The Led Zeppelin News Email - 29/06/25
Mick Ralphs died and Robert Plant appears on Patty Griffin's new album
Hello! Welcome to the 399th Led Zeppelin News email. We email out regular summaries of Led Zeppelin news so that you don't miss anything.
Led Zeppelin
Mick Ralphs died
Mick Ralphs, the Bad Company guitarist whose association with Led Zeppelin stretched back to signing with Swan Song in 1973, died age 81 on June 23.
Robert Plant paid tribute to Ralphs, writing on social media: “Mick was a good man..his style was unique...his humour too.. Spent a long time trying and waiting to come back from his cruel fate.. …a man from the Shire.”
Jimmy Page in particular remained a close associate of Bad Company since the band signed with Swan Song. He joined the band on stage multiple times during the 1970s and saw Bad Company perform at Wembley Stadium in London on April 11, 2010. He also saw Ralphs’ solo band perform in London on November 26, 2011.
‘Becoming Led Zeppelin’ had its physical release in Italy
“Becoming Led Zeppelin” is now available on Blu-ray and DVD in Italy. Like last week’s Australian release, the Italian version doesn’t come with any special features.
LedZepNews reader Kelly Walker kindly shared the below photographs of the Australian Blu-ray box set which comes with the souvenir booklet that was given to people who saw the film in Australian cinemas.
Also this week, “Becoming Led Zeppelin” was made available to buy and rent digitally in France.
There have been some online claims that the global physical release of “Becoming Led Zeppelin” was on June 27. This isn’t correct and appears to originate from the release date on Amazon US for imported copies of the Australian Blu-ray and DVD versions.
The Starship co-owner Bobby Sherman died
Bobby Sherman, the musician who co-owned Led Zeppelin’s iconic plane The Starship, died age 81 on June 24.
As we reported in our extensive history of The Starship, Sherman purchased the plane with his manager Ward Sylvester in 1972. The first customer to rent the refitted plane was Led Zeppelin who hired it in 1973 and 1975.
When we spoke to Starship stewardess Suzee Carnel, she recalled how she first heard about the plane from Sherman who was married at the time to her sister Patti.
“Bobby would come home and tell us about this plane,” Carnel told us. “And I’m just going ‘I just got to work on that plane. Come on, Bobby’. My sister Patti [and I], we just wore him down.”
‘Mr. Jimmy’ will be released on Vimeo
The documentary film “Mr. Jimmy” will be released globally on Vimeo on July 4, it was announced this week.
‘Whole Lotta Love’ features in the new film ‘F1: The Movie’
The opening sequence of the new film “F1: The Movie” features “Whole Lotta Love”, indicating that Led Zeppelin approved its use for the film.
Led Zeppelin reportedly charge a seven-figure fee to license its music for use in films, The Los Angeles Times reported in 2012.
Those licencing agreements are often personally decided upon by the surviving members of the band and sometimes come with specific conditions.
For example, when the film “Argo” requested to licence “When The Levee Breaks” for use in the film, Led Zeppelin requested that a shot of a needle dropping on to the record in the film when the song begins to play was altered to show it dropping on to the correct track from Led Zeppelin’s fourth album.
Beware the AI-generated Led Zeppelin decanter
Many Led Zeppelin fans expressed excitement this week after Facebook ads for a Led Zeppelin-themed whiskey decanter reached thousands of fans of the band.
But we advise our readers not to purchase the decanter as it’s not only unofficial merchandise but the product images are also generated by artificial intelligence, meaning it’s unlikely it even exists to begin with.
An easy way to spot that these are AI-generated images is to look at the text on the paper on the table beneath the decanter. The AI has failed to generate actual letters, a key giveaway that this isn’t a photograph or even a product render.
Mick Wall fundraiser launched
A fundraiser has been launched to help veteran rock journalist Mick Wall who is facing eviction after suffering a heart attack on June 14.
Wall is a well-known music writer whose Led Zeppelin biography “When Giants Walked the Earth” was published in 2008.
Robert Plant
Robert Plant appears on Patty Griffin’s new album
Robert Plant makes a guest appearance on Patty Griffin’s new album Crown of Roses.
Plant sings backing vocals on the song “Long Time”, it has been announced. Griffin’s new album will be released on July 25.
This means that two albums being released on the same day will feature Plant. Paul Weller’s new album Find El Dorado features Robert Plant on the track “Clive’s Song” and will also be released on July 25.
Plant’s continued collaboration with Griffin spans multiple albums, starting from his Band of Joy project in 2010 up to 2025. The former couple have now recorded at least 20 songs together.
Upcoming events:
July 2 - ‘Mr. Jimmy’ will be released on DVD and Blu-ray in Japan.
July 4 - ‘Mr. Jimmy’ will be released globally on Vimeo.
July 6 - An in-store event and performance at Tower Records Shinjuku will be held to promote the film ‘Mr. Jimmy’
July 10 - Robert Plant will perform with Saving Grace at Festival de Poupet in Saint-Malô-du-Bois, France.
July 13 - Robert Plant will perform with Saving Grace at the Lucca Summer Festival in Lucca, Italy.
July 15 - Robert Plant will perform with Saving Grace at the Jazz à Juan music festival in Juan-les-Pins, France.
July 17 - Robert Plant will perform with Saving Grace in Vienne, France.
July 19 - Robert Plant will perform with Saving Grace in Salon-de-Provence, France.
July 21 - Robert Plant will perform with Saving Grace at the Jazz in Marciac festival in Marciac, France.
July 23 - Robert Plant will perform with Saving Grace at Festival de Carcassonne in Carcassonne, France.
July 25 - Paul Weller’s new album Find El Dorado, which features Robert Plant on the track “Clive’s Song”, will be released. Patty Griffin’s new album Crown of Rosses, which features Plant on the song “Long Time”, will also be released.
July 26 - Robert Plant will perform with Saving Grace at the 1001 Músicas festival in Granada, Spain.
July 28 - Robert Plant will perform with Saving Grace in Valencia, Spain.
July 30 - Robert Plant will perform with Saving Grace in Barcelona, Spain.
September 11 - The book “Valhalla!: The A to Z of Led Zeppelin” by Paul Brannigan will be published.
September 26 - ‘Becoming Led Zeppelin’ will be released in Japan.
October - John Paul Jones’ song cycle for Dame Sarah Connolly will premiere in London.
October 28 - Cameron Crowe’s memoir ‘The Uncool’ will be published and an updated edition of Denny Somach’s book ‘Get the Led Out: How Led Zeppelin Became the Biggest Band in the World’ will also be published.
That was our 399th email. Have any questions or feedback? Reply to this email and we'll get back to you.
Follow Led Zeppelin News on Twitter and Facebook to stay up to date on news as it happens, and check ledzepnews.com for the latest news.