Name the drummers who helped shape the sound of heavy metal, and Led Zeppelin’s John Bonham and Black Sabbath’s Bill Ward will be at the very top of the list. Both men combined hard-hitting power with dexterity, incorporating everything from James Brown-inspired funk beats to jazz swing into their playing, inspiring countless drummers and bands who followed.
Coincidentally, the pair were born within a month of each other, less than 20 miles apart – Ward on May 5, 1948 in Aston, Birmingham, and Bonham on May 31 the same year in Redditch, just south of the city.
