Robert Plant is widely considered one of the greatest voices to ever grace hard rock and metal, but what if he shut it down before his career ever took off? Plant recently revealed to Rolling Stone that he came across a letter from his mother sent early on in his career that if he had opened it, might have altered the course he took in life.

The letter was sent in 1967, one year prior to his joining Led Zeppelin, the iconic Rock and Roll Hall of Fame band. The young singer had trained as a chartered accountant, but gave it up after two weeks to head off to college instead. It was there that he started to play as part of the English Midlands Blues scene. He cut three singles, played in several bands including the Crawling King Snakes with future Led Zeppelin drummer John Bonham, but success would finally arrive one year later.

While speaking with Rolling Stone, Plant revealed that he had spent part of his pandemic downtime organizing his personal archive which is when he discovered the letter his mother had written that had not been opened.

“I found a few names and addresses […] just fantastic revelations of people that I knew, friends, many of whom are still around. In those days I had no way of chronicling stuff, so it was all about a chronicle of old demos, unissued tracks, every tour I ever did, itineraries; the adventures, the letters," the singer started.

He then elaborated, “I found a letter from my mom, which I hadn’t opened, from 1967, and I opened it in 2020, and it said, ‘Robert, you should come home now. Sue is waiting for you, and the accountant’s office are happy to take you back.’"

"It brought a tear to my eye," said Plant. "Because I thought, ‘If I’d have opened that, I might have taken it up.’ Just imagine that! I’d be out shooting pheasants somewhere now on the Welsh borders, with a pair of plus-fours.” He then added, “But how ironic that I never opened it – it was a letter from my mom.”

In the years after joining Led Zeppelin, Plant would be involved in eight studio albums, each certified platinum with Led Zeppelin II, Led Zeppelin IV, Houses of the Holy and Physical Graffiti all going on to be certified diamond sellers (10 million or more copies sold) by the RIAA. Those would be some nifty receipts to sort through had he returned to accounting.

Plant has also released 11 solo albums, recorded three albums with Jimmy Page and another two with country superstar Alison Krauss.

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