Terry Reid, Artists’ Artist Who Nearly Became Led Zeppelin’s Singer, Dead at 75

Terry Reid, the artists’ artist who was revered by the likes of Aretha Franklin and Mick Jagger, and nearly became the lead singer of Led Zeppelin, has died, The Guardian reports. He was 75.

A rep for the British musician confirmed his death. An exact cause of death was not given, though Reid had been battling cancer and other health issues. A recent GoFundMe said Reid had been “in and out of the hospital, enduring rounds of treatment and uncertainty,” forcing him to cancel a six-week tour scheduled for the fall. 

With a reedy voice that could push to mighty and soulful heights, Reid earned the nickname “Superlungs” (partly a nod, too, to his rendition of the Donovan song, “Superlungs My Supergirl”). Between 1968 and 1978, Reid released five albums. And though he never scored a genuine chart hit, he garnered high praise from critics and esteem from his peers.

During the late Sixties, Reid opened for the Rolling Stones and Cream, and in 1968 Franklin famously stated: “There are only three things happening in England: the Rolling Stones, the Beatles, and Terry Reid.”

Reid’s 1973 album, River, stands out as the gem in his catalog for its mix of progressive folk tinged with elements of R&B, funk, pop, and samba. While it became a longtime cult favorite that received a proper reissue in 2016, it struggled to gain any traction upon its original release. 

“I was just doing my thing, mixing blues and rock and other influences,” Reid told The Guardian last year. “I love music, whether it’s Brazilian samba or Bulgarian choirs, I’m listening to it all. But Atlantic didn’t really get behind me. Now people tell me how much they love River — I think it’s found its audience.”

Reid’s originals were also frequently recorded by other artists, especially “Without Expression,” a song he wrote when he was 14. The track was covered (often under slightly different names) by the Hollies, Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young, REO Speedwagon, and John Mellencamp, who turned it into a minor hit in the late Nineties. 

Born and raised in Cambridgeshire, England, Reid started playing guitar and writing his own songs as a teenager. His first break came in 1965, when his band, the Redbeats, opened a show for Peter Jay and the Jaywalkers. Jay was so impressed, he asked Reid to join his band; soon he was gigging around London and touring alongside the Stones, Ike and Tina Turner, and the Yardbirds. By 1967, Reid was embarking on a solo career, spurred on by his friend, Jimi Hendrix, and under the auspices of producer/manager Mickie Most.

Reid released his debut album, Bang, Bang You’re Terry Reid, in 1968, when he was just 18. That same year, Yardbirds guitarist Jimmy Page asked him if he’d be interested in fronting his next band. Though Reid considered it, he declined, instead suggesting Page check out the singer and drummer from another group called Band of Joy: Robert Plant and John Bonham. 

Reid tended to brush aside this sliding doors moment, noting that he was frequently asked to join other peoples’ bands (he rebuffed Ritchie Blackmore’s offer to front Deep Purple the following year). “I was intent on doing my own thing,” he said. “I contributed half the band — that’s enough on my part,” he added of Zeppelin. 

After Bang Bang and his 1969 self-titled album, Reid fell out with Most. It took him several years to settle a contractual dispute with his former manager and producer, before he was able to finally record River. He released two more albums, 1976’s Seed of Memory, and 1978’s Rogue Waves, before stepping back from his solo career. He moved to California and, in the Eighties, started working as a session musician for artists like Don Henley, Bonnie Raitt, and Jackson Browne. 

In 1991, Reid partnered with Trevor Horn for a comeback album, The Driver, which contained a cover of the Spencer Davis Group’s “Gimme Some Lovin’” that appeared on the soundtrack for the Tom Cruise racing movie, Days of Thunder. But that failed to garner much attention, and even Reid was dissatisfied with the record, later calling it “unlistenable.” 

While Reid did not release any more studio albums, he did drop several live albums and toured regularly. As his back catalog garnered renewed attention, he was enlisted for vocal work by artists like DJ Shadow and Alabama 3. And new covers of his songs emerged, like a rendition of “Rich Kid Blues” by Jack White’s band, the Raconteurs, and a version of “To Be Treated Rite” by Chris Cornell that appeared on his posthumous collection, No One Sings Like You Anymore, Vol. 1. 

Reid even revealed that Dr. Dre was such a fan of Seed of Memory, that the hip-hop legend invited him into the studio where they “reworked it alongside his rappers.” Reid called it a “fascinating experience,” though the sessions still have not been released. 

“I’ve never looked at making music as chasing fame and fortune,” Reid said. “I’m part of a society of musicians and I love that I can go out there and sing — it’s all I’ve ever wanted to do.”