Musicians

Randall Darius "Randy" Jackson is an American musician, singer, record producer and reality television judge, best known for his role on American Idol. He is also creditted as Executive Producer for America's Best Dance Crew.

Biography

Randy Jackson was born on 31 June 1956 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. He is the son of Julia LeGolvan and Herman Jackson.

Randy has been married twice - first to Elizabeth Jackson, with whom he has a son, Taylor. Randy and Elizabeth divorced in 1990.

He subsequently married Erika Riker in 1995 and the couple have two children, Zoe (14) and Jordan (12).

Neil Young is a singer/songwriter, musician and film director from Canada. He was born on 12 November 1945 to parents Rassy and Scott Young. He is known for his work as a solo artist and with the seminal bands Buffalo Springfield and Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young.

Despite living in the USA since the 1970's, Young remains a Canadian citizen.

John Paul Jones is an English musician, songwriter and arranger best known as the bassist and keyboardist for Led Zeppelin from 1968 to 1980.

Robert Plant is a rock singer, who originally found fame as the frontman for Led Zeppelin. He was with the band for 12 years, until the death of John Bonham in 1980 resulted in the band splitting up. Following the demise of Led Zeppelin, Plant went on to have a successful solo career and other collaborations with bands such as The Honeydrippers. In 2007, he teamed up for an award-winning record, Raising Sand, and tour with singer Alison Krauss.

Useful links

• Robert Plant official website
• The Robert Plant/Alison Krauss MySpace page

John Bonham was the drummer for Led Zeppelin. He was known for his powerhouse drumming technique until his death in 1980. He was recommended for the band by Robert Plant, who had played with him previously in the Band Of Joy.

Jimmy Page is best known as the lead guitarist and founding member of the legendary rock group, Led Zeppelin. A session musician in the 1960's, Page joined The Yardbirds shortly before the band split up and famously assembled the members of what would become Led Zeppelin in order to wrap up the contractual obligations of the band. For twelve years, he toured and recorded with Zeppelin, until the death of drummer John Bonham in 1980 ended the band.

Biography

Page was born on 9th January 1944 in Heston, Middlesex, England. He got his first guitar at the age of 12 and mostly taught himself to play by listening to records. Page cites the guitar work of Scotty Moore and James Burton as influential, especially Elvis Presley's Baby, Let's Play House.

Other influences on Page at the time were Bert Jansch's folk music and the blues playing of B.B. King and Elmore James.

Jason Newsted is best known as the bassist with heavy metal legends Metallica. He was part of the band for 14 years, hired after original bassist Cliff Burton died in a road accident.

Prior to Metallica, Newsted was bassist for the thrash metal band Flotsam and Jetsam for their first album, Doomsday for the Receiver. He auditioned and won the role of bassist for Metallica after Cliff Burton's death in 1986.

Career with Metallica

His first appearance with the band on record was the 5 track Garage Days Re-Revisited, the $5.98 EP, followed by Metallica's fourth studio album, ...And Justice For All in 1988. However, Newsted's contribution to the album was criticised, as was the overall sound quality.

Little Boots is the stage name of Victoria Hesketh (born 1984), a singer and keyboardist from the Blackpool area. She formerly fronted a band called Dead Disco.

In interviews, Hesketh has said that the name Little Boots came from a friend after watching the film Caligula (Caligula means "little boots" in Latin).

A debut album is in production, with Hesketh collaborating with Hot Chip's Joe Goddard. Production on the debut album will be done by Greg Kurstin.