Jimmy Page Declaration (Skidmore v. Led Zeppelin "Stairway to Heaven" lawsuit)

8/18/2019 Jimmy Page Declaration (Skidmore v. Led Zeppelin "Stairway to Heaven" lawsuit)

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Peter

J.

Anderson,

Esq.,

Cal.

Bar No. 88891

E-Ma i I :

pia@,pianders on.

com

LAW

OFFIÕES OF

PETER

J.

ANDERSON

ANTHONY

JO WARNETVCHAPPELLLANT, JOHN PAUL

MUSIC,

INC.,

SUPER

ATLANTIC RECORD

HYPE

ING CORP

ENTERTAINMENT COMPANY

MUSIC

GROUP

CORP.

MICHAEL

SKIDMORE,

efc.,

Plaintitïì

vs.

LED

ZEPPELIN,

et al,,

Defendants.

UNITED

STATES

DISTRICT

COURT

CENTRAL

DISTRICT

OF CALIFORNIA

WESTERN DIVISION

Case

No.

2:15-cv-03462

RGK

(AGRX)

Helene Freeman. Esq..

admitted

oro

hac

vice

E-Mail

:

hfreernánlÐbhittipsnizei.com

PHILIPS

NIZER LI,P

666 Fifth

Avenue

New

York,

NY

10103-0084

Tel:

(212\

977-9700

Fax:

12ll\

262-5152

Attorhev

í

for

De

fendants

JAMES

PATRICK

PAGE,

ROBERT

ANTHONY

PLANT

and

JOHN

PAUL

JONES

)

)

)

)

)

)

)

)

)

DECLARATION

OF JAMES

PATRICK PAGE

IN

SUPPORT

OF

MOTION

FOR

SUMMARY

JUDGMENT

OR,

IN THE

ALTERNATIVE,

PARTIAL

SUMMARY

JUDGMENT

Date:

March 28,2016

Time:

9:00 a.m.

Courtroom

of

the

Honorable

R.

Garv

Klausner

United

Statés

District Judge

Case 2:15-cv-03462-RGK-AGR Document 97-2 Filed 02/25/16 Page 1 of 6 Page ID #:1071


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DECLARATION

OF JAMES

PATRICK

PAGE

I, James Patrick Page,

declare and

state:

l.

I

am

over the

age

of

18

and have personal knowledge

of

the

following

facts and could

competently

testi

to

those

facts

if

called

upon

to do so.

2. I, along with

Robert Plant, John Paul

Jones and the

late

John

Bonham,

were

the members

of

the band

LedZeppelin,

formed

in 1968.

3. The musical composition Stairway to

Heaver? was created by

Robert

Plant

and me,

independently

and

without knowledge

of

Taurus.

4,

I

composed the music to

Stairway

to Heaven

with the intention to create

a long work,

with

multiple

different

parts,

that would unfold

with

increasing

cornplexity

and

speed culminating

in

a

guitar

solo

that

was

preceded

by

a distinct

fanfare,

followed by

the last

verse

concluding

a climax to the song.

Robert

Plant

created the

lyrics tlor

Stairway

to

Heaven

after my

initial

composition

of

the music,

when

the

song was

worked on by the

band

members of

Led Zeppelin in

1970 in

rehearsals for

its

recording. Stairtay îo Heavel?

was

recorded

in

December

1970 to

January

1971 in London,

England, and

first

performed

by Led

Zeppelin

in March

l97l

at Ulster

Hall

in Belfast,

Northern lreland.

The recording of

,Sra

irway

to Heaven

created

in early l97l in London, England,

was

included in the Led

Zeppelin

album

usually referred

to

as LedZeppelin

IV,

in November 1971.

5.

The beginning

of

Stairway to

Heaven includes a descending chromatic

line chord

progression

and arpeggios,

over

which I

played

an

ascending

line.

I

consider

descending

chromatic lines

and arpeggiated

ohords basic skills

learned

by

any student

of the

guitar.

Certainly,

as

a

guitarist,

I was aware

of

descending

chromatic

lines and arpeggios

long

before

1968.

For example,

in

1960,

I arranged for

a

friend, Chris

Farlowe, and

his

band

the

Thunderbirds

to record

a

demo

of

the

composition

Spring

is

Near

along

with

other

material..

Chris Farlowe

did

get

a

recording

contract.

Spring

is Near was

not

released.

However,

I

still

have the

pressing

of

the demo

and

provided

it

to

my counsel

for

production

in

this case.

The



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beginning of Spring is

Near, recorded

in 1960, is a

guitar playing

a descending

chromatic

line

chord

progression.

6.

Before

1968,

I

also was

familiar

with

other

songs

that

included

a

descending line, such

as

songs

by

the

Beatles and

Cry

Me

a River

by Davey

Graharn.

Also, in 1964

a

studio

musician,

Joe Moretti,

introduced

me to

the

song Chim

Chím

Chiree and

I liked the

idea of

music

going

at

counterpoint

and I

used

that

and similar

ideas in

my

music.

For

example,

as stated above,

Stairway

to

Heavere

has

a

descending

chromatic

line

over which there

is

also

an ascending

line,

so that the music

is

going in

two different

directions.

7,

I

performed

as a session

guitarist

on

recordings

by a

musical

group

called

Cartoone

for their

album

of the same

name. That album

includes

a

song

titled

/ce

Cream

Dreams,

which

also begins

with

a

guitar playing

a

descending

line.

I

participated

in that recording as a

session

guitarist

in

the

fall of 1968,

before

Led

Zeppelin

went

to

the U.S.

in

December 1968.

8. Prior

to hearing a

recording

of

Tauras

in 2014 in connection

with this

matter,

I

had

never heard Taurus or

even

heard

of

it.

I

am very

good

at remembering

music

and am

absolutely certain that

I never

heard

Taurus

until

2014.

9,

I

do

not recall ever seeing Spirit

perfonn

live. Again,

though,

I am

absolutely

certain

I

never

heard them,

or

anyone else,

perform

Taurus,

10.

Led

Zeppelin and

the

band

Spirit

never performed

together

and

were

never on

the

same stage

at

the

same

time.

I l.

To the

best of

my knowledge based on the

information

presently

available

to rne,

the

only occasions

when

Led Zeppelin

performed

at the

same venue

on the same date

on which

Spirit

was scheduled

to

perform

were:

the

Auditorium

Arena

in

Denver,

Colorado,

on

December 26,

1968,

the Atlanta

International

Pop

Festival

at

the

Atlanta

Speedway

in Atlanta,

Georgia, on

July

5,

1969 and

the

Seattle

Pop Festival

in Woodinville,

Washington,

on

July

27,1969.

The

latter

two

events

2



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were

outdoor

festivals

over

two or

three

days

with

approximately

20

to

40

bands

or

individual

peforrners

and ten

or

rnore of

them

performing

each day.

12.

Led

Zeppelin s

first

U.S.

performance

was

the

concert

in

Denver,

Colorado, the

day

after

Christmas in

1968. I understand

that Spirit

also

performed

that night,

but

I did

not

see

or hear

Spirit s

performance.

13. I

have no

personal

knowledge of

whether

Spirit

performed

at the

festivals

in Atlanta,

Georgia,

or

Vy oodinville,

rWashington,

and,

if

it

did,

when in

the

course

of

the

day

it

performed,

as

I have no recollection of seeing them

perform.

14.

Generally, in my

experience, when

bands

played

on the

same bill,

each

band or

performer

used

their

own

guitars,

amplifiers,

keyboards,

drums and other

equiprnent. In between

performances,

their respective

road crews

would set up

or

dismantle

and

remove

their

equipment,

and

that

generally

took

anywhere

from l5

to

20

minutes depending

on

the extent

of the

equipment.

15.

In rny

experience,

the

set-up interval

between bands meant that

we

did

not

encounter

any other

bands

entering or leaving the stage.

16.

I

understand

Mark Andes

testified

that

he

was

introduced

to the members

of

Led Zeppelin at

the

concert in Denver in 1968 by

Toby

Roberts,

who

he

stated

had

leased

an

airplane

we

were

then

using.

In December 1968,

we

did

not know

Toby

Roberts,

did not lease a

plane

from hirn

and

to the best of my

knowledge he

was not

involved in

our

tour.

Led

Zeppelin

did

not

lease

an

airplane

for use in touring until

1973,long

after the concert

in

Denver

in December 1968.

17,

Before

Led Zeppelin s

first

performance

in

the

United

States

in

December

1968,

Led

Zeppelin

performed live

concerts

in

England and Scandinavia

that included Led Zeppelin s

performance

of

the

song

As Long

As

I Have

You as

a

medley

that included

a short

bass riff

sirnilar to the bass

riff

in

the song

Fresh

Garbage.

I

had heard

Fresh

Garbage on the

radio

in

England before Led Zeppelin

first

toured

in

the

United

States.

3



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18. I

purchased

a Sonic

Vy ave, a

Theremin-type devise,

in

Los

Angeles

before LedZeppelin

was formed,

while I

was

a

member

of

the

Yardbirds.

I

purchased

the Sonic

Wave after Jeff Beck told

me

that

Brian Wilson

used

a

Theremin

in

the

1966

song

Good

Vibrations

and on

tour.

19.

I

have several thousand albums of many

different

kinds.

They

include

albums

I

purchased,

albums

people gave

me and albums that

were

simply left

at

my

home. Also, like

a

book collector

who

never

gets

around to reading books

they

collect,

I have never

listened

to

many

of

the

albums.

20.

In

connection with

this

litigation,

I

discovered

a copy

of

Spirit s

first

album

in my record

collection.

I had not

previously

seen

it

in my

collection

and do not

know how

or

when

it

got

there.

It

may well have

been

left

by a

guest.

I

doubt

it

was

there

for

long, since I never noticed

it before. But,

again, I know I

did not hear

Taurus

until

2014.

21.

In

the over four

decades since

the

l97I release

of

Led

Zeppelin

IV and

Stairway

to Heaven, documents have been lost

or

stolen.

For example,

portions

of the

music recorded

during

the creation of ,Srairway to

Heaven that were made

at

Headley

Grange

in

1970

are

gone.

They were stolen

from

my

home at some time in the 1980 s,

and

in

later

years

copies

of

the stolen

recordings have turned

up for

sale on

bootleg

recordings.

I have had to

purchase

bootleg recordings in order to try to

recover

what

was stolen and

those

recordings

I

recovered have been

produced

in

this

action.

However,

other

recordings remain missing, and with

the

passage

of time

documents,

such as concert

contracts, set

lists,

and

travel documentation,

have

been

lost or

discarded.

22.

Also, and unfortunately,

rnany

people

have

passed

away

since

197l,

including

John

Bonham,

who

died

in

1980, Peter Grant

(Led

Zeppelin s

personal

manager

and

who

attended

many

of

its

concerts)

in

1995

and

Andy

Johns

(the

engineer

for

the

recording

of

Stairway

to Heaven) in

2013.

4



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f

dcol¡re undor

pcnalty

of

perjury

undor

tho

laws

of

the

Unit€d Statcs

of

Amcisa

tbat

thc

fortgoing

is il¡e

aud corroct.

Exofl¡ted

on Febnrary

24 20t6.

JAMES P

5


Documents

Jimmy Page Declaration (Skidmore v. Led Zeppelin "Stairway to Heaven" lawsuit)