Born on May 31, 1948 John Henry Bonham became serious about drumming at age ten.
His first band was Terry Webb and the Spiders. He was part of the Crawling King Snakes for a while along with A Way of Life. He was also in a third group called Band of Joy with Robert Plant. He used to put his drum set out in front of the stage so that he would have as much a chance of getting noticed as Robert. He married his wife, Pat, in 1967. They had two kids: a son and a daughter.

Bonham turned down offers to perform with Joe Cocker and Chris Farlow in order to join Led Zeppelin. His symbol is three rings interlocking, which stands for the trilogy - man, woman, and child. It was taken from a book of runes and he chose it simply because he liked it. It is also the logo for Ballantine Beer. More recently, it can be seen on the shield of one of the characters in the animated film "Quest for Camelot". His sequence in The Song Remains the Same shows his family life and his other love - cars. He drag races, rides a motorcycle, and scoots along in his Addams family-esque car. And he also shows off his cow and drives a tractor. He once bragged that he hadn't broken a drum skin in three years, which is almost unbelievable considering his power and strength.

Plant later said that what made Bonham such a great drummer was that he didn't not(double negative...either didn't overplay or did not overplay) overplay. It was what he held back that made him a great drummer. At one stop on the 1977 tour in America, Bonham, Peter Grant, and John Bindon were arrested and later charged for severely beating a security guard who had pushed Grant's son. At another show, Bonham yelled to a disruptive audience member "yeah, peace love and happiness in here, and I'll kick your ass outside!"  He loved Heineken beer so much that he was dubbed John "Heineken" (Henry) Bonham. In 1977, he was in a car accident and broke three ribs. One of his joys of performing live was yelling as loud as he could while beating the drums to give it that extra edge.

Just prior to his death, at a show in early 1980, he fell off of his stool during the third song, indicating the extent of his substance abuse. He died on September 24, 1980 at Page's home. He had consumed an uncountable number of drinks and had been taking a drug to keep him off of heroin. (remove and)and When he was laid down to sleep, his face was up instead of down, which caused him to choke on his own vomit.