Robert Plant's friendship with John Bonham helped him through the grief of losing his son

In July 1977, Robert Plant's life changed forever when Karac, his 5-year-old son, died from a stomach virus while Led Zeppelin were touring the U.S. During this period of immense grief, he found vital support through his family and friends—including one of rock's most revered drummers, bandmate John "Bonzo" Bonham.

"I’d spent so much time trying to be a decent dad, but at the same time I was really attracted to what I was doing in Zeppelin," Plant told Classic Rock in 2020. "So when he bowed out, I just thought: 'What’s it all worth? What’s that all about? Would it have been any different if I was there, if I’d been around?' So I was thinking about the merit of my life at that time, and whether or not I needed to put a lot more into the reality of the people that I loved and cared for—my daughter and my family generally. So yeah, I was ready to jack it in, until Bonzo came along."

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In an interview with Dan Rather for AXS TV, Plant elaborated on the difficulty of maintaining a "normal family life" during the "hysteria" of the mid-to-late '70s, noting how Bonham's presence was key at that time. "[W]e pulled tight together, and both my wife and I had strong families and good support," he said. "John Bonham from Zeppelin and his wife, Pat—they were magnificent with us and helped us a lot. We lived pretty close together, a long way from London, so we were kind of local people."

The vocalist gave an example of Bonham's reliability to Classic Rock, explaining how the drummer would show up to his house in a "six-door Mercedes limousine" with a chauffeur driver's hat. "We lived five or six miles apart, not far from here, and sometimes we’d go out for a drink," he said. "He’d put the chauffeur driver’s hat on, and I’d sit in the back of this stretch Mercedes and we’d go out on the lash. Then he’d put his hat back on and drive me home. Of course, he’d be three sheets to the wind, and we’d go past cops and they’d go: 'There’s another poor fucker working for the rich!' But he was very supportive at that time, with his wife and the kids. So I did go back [to Zeppelin] for one more flurry."

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That "flurry" of activity resulted in one more studio album of new Led Zeppelin material: 1979's In Through the Out Door, which featured the artful ballad "All My Love," a tribute to Plant's late child. ("For many hours and days that pass ever soon / The tides have caused the flame to dim," he sings on the track. "At last, the arm is straight, the hand to the loom / Is this to end or just begin?")

"I think it was just paying tribute to the joy that he gave us as a family, and in a crazy way still does occasionally, his mother and I, often," Plant told Rather of the song. "I mean, the memory changes, and the contrast and the focus changes as time goes on. It was a long time ago that we lost him...and every now and again he turns up in songs, for no other reason than I miss him a lot."

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