Led Zeppelin Reunion Concerts:
Summary:
Date of Birth, Date of Death: |
31 May 1948 - 25 September 1980 |
Age: |
32 years old |
Location of Death: |
Jimmy Page’s home in Windsor. |
Cause of Death: |
Pulmonary Oedema - Inhalation of vomit during sleep. |
Inquest held: |
East Berkshire coroner’s Court - October 8th 1980 |
Coroner’s report: |
Cause of death attributed to “consumption of alcohol”. |
Tomb / Burial Ground |
His ashes were buried at Saint Michael's Church and cemetery, Rushock, England – See image above. |
Family Service: |
Rushock Parish Church in Worcestershire October 10th - attended by 250 mourners |
Final Service: |
Worcester Crematorium |
Sourced: pg 121, 122, 199 Thunder Of Drums
Death
Led Zeppelin woiuld do their first North American tour since 1977, starting in Montreal, Canada on October 17th 1980. In September the band began rehearsals in Jimmy Page’s house in Windsor. It was there that tragedy struck. On the morning of September 25th, John Paul Jones and road manager Benje LeFevre found John Bonham dead in bed. He had spent the previous day drinking heavily, and had been put to bed after falling unconscious, and left to sleep it off. Police were called to the house but there were no suspicious circumstances. An inquest was held on October 8th at East Berkshire coroner’s court, and it was revealed that John had died from inhalation of vomit during his sleep. He had suffered a pulmonary oedema, a swelling of blood vessels, due to excess fluid being present. The cause of death was put down to “consumption of alcohol”, and a verdict of accidental death was recorded. Bonham was just 31 years old. It was later established that John had started a lunchtime drinking session that carried on until midnight. He had consumed some 40 measures of vodka during a 12-hour session, and after falling asleep on a sofa was put to bed by an assistant and laid on his side with pillows for support. When it was realized something was wrong the following morning, an ambulance was called, but it was already too late. John Paul Jones: “Benje and I found him. It was like, ‘Let’s go up and look at Bonzo, see how he is.’ We tried to wake him up… It was terrible. Then I had to tell the other two… I had to break the news to Jimmy and Robert. It made me feel very angry – at the waste of him… I can’t say he was in good shape, because he wasn’t. There were some good moments during the last rehearsals … but then he started on the vodka.” “I think he had been drinking because there were some problems in his personal life. But he died because of an accident. He was lying down the wrong way, which could have happened to anybody who drank a lot.”
Robert plant remembers John’s mood as they drove to what was to be their final rehearsal together. “On the very last day of his life, as we drove to the rehearsal, he was not quite as happy as he could be. He said, ‘I’ve had it with playing drums. Everybody plays better than me.’ We were driving in the car and he pulled off the sun visor and threw it out the window as he was talking. He said, ‘I’ll tell you what, when we get to the rehearsal, you play the drums and I’ll sing.’” And that was our last rehearsal.” Thunder pg 121.
Family service at Rushock Parish Church in Worcestershire on October 10th and was attended by 250 mourners, including family, friends, bandmates and fellow musicians, notably Roy Wood, Denny Laine, Bev Bevan and Jeff Lynne. Amoung the many wreaths was one from Paul McCartney. More tributes were received from Carmine Appice, Phil Collins, Cozy Powell and Carl Palmer. Thunder – pg 122
the funeral procession made its way to Worcester Crematorium for the final service. Mick – pg 199
On December 4th 1980 an announcement from SwanSong put an end to all the rumours. A statement was issued which read: “We wish it to be known that the loss of our dear friend and the deep sense of undivided harmony felt by ourselves and our manager, have led us to decide that we could not continue as we were.” Thunder –pg 122
