mother got him a real snare drum. At home he began drumming on a bath salt container fitted with strands of wire on the bottom to make a crude snare drum. Aged five John began to show interest in music. His father Jack ran a building company and employed both of his sons, John and Michael. John Henry Bonham was born in Redditch, Worcestershire, on May 31, 1948. It was fun at first, but powering-up the Zeppelin machine soon became a daunting task. Life became a blur of rioting fans, speeding limos, booze and groupies. There was the adrenalin rush of playing explosive music every night to thousands of screaming fans, but after that came the need to unwind – usually in a succession of faceless hotels and bars. The endless Zeppelin tours he had to go on became a drain on his stamina and confidence. He hated flying and sitting around all day waiting for a gig. When he became hugely wealthy from the success of Led Zeppelin he indulged in his passion for fast cars but also spent wisely, creating a happy home for him and his family at the Old Hyde in Worcestershire.įor John Bonham there was no place like home. He was hard-working and had a huge appetite for life. But despite his image as a wild man of rock, his attempts to emulate the manic destructive intensity of his pal Keith Moon, of The Who, did not come naturally. Yet Bonham didn’t get to become the drummer in Led Zeppelin by being the shy and retiring type.
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