How did Robert Plant receive his nickname Percy?
In mid-1969, the members of Led Zeppelin had been bandmates/friends for nearly a year, and they were getting close enough up to the point where they could joke with and tease one another playfully, knowing that they probably would not make any permanent stains on their relationships with one another. One night in July, they were laughing over some of the boring shows on British TV. John Paul Jones laughed, 'What about that bloke, Percy Thrower? You know, the guy who does the gardening show. It's a whole program of watching plants grow! How exciting can you get?'
'Hey, we do the same thing,' Jimmy Page interjected. 'We watch Plant grow too!'
Jones laughed. 'What a perfect name! Percy.'
From that day on, the band members (and Peter Grant and Richard Cole) hardly ever called Plant Robert again. It was nearly always Percy. Robert never complained.
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