History
Born in West London in 1944, Jimmy Page spent most of his formative years in Epsom, Surrey. He first picked up the guitar after finding one that was left behind in a house his family moved to. He started to play at the age of 12, mentioning Elvis Presley’s song “Baby Let’s Play House” as the inspiration to do so. Jimmy had a handful of lessons, but mostly picked things up from friends or by ear.
In his early years of guitar Jimmy Page played a lot of skiffle influenced music and regularly busked around his local area, but he was also fascinated by science, claiming that he aimed to finish school and “to do biological research to find a cure for cancer.” He even went as far as to interview for a job as a lab assistant but in the end decided to leave school at 15 to forge a career in music, going on tour with Neil Christian and the Crusaders and performing on a handful of his recordings.
During this time Jimmy contracted glandular fever and had to quit touring to focus on his recovery. He enrolled at an art college in Surrey to concentrate on his love of painting, but after 18 months of recuperation then began to get regular work as a session musician. During the early 60s he performed on recordings by The Who, The Kinks, The Rolling Stones and Shirley Bassey, amongst many others.
