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Terry Reid, the British singer whose powerful, soulful voice earned him the nickname \u201cSuperlungs\u201d as well as offers to join Led Zeppelin and Deep Purple, has died after a battle with cancer, as confirmed by the Guardian<\/a>. He was 75.<\/p>\n Reid\u2019s talents were revered by the British rock royalty of the 1960s and \u201870s and was Jimmy Page\u2019s first choice to be Led Zeppelin\u2019s singer when he formed the band in 1968. Yet he declined that offer and even recommended Robert Plant, who would become a global superstar in the role \u2014 along with a later offer to join Deep Purple in favor of pursuing a solo career that garnered him praise from critics and peers but little chart success.<\/p>\n More from Variety<\/p>\n Still, over the years his songs have been covered by everyone from Marianne Faithfull and Cheap Trick<\/a> to Chris Cornell and Jack White\u2019s Raconteurs, and Aretha Franklin famously said after a trip to the U.K. in 1968: \u201cThere are only three things happening in England: the Rolling Stones, the Beatles and Terry Reid.\u201d<\/p>\n Plant posted <\/a>a remembrance on social media just hours after Reid\u2019s death was announced: \u201cTerry Reid\u2019s enthusiasm and encouragement were incredible back then \u2026 still teenagers we crashed each others\u2019 gigs and crucified [Donovan\u2019s song] \u2018Season of the Witch\u2019 time and time again \u2026 So much fun. So on it. He was all of everything \u2026 such charisma. His voice, his range \u2026 his songs capturing that carefree era \u2026 Superlungs indeed. He catapulted me into an intense new world he chose to decline \u2026 I listen now to his album \u2018The River\u2019 and shed a tear for my brother in arms.\u201d<\/p>\n Whether Reid or those bands would have achieved similar levels of success had he joined will never be known, but he certainly did not lack opportunities for superstardom. Born in Cambridgeshire in 1949, Reid performed with such bands as the Redbeats and Peter Jay and the Jaywalkers in his early teens, and by the age of 16 was supporting the Rolling Stones on their legendary 1966 British tour with Ike & Tina Turner and the Yardbirds (in the short-lived lineup featuring Page and Jeck Beck). He struck out as a solo artist and toured the U.S. with the Stones in 1969, the reason he cited for declining Page\u2019s offer to join Zeppelin. He ended up recommending both Plant and drummer John Bonham, who he knew from their earlier group Band of Joy.<\/p>\n \u201cI was intent on doing my own thing,\u201d\u00a0Reid told the Guardian in 2024. \u201cI contributed half the band \u2013 that\u2019s enough on my part!\u201d<\/p>\n The following year he also declined guitarist Ritchie Blackmore\u2019s offer to be Deep Purple\u2019s lead singer, a role that was ultimately taken by Ian Gillan \u2014\u00a0who also helped lead that band to superstardom.<\/p>\n Reid signed a management and label deal with Mickie Most, who oversaw hits by Donovan, Lulu, Herman\u2019s Hermits and Beck during the 1960s but was a classic iron-fisted British artist manager. His debut album, \u201cBang Bang, You\u2019re Terry Reid,\u201d included the oft-covered song \u201cWithout Expression,\u201d and its eponymous 1969 follow-up (arguably his best) included \u201cSpeak Now or Forever Hold Your Peace,\u201d which was covered by Brit-rock connoisseurs Cheap Trick on their 1977 debut album. But despite tours with Cream, Fleetwood Mac, Jethro Tull and others, success eluded him and he split with Most; an ensuing contractual dispute derailed his career for the next few years.<\/p>\n He finally returned in 1973 with the album \u201cRiver\u201d and relocated to California, but his solo career stagnated and he worked on sessions with Bonnie Raitt, Don Henley and Jackson Browne. He later jammed with the Replacements in 1990 during sessions for their final album, \u201cAll Shook Down,\u201d and the following year no less a producer than Trevor Horn (Seal, ABC, Yes, Frankie Goes to Hollywood) attempted to relaunch Reid\u2019s career with the album \u201cThe Driver,\u201d to little commercial avail. Later in his career, he recorded with a seemingly unlikely producer, Dr. Dre, who \u201cbecame fascinated with [Reid\u2019s album] \u2018Seed of Memory\u2019 and invited me into his studio where we reworked it alongside his rappers, a fascinating experience,\u201d he told the Guardian.<\/p>\n Reid continued to perform in recent years, appearing often with the L.A. collective Wild Honey, and he was set to launch his biggest U.K. tour in decades next month. But his health took a turn for the worse in recent weeks.<\/p>\n He is survived by his wife, Annette.<\/p>\n Best of Variety<\/p>\n Sign up for Variety’s Newsletter<\/a>. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook<\/a>, Twitter<\/a>, and Instagram<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Terry Reid, the British singer whose powerful, soulful voice earned him the nickname \u201cSuperlungs\u201d as well as offers…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":48628,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[33385,49,48,33384,33382,75,30480,1351,341,24427,8370,33381,33383],"class_list":{"0":"post-48627","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-music","8":"tag-aretha-franklin","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-canada","11":"tag-cheap-trick","12":"tag-deep-purple","13":"tag-entertainment","14":"tag-jimmy-page","15":"tag-led-zeppelin","16":"tag-music","17":"tag-robert-plant","18":"tag-rolling-stones","19":"tag-terry-reid","20":"tag-the-guardian"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48627","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=48627"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48627\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/48628"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48627"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48627"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48627"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}