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Jimmy Page: The Definitive Biography
- Narrated by: Tom McGairl
- Length: 16 hrs and 56 mins
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Jimmy Page: The Definitive Biography
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Summary
Founder of one of the most influential and successful rock bands of all time, legendary Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page has nevertheless remained an enigma. In this definitive and comprehensive biography of his life so far, Chris Salewicz draws on his own interviews with Page and those closest around him to unravel the man behind the mystery.
Having sold over 300 million copies worldwide, Led Zeppelin was the biggest band of the ’70s and has been loved by the legions ever since. From his own conversations with Jimmy, the rest of Led Zeppelin, old girlfriends, tour managers and session musicians to name but a few, Salewicz reveals the many trials and tribulations which transformed the middle class boy from the Surrey suburbs into one of rock’s most enigmatic frontmen.
Detailed, thrilling and expertly researched, Salewicz discovers a man who was prepared to die for his art; who justified heroin use so he could harness its narcotic focus whilst making albums, and who overcame numerous death threats during this time. A warrior magician, Salewicz delves into the many skeletons and eccentricities in Page’s closet, contextualising him against a background of London gangsters, deaths, and power struggles which Page has continued to rail against to this day, even within his own band.
As entertaining as it is insightful, and from a writer who experienced first-hand the Led Zeppelin furore, this promises to be as close to a Jimmy Page autobiography as fans can get.
Critic reviews
"[An] ever-readable tome...Anyone intrigued by how a soft-spoken boy from the west London suburbs became one of the world’s most famous musicians won’t be disappointed." (The Times)
"A hard-riffing new book that reveals how Jimmy Page became the dark heart of Led Zeppelin" (The Mail on Sunday)
"[Salewicz] lovingly records all the highs and bathetic lows of the rock-star afterlife." (The Sunday Times)
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What listeners say about Jimmy Page: The Definitive Biography
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance2 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Mike Vorgon
- 02-02-23
A hagiography, badly told.
The author is too kind to JP by half here. What’s worse is the poor reading of the story, with weird intonations and words ‘carried over pages’ to the point where it sometimes feels it’s being read by a speech synthesis program.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance1 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Lewis Marshall
- 26-08-23
Woeful narration
Reasonable account of early life but rather lame in the later years. As others, the narrator is terrible
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story2 out of 5 stars
- Prus Dad
- 12-07-21
Do I know anything about Jimmy Page I didn’t know before?
One thing.
He knew Dave Berry from Sheffield and so do I.
Quite the most disappointing biography I’ve heard or read.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Kindle Customer
- 16-04-19
Pretty Good
I saw some criticism of this book before I listened to it, but I thoroughly enjoyed it. There was certainly a lot of stuff that I didn’t know before. Some people were particularly harsh about the narrator, and although he wasn’t the best I’ve ever heard, I thought he was fine.
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance1 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Norm de Plume
- 01-11-21
Awful narration
If you’re relating the life of a rock behemoth, at least learn the names of people who’d appear. Who could remember your mum’s favourite Perry Combo or jazzer Tal Farrel? Distracting.
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- Simon B
- 18-05-20
Underwhelming
Had great expectations of this, but it's written in a fanzine style, people 'shag' and lead 'hedonistic lifestyles' the music is full of 'carnality' and 'sex', and so a bit superficial. It is also quite repetitive which gives the impression of careless cut-and-paste. The book is okay as an audio timeline of Page's career, but best listened to while doing something else.
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance1 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- Aaron Searescue
- 17-10-23
Poor
Ok, I am going to echo what a number of others have said - the narration is awful It is littered with errors and mis-pronounced words. Quite frankly, the producer should have picked these up. Audiobook 101.
As for the book itself, it is what you would expect of a biography written without the subject's co-operation - patchy, lacking any real insight with most of the information coming from public sources. Some of the early years of his career, as retold by some of those that were there, was entertaining, but this is not really maintained throughout.
Salewicz is a talented journalist, despite having been part of the snide, too clever by three-quarters brigade at the NME. Sadly, he is not a great author.
Personally, i would avoid this tome. There are far better rock biographies and autobiographies out there.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance2 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Mr. R. Daniels
- 13-11-18
Thorough but.......
The Definitive Biography Of Jimmy Page is recommended to any Zep fans be they hard core or casual but beware the narrator, his erroneous pronunciation of many many words finally gets on your nerves and he clearly has little or no knowledge of his subject matter, I mean to boldly claim that Alison Krauss as an example of a Blues Grass musician!!!wtf???
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7 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- caroline perkins
- 17-03-24
The Way he lived his life, shocking
it's mind blowing how this man is still alive after consuming the amount of drugs he did!
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- keith
- 10-04-20
A rock god
A true legend jimmy page he was a great session man and guitarist in Led Zeppelin
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