Drummer Jason Bonham is celebrating his birthday today. the son of legendary drummer John Bonham may have inducted his father to the "Rock N' Roll Hall of Fame", but he himself did not have a significant career with one big band, but rather mostly served as a very respected session drummer.
(Photo: Brandon Nagy)
He started drumming already at the age of 5, not surprisingly, and already at the age of 15 he started playing with different bands and even performing.
Bonham set up two bands himself. The first was "Airrace", which he formed in the early '80s, but did not release any official album. The other, was called "Bonham" which he formed in the late 80's and with which he released two albums, "The Disregard of Timekeeping" in 1989 and "Mad Hatter" in 1991.
For most of Bonham's career, he was a session drummer, he recorded no less than 25 studio albums with bands and artists such as: Virginia Wolf, Jimmy Page, Paul Rodgers, "UFO", "Foreigner", Joe Bonamassa ", and more...
One of the main projects Bonham has partnered with is the supergroup "Black Country Communion", in which he collaborates with singer and bassist Glenn Hughes, guitarist Joe Bonamassa, and keyboardist Derek Sherinian. With this band, he has released four excellent studio albums and a live album.
Bonham is also part of the band "California Breed" which includes bassist Glenn Hughes and guitarist producer Andrew Watt. A mesmerizing combination of hard rock with blues, post-grunge, and punk who released a single album on May 20, 2014.
Bonham was also a part of "Led Zeppelin's" reunions, and is clearly a worthy replacement for his father. He was interested in continuing to work on a new album with "Led Zeppelin" members, following the last reunion in 2007, but Robert Plant was not interested. In this situation, Bonham recommended none other than Myles Kennedy to replace Plant. Myles even came to a successful audition where the members worked on new material. Eventually, however, the project did not materialize, and the world lost one of the most interesting lineups in rock history.
One of Bonham's most recent projects is the "Sammy Hagar & The Circle" supergroup formed in 2004 and featuring "Red Rocker" Sammy Hagar, bassist (ex-Van Helen) Michael Anthony, and guitarist Vic Johnson. The supergroup released in 2015 the live album "At Your Service" which includes cover versions for bands that involved members of the supergroup, "Led Zeppelin", "Van Helen", "Montrose" and "The Waboritas".
In 2019 the band released the studio album "Space Between", in 2021 the album "Lockdown 2020" which includes recordings made by the members during the closures and isolations of Covid-19, and in 2022 the excellent album "Crazy Times".
Now let's listen to Bonham with Sammy Hagar & The Circle: Spotify, Apple Music.