Two rock singers Robert Plant thought were “much better” than him
When it comes to fronting a rock band, vocal ability is flanked by several other important factors, including showmanship, charisma and audience interaction. Mick Jagger was never regarded as a virtuosic singer on the level of Freddie Mercury or Paul McCartney, but his style suited The Rolling Stones to a tee, and his charisma and longevity remain unequalled. Robert Plant of Led Zeppelin is similarly gifted in the charisma department, but he also commonly finds himself high up the technical rankings.
As a hard rock vocalist, Plant entered a pool of intense projectionists, including his close stylistic neighbour, Roger Daltrey. Plant and Daltrey stood on stage before the deafening power of John Bonham and Keith Moon, respectively, thus requiring a booming, resonant vocal. Plant could also flutter acutely within his impressive tenor range.
While Plant is unbeatable in his field, fans will have their favourites biased by stylistic preferences. The Led Zeppelin singer himself has occasionally praised fellow singers for their humbling talents. He’s particularly impressed with Prince, not just for the late star’s singing prowess but for his instrumental talents and creative drive.
In a 1990s television interview, Plant waxed lyrical about the ‘Purple One’ and said he would have made a suitable replacement for himself in Led Zeppelin. “I’m not really intimidated by too many people, but I’m very impressed by people,” he said. “Prince is probably the most impressive single person … he’s incredibly inventive, but he’s using a lot of old … he’s coming from all sorts of areas of the past, and he’s really pushing them all through a blender. So they come out oozing and dripping with honey — sex.”
When it comes to vocal ability, regardless of showmanship and ancillary instrumental talent, Plant praised two prominent singers above himself. In a 2017 appearance on Q TV, Plant described Freddie Mercury and Jeff Buckley as two “spectacular vocalists”. Continuing, he conceded that both had “much better chops than” he ever did.
Although Plant undoubtedly recognises his humbleness, he took on a shade of candour while explaining how he differs from the two late rock vocalists. “I just get into songs and live them out, which is a different thing, I think that’s true,” he said. “If everything else I said wasn’t true, that’s really true.”
Pursuing his point regarding Jeff Buckley, the similarly gifted son of Tim Buckley, Plant recalled experiencing the live show. “I was playing with Jimmy [Page] in the mid-’90s when we were working with an Egyptian ensemble and we played a festival in Switzerland, and Jeff Buckley was playing, and we went to see him, and it was mind-altering,” Plant added. His voice … spectacular singing and so much conviction.”
Watch Jeff Buckley perform his famous cover of Leonard Cohen’s ‘Hallelujah’ in a video from 1995 below. Robert Plant may have the projection apt for a hard rock band like Led Zeppelin, but Buckley blew most male vocal ranges out of the water in his tragically stunted yet impactful career through the 1990s.