Led Zeppelin’s Jimmy Page Established a Connection With Actor Michael Caine Through a Riverside House
Jimmy Page formed Led Zeppelin partly so he could strike out on his own instead of going back to session work when the Yardbirds splintered. His music career took off when he went to art school, and Led Zeppelin helped it rise into the stratosphere. Zep eventually earned a $2 million paycheck for one song years after it came out, but that was long after Page formed a strange connection with actor Michael Caine.
Jimmy Page formed several odd connections during his career
Page started forming odd connections with other artists almost as soon as he decided to make music his career.
The way the guitarist tells it, one of his earliest gigs accompanying poet Royston Ellis provides Page a thin connection between him and how The Beatles got their name. One of the first times he bowed his guitar — a practice he made famous in Led Zeppelin — came when he performed on a movie soundtrack written by a member of The Rolling Stones.
Led Zeppelin claimed a link to the Stones’ first MTV video in 1981. That was around the time Page formed a strange connection with legendary actor Michael Caine.
How Page formed a strange connection with Michael Caine
Led Zeppelin spent a lot of time on the road touring during their heyday. They spent $2,500 an hour on their famous airplane as a way to bring the comforts of home with them on the road. Zep also had a few favorite locations when they toured (Madison Square Garden for playing shows; the “Riot House” hotel in Los Angeles for accommodations).
Page formed a connection with Michael Caine, but not because both spent time in LA in the 1970s. According to Led Zeppelin FAQ author George Case, the guitarist purchased Caine’s house in Clewer, England (roughly 25 west of London) in 1980. Page spent ￡900,000 on the Mill House (more than ￡3.4 million in 2022, or nearly $4 million), which sits on the River Thames. The house included a working mill on the property.
The price tag suggests Page paid handsomely for top-notch amenities and a calming river view. The home soon made its way into newspaper headlines, but not because of the Caine-Page connection. The Mill House was where Led Zeppelin drummer John Bonham died after a day of binge drinking just before the band started a North American tour. Zep canceled the tour and broke up when they realized why they could never replace Bonham. Still, Page held onto the house until the early 2000s, according to Case.
The guitarist has always shown an interest in unique houses
Buying Caine’s Clewer home wasn’t Page’s first foray into unique real estate purchases.
Not long after Robert Plant blew away Page during a live performance and Page decided Plant needed to be Led Zeppelin’s singer, the pair convened at the guitarist’s boathouse home in Pangbourne. The town lies further upstream on the Thames from Clewer.
Page owned English occultist Aleister Crowley’s Scottish estate for several years. He rarely spent time there, but it was the site of a memorable Led Zeppelin moment from the movie The Song Remains the Same. Page also broke off his shared vacation with Plant’s family in 1975 to visit a Crowley residence in Sicily, per Centennial Media’s Legends of Music Spotlight: Led Zeppelin.
The guitarist sold the Pangbourne boathouse and bought Tower House, a historic London home near Kensington Palace, in the early 1970s, per The Guardian. It has remained in his possession ever since.
Jimmy Page forming a connection with Michael Caine by purchasing his former house was just one of the guitarist’s unique properties.
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