Guitarist Reveals Why Robert Plant Sang 'Stairway To Heaven' After So Long

Over the weekend, Robert Plant performed "Stairway to Heaven" for the first time in 16 years during “An Evening With Andy Taylor And Special Guests” — a charity concert benefiting the Cancer Awareness Trust that was organized by former Duran Duran guitarist Andy Taylor, who was diagnosed with stage 4 prostate cancer in 2018.

Guitarist Kenwyn House, who played alongside Plant, revealed what motivated the former Led Zeppelin frontman to perform the song after so long. “Someone bid a huge amount of money for him to sing this song,” House divulged to Led Zeppelin News. “There is a good circle of karma around it. That raised a six-figure sum for the charity, that one song.”

He also described what it was like to share the stage with such a legendary singer. “It was a combination between über excitement and terrifying,” House said. “I literally only had four days to learn everything.”

“When Robert Plant walked into the room and I had to play ‘Stairway to Heaven’ with him for the first time in a small enclosed environment, that was probably the most pressured professional situation I have ever, ever come across,” he confessed. “I’m in a small room with my hero playing the most famous of his songs.”

Before the benefit, the last time Plant had performed the song was during Led Zeppelin's reunion tour in 2007.