Robert Plant has waxed lyrical about Heart’s spectacular rendition of Led Zeppelin’s ‘Stairway To Heaven’ at the Kennedy Center Honors ceremony just over a decade ago.
Dished out annually in the run-up to the festive period, The Kennedy Center Honors awards distinguished artists for their lifetime of contributions to American culture.
Back in December 2012, Led Zeppelin’s Robert Plant, Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones attended the Kennedy Center Opera House in Washington, D.C to receive their thoroughly deserved gong with President Barack Obama in attendance.
During the ceremony, Heart’s Ann and Nancy Wilson performed a spine-tingling rendition of ‘Stairway to Heaven’ while accompanied by Jason Bonham on drums and flanked by an orchestra and massive choir.
Heart’s staggering performance famously brought a watching Robert Plant to tears, and it was met with a standing ovation from the Kennedy Center Opera House audience.
In a new interview with Vulture, Robert Plant has hailed Heart’s live version of ‘Stairway to Heaven’ as “magnificent”, “spectacular” and a real “we’re not worthy moment.”
Explaining that ‘Stairway to Heaven’ is such a big song it has its “own life”, Plant said: “(The song) began intimate and vulnerable and sincere, and then the years carried on. It was no longer ours and neither should it be.”
He added: “It had its own impetus. I watched it go. It was like a beautiful feather, balloon, or bubble. Something out of a clay pipe that had been blown with soap.”
Reflecting upon Heart’s rendition, he continued: “I knew it was coming — the Kennedy Center told us to expect something — but I didn’t know how it was going to be. It was a spectacular performance.”
Plant added: “It’s just a magnificent performance to watch and it kills me every time. It kills me in two or three different ways. It’s just like, ‘Oh my God‘.”
Continuing to heap praise on the performance, Plant said: “Some people are completely trapped in their achievements, and that must be real hell. But perhaps one of the things about ‘Stairway to Heaven’ was that the development of the song was exactly that. Somehow it was something very, very special, which I don’t really have a great connection to.
“But that night at the Kennedy Center, it made me remember that I had some responsibility, for better or worse, for that song. It wasn’t really about who did a great job, although Ann’s a spectacular singer. The whole choreography of it was blindingly sort of a ‘we’re not worthy’ moment.”
Speaking to Professor of Rock in 2021, Heart’s Ann Wilson said the Kennedy Center Honors performance was an “amazing, astounding moment for us.”
Ann Wilson exclusively told Planet Rock last year that she offered to audition as Led Zeppelin’s new vocalist 15 years ago.
“(Led) Zeppelin always was a boy’s club,” Wilson said. “I know that because there was a minute when the rumour was that they were auditioning singers and I just threw my hat in the ring. I went, ‘I’m here!’ and it was crickets (silence).”
Yesterday it was announced that Heart’s Ann and Nancy Wilson were among the recipients of the 2023 Lifetime Achievement Award from The Recording Academy.
