Jimmy Page Thought the Yardbirds’ Manager Was ‘an Opportunist’ Who Didn’t Pay the Band What They Deserved

Earlier than beginning Led Zeppelin with Robert Plant, John Paul Jones, and John Bonham, Jimmy Page was a member of a band referred to as the Yardbirds. Whereas in the band, Page despised the Yardbird’s supervisor Simon Napier-Bell and referred to as him “an opportunist” in line with Bob Spitz’s biography Led Zeppelin: The Biography.

Jimmy Page | Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Photos

How Jimmy Page joined the Yardbirds

In 1963, Keith Relf, Paul Samwell-Smith, Prime Topham, Jim McCarty, and Chris Dreja shaped the Yardbirds. After the band was initially shaped, Eric Clapton changed Topham.

When Clapton departed from the group in 1965, Page was requested to affix however he as an alternative really useful his good friend Jeff Beck.

Page later joined the band after Samwell-Smith left, and he quickly took over Samwell-Smith’s place of enjoying bass.

“I was terrified, having to fill Samwell-Smith’s role, but fortunately it went okay,” Page mentioned in Bob Spitz’s Led Zeppelin: The Biography.

Throughout Page’s tenure in the Yardbirds, Beck turned sick and Page took over for him at guitar whereas Dreja moved to bass. When Beck returned, Page and Beck each performed guitar till Beck left the group completely.

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Jimmy Page didn’t like the Yardbirds’ supervisor

Throughout Page’s earlier days in the Yardbirds, the band was managed by Napier-Bell, who Page disliked. Nonetheless, it seems the feeling was mutual.

In response to Led Zeppelin: The Biography, Napier-Bell thought Page was “very difficult to work with, always narky.” As a result of Page didn’t like Napier-Bell, he allegedly didn’t thoughts this criticism.

A part of Page’s animosity towards Napier-Bell was because of how the supervisor dealt with the cash the Yardbirds earned.

Spitz writes that the supervisor had “dodgy bookkeeping that left the Yardbirds earning little more than a couple hundred pounds each after their various tours.”

Due to this, Page considered Napier-Bell as “an opportunist” who was profiting from the band, in line with Spitz’s biography.

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The Yardbirds bought a brand new supervisor

When Beck left the Yardbirds, Napier-Bell turned extra involved in managing his solo profession than managing the Yardbirds. Peter Grant from RAK Administration, Mickie Most’s firm, was then despatched to take care of the Yardbirds.

“It was really weird,” McCarty mentioned in Led Zeppelin: The Biography. “We went to Most’s office in Oxford Street not knowing what to expect, and this enormous guy we’d never seen before told us, ‘I’m taking over for Simon.’”

For Page, this transformation in administration was a aid. To high it off, Page already knew Grant.

“I’d known Peter from way back in the days of Immediate [Records], because our offices were next door to Mickie, and Peter was working for him,” Page mentioned in Led Zeppelin: The Biography.

When warned by Napier-Bell about working with Page, Grant was not dissuaded from managing the Yardbirds.

“Oh, I’d deal with Jimmy, no problem,” Grant mentioned in Led Zeppelin: The Biography.

Grant proved to be a significantly better match as supervisor, each for Page and for the Yardbirds.

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