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Jimmy Page

James Patrick Page (born 9 January 1944) is an English musician and producer who achieved international success as the guitarist and founder of the rock band Led Zeppelin. Prolific in creating guitar riffs, Page’s style involves various alternative guitar tunings and melodic solos, coupled with aggressive, distorted guitar tones. It is also characterized by his folk and eastern-influenced acoustic work. He is notable for occasionally playing his guitar with a cello bow to create a droning sound texture to the music.

Page began his career as a studio session musician in London and, by the mid-1960s, alongside Big Jim Sullivan, was one of the most sought-after session guitarists in Britain. He was a member of the Yardbirds from 1966 to 1968. When the Yardbirds broke up, he founded Led Zeppelin, which was active from 1968 to 1980. Following the death of Led Zeppelin drummer John Bonham, he participated in a number of musical groups throughout the 1980s and 1990s, more specifically XYZ, the Firm, the Honeydrippers, Coverdale–Page, and Page and Plant. Since 2000, Page has participated in various guest performances with many artists, both live and in studio recordings, and participated in a one-off Led Zeppelin reunion in 2007 that was released as the 2012 concert film Celebration Day. Along with the Edge and Jack White, he participated in the 2008 documentary It Might Get Loud.

Page is widely considered to be one of the greatest and most influential guitarists of all time. Rolling Stone magazine has described Page as "the pontiff of power riffing" and ranked him number three in their 2015 list of the "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time", behind Jimi Hendrix and Eric Clapton, and ranking 3rd again in 2023 behind Chuck Berry and Jimi Hendrix. In 2010, he was ranked number two in Gibson's list of "Top 50 Guitarists of All Time" and, in 2007, number four on Classic Rock's "100 Wildest Guitar Heroes". He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame twice: once as a member of the Yardbirds (1992) and once as a member of Led Zeppelin (1995).

Early life
Page was born to James Patrick Page and Patricia Elizabeth Gaffikin in the west London suburb of Heston on 9 January 1944. His father was a personnel manager at a plastic-coatings plant and his mother, who was of Irish descent, was a doctor's secretary. In 1952, they moved to Feltham, and then to Miles Road, Epsom, in Surrey. Page was educated from the age of eight at Epsom County Pound Lane Primary School, and when he was eleven he went to Ewell County Secondary School in West Ewell. He came across his first guitar, a Spanish guitar, in the Miles Road house: "I don't know whether [the guitar] was left behind by the people [in the house] before [us], or whether it was a friend of the family's—nobody seemed to know why it was there." First playing the instrument when aged 12, he took a few lessons in nearby Kingston, but was largely self-taught:

"When I grew up there weren't many other guitarists ... There was one other guitarist in my school who actually showed me the first chords that I learned and I went on from there. I was bored so I taught myself the guitar from listening to records. So obviously it was a very personal thing."

This "other guitarist" was a boy called Rod Wyatt, a few years his senior, and together with another boy, Pete Calvert, they would practise at Page's house; Page would devote six or seven hours on some days to practising and would always take his guitar with him to secondary school, only to have it confiscated and returned to him after class. Among Page's early influences were rockabilly guitarists Scotty Moore and James Burton, who both played on recordings made by Elvis Presley. Presley's song "Baby Let's Play House" is cited by Page as being his inspiration to take up the guitar, and he would reprise Moore's playing on the song in the live version of "Whole Lotta Love" on The Song Remains the Same. He appeared on BBC1 in 1957 with a Höfner President acoustic, which he'd bought from money saved up from his milk round in the summer holidays and which had a pickup so it could be amplified, but his first solid-bodied electric guitar was a second-hand 1959 Futurama Grazioso, later replaced by a Fender Telecaster, a model he had seen Buddy Holly playing on the TV and a real-life example of which he'd played at an electronics exhibition at the Earls Court Exhibition Centre in London.

Page's musical tastes included skiffle (a popular English music genre of the time) and acoustic folk playing, and the blues sounds of Elmore James, B.B. King, Otis Rush, Buddy Guy, Freddie King, and Hubert Sumlin. "Basically, that was the start: a mixture between rock and blues."

At the age of 13, Page appeared on Huw Wheldon's All Your Own talent quest programme in a skiffle quartet, one performance of which aired on BBC1 in 1957. The group played "Mama Don't Want to Skiffle Anymore" and another American-flavoured song, "In Them Ol' Cottonfields Back Home". When asked by Wheldon what he wanted to do after schooling, Page said, "I want to do biological research [to find a cure for] cancer, if it isn't discovered by then."

In an interview with Guitar Player magazine, Page stated that "there was a lot of busking in the early days, but as they say, I had to come to grips with it and it was a good schooling." When he was fourteen, and billed as James Page, he played in a group called Malcolm Austin and Whirlwinds, alongside Tony Busson on bass, Stuart Cockett on rhythm and a drummer named Tom, playing Chuck Berry and Jerry Lee Lewis numbers. This band was short-lived, as Page soon found a drummer for a band he'd previously been playing in with Rod Wyatt, David Williams and Pete Calvert, and came up with a name for them: The Paramounts. The Paramounts played gigs in Epsom, once supporting a group who would later become Johnny Kidd & the Pirates.

Although interviewed for a job as a laboratory assistant, he ultimately chose to leave secondary school in West Ewell to pursue music, doing so at the age of fifteen – the earliest age permitted at the time – having gained four GCE O levels and on the back of a major row with the school Deputy Head Miss Nicholson about his musical ambitions, about which she was wholly scathing.

Page had difficulty finding other musicians with whom he could play on a regular basis. "It wasn't as though there was an abundance. I used to play in many groups ... anyone who could get a gig together, really." Following stints backing recitals by Beat poet Royston Ellis at the Mermaid Theatre between 1960 and 1961, and singer Red E. Lewis, who'd seen him playing with the Paramounts at the Contemporary club in Epsom and told his manager Chris Tidmarsh to ask Page to join his backing band, the Redcaps, after the departure of guitarist Bobby Oats, Page was asked by singer Neil Christian to join his band, the Crusaders. Christian had seen a fifteen-year-old Page playing in a local hall, and the guitarist toured with Christian for approximately two years and later played on several of his records, including the 1962 single, "The Road to Love".

During his stint with Christian, Page fell seriously ill with glandular fever and could not continue touring. While recovering, he decided to put his musical career on hold and concentrate on his other love, painting, and enrolled at Sutton Art College in Surrey. As he explained in 1975:

"[I was] travelling around all the time in a bus. I did that for two years after I left school, to the point where I was starting to get really good bread. But I was getting ill. So I went back to art college. And that was a total change in direction. That's why I say it's possible to do. As dedicated as I was to playing the guitar, I knew doing it that way was doing me in forever. Every two months I had glandular fever. So for the next 18 months I was living on ten dollars a week and getting my strength up. But I was still playing."

Early 1960s: session musician
While still a student, Page often performed on stage at the Marquee Club with bands such as Cyril Davies' All Stars, Alexis Korner's Blues Incorporated, and fellow guitarists Jeff Beck and Eric Clapton. He was spotted one night by John Gibb of Brian Howard & the Silhouettes, who asked him to help record some singles for Columbia Graphophone Company, including "The Worrying Kind". Mike Leander of Decca Records first offered Page regular studio work. His first session for the label was the recording "Diamonds" by Jet Harris and Tony Meehan, which went to Number 1 on the singles chart in early 1963.

After brief stints with Carter-Lewis and the Southerners, Mike Hurst and the Method and Mickey Finn and the Blue Men, Page committed himself to full-time session work. As a session guitarist, he was known as 'Lil' Jim Pea' to prevent confusion with the other noted English session guitarist Big Jim Sullivan. Page was mainly called into sessions as "insurance" in instances when a replacement or second guitarist was required by the recording artist. "It was usually myself and a drummer", he explained, "though they never mention the drummer these days, just me ... Anyone needing a guitarist either went to Big Jim [Sullivan] or myself." He stated that "In the initial stages they just said, play what you want, cos at that time I couldn't read music or anything."

Page was the favoured session guitarist of record producer Shel Talmy. As a result, he secured session work on songs for the Who and the Kinks. Page is credited with playing acoustic twelve-string guitar on two tracks on the Kinks' debut album, "I'm a Lover Not a Fighter" and "I've Been Driving on Bald Mountain", and possibly on the B-side "I Gotta Move". He played rhythm guitar on the sessions for the Who's first single "I Can't Explain" (although Pete Townshend was reluctant to allow Page's contribution on the final recording; Page also played lead guitar on the B-side, "Bald Headed Woman"). Page's studio gigs in 1964 and 1965 included Marianne Faithfull's "As Tears Go By", Jonathan King's "Everyone's Gone to the Moon", the Nashville Teens' "Tobacco Road", the Rolling Stones "Heart of Stone" (along with "We're Wasting Time") (also, Van Morrison & Them's "Baby, Please Don't Go", "Mystic Eyes", and "Here Comes the Night", Dave Berry's "The Crying Game" and "My Baby Left Me", Brenda Lee's "Is It True", Shirley Bassey's "Goldfinger", and  Petula Clark's "Downtown".

In 1964, Page contributed guitar to the incidental music of the Beatles' 1964 film A Hard Day's Night.

In 1965, Page was hired by Stones manager Andrew Loog Oldham to act as house producer and A&R man for the newly formed Immediate Records label, which allowed him to play on and/or produce tracks by John Mayall, Nico, Chris Farlowe, Twice as Much and Clapton. Also in 1965, Page produced one of Dana Gillespie's early singles, "Thank You Boy". Page also formed a brief songwriting partnership with then romantic interest Jackie DeShannon. He composed and recorded songs for the John Williams (not to be confused with the film composer John Williams) album The Maureeny Wishful Album with Big Jim Sullivan. Page worked as session musician on Donovan Leitch's Sunshine Superman, on Engelbert Humperdinck's Release Me, the Johnny Hallyday albums Jeune homme and Je suis né dans la rue, the Al Stewart album Love Chronicles and played guitar on five tracks of Joe Cocker's debut album, With a Little Help from My Friends. Over the years since 1970, Page played lead guitar on 10 Roy Harper tracks, comprising 81 minutes of music.

When questioned about which songs he played on, especially ones where there exists some controversy as to what his exact role was, Page often points out that it is hard to remember exactly what he did given the enormous number of sessions he was playing at the time. In a radio interview, he explained that "I was doing three sessions a day, fifteen sessions a week. Sometimes I would be playing with a group, sometimes I could be doing film music, it could be a folk session ... I was able to fit all these different roles."

Although Page recorded with many notable musicians, many of these early tracks are only available as bootleg recordings, several of which were released by the Led Zeppelin fan club in the late 1970s. Examples include early jam sessions featuring him and guitarists Jeff Beck and Eric Clapton covering various blues themes, which were included on compilations released by Immediate Records. Several early tracks were compiled on the twin album release, Jimmy Page: Session Man. He also recorded with Keith Richards on guitar and vocals in Olympic Sound Studios on 15 October 1974. Along with Ric Grech on bass and Bruce Rowland on drums, a track called "Scarlet" was cut (the same year he played acoustic guitar on The Stones' "Through the Lonely Nights"). Page reflected later in an interview with Rolling Stone's Cameron Crowe: "I did what could possibly be the next Stones B side. It was Ric Grech, Keith and me doing a number called "Scarlet". I can't remember the drummer. It sounded very similar in style and mood to those Blonde on Blonde tracks. It was great, really good. We stayed up all night and went down to Island Studios where Keith put some reggae guitars over one section. I just put some solos on it, but it was eight in the morning of the next day before I did that. He took the tapes to Switzerland and someone found out about them. Richards told people that it was a track from my album".

Page left studio work when the increasing influence of Stax Records on popular music led to the greater incorporation of brass and orchestral arrangements into recordings at the expense of guitars. He stated that his time as a session player served as extremely good schooling: "My session work was invaluable. At one point I was playing at least three sessions a day, six days a week! And I rarely ever knew in advance what I was going to be playing. But I learned things even on my worst sessions – and believe me, I played on some horrendous things. I finally called it quits after I started getting calls to do Muzak. I decided I couldn't live that life any more; it was getting too silly. I guess it was destiny that a week after I quit doing sessions Paul Samwell-Smith left the Yardbirds and I was able to take his place. But being a session musician was good fun in the beginning – the studio discipline was great. They'd just count the song off and you couldn't make any mistakes."

Late 1960s: The Yardbirds
In late 1964, Page was approached about the possibility of replacing Eric Clapton in the Yardbirds, but he declined out of loyalty to his friend. In February 1965, Clapton quit the Yardbirds and Page was formally offered his spot, but unwilling to give up his lucrative career as a session musician and worried about his health under touring conditions, he suggested his friend Jeff Beck. On 16 May 1966, drummer Keith Moon, bass player John Paul Jones, keyboardist Nicky Hopkins, Jeff Beck and Page recorded "Beck's Bolero" in London's IBC Studios. The experience gave Page an idea to form a new supergroup featuring Beck, along with The Who's John Entwistle on bass and Moon on drums. However, the lack of a quality vocalist and contractual problems prevented the project from getting off the ground. During this time, Moon suggested the name "Lead Zeppelin" for the first time, after Entwistle commented that the proceedings would take to the air like a lead balloon.

Within weeks, Page attended a Yardbirds concert at Oxford. After the show, he went backstage where Paul Samwell-Smith announced that he was leaving the group. Page offered to replace Samwell-Smith, and this was accepted by the group. He initially played electric bass with the Yardbirds before finally switching to twin lead guitar with Beck when Chris Dreja moved to bass. The musical potential of the line-up was scuttled, however, by interpersonal conflicts caused by constant touring and a lack of commercial success, although they released one single, "Happenings Ten Years Time Ago". While Page and Beck played together in the Yardbirds, the trio of Page, Beck and Clapton never played in the original group at the same time. The three guitarists did appear on stage together at the ARMS Charity Concerts in 1983.

After Beck's departure, the Yardbirds remained a quartet. They recorded one album with Page on lead guitar, Little Games. The album received indifferent reviews and was not a commercial success, peaking at number 80 on the Billboard 200. Though their studio sound was fairly commercial at the time, the band's live performances were just the opposite, becoming heavier and more experimental. These concerts featured musical aspects that Page would later perfect with Led Zeppelin, most notably performances of "Dazed and Confused".

After the departure of Keith Relf and Jim McCarty in 1968, Page reconfigured the group with a new line-up to fulfill unfinished tour dates in Scandinavia. To this end, Page recruited vocalist Robert Plant and drummer John Bonham, and he was also contacted by John Paul Jones, who asked to join. During the Scandinavian tour, the new group appeared as the New Yardbirds, but soon recalled the old joke by Keith Moon and John Entwistle. Page stuck with that name to use for his new band. Manager Peter Grant changed it to "Led Zeppelin", to avoid a mispronunciation as "Leed Zeppelin".

1968–1980: Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin are one of the best-selling music groups in the history of audio recording. Various sources estimate the group's worldwide sales at more than 200 or even 300 million albums. With 111.5 million RIAA-certified units, they are the second-best-selling band in the United States. Each of their nine studio albums reached the top 10 of the US Billboard album chart, and six reached the number-one spot.

Led Zeppelin were the progenitors of heavy metal and hard rock, and their sound was largely the product of Page's input as a producer and musician. The band's individualistic style drew from a wide variety of influences. They performed on multiple record-breaking concert tours, which also earned them a reputation for excess. Although they remained commercially and critically successful, in the later 1970s, the band's output and touring schedule were limited by the personal difficulties of the members.

Page explained that he had a very specific idea in mind as to what he wanted Led Zeppelin to be, from the very beginning: "I had a lot of ideas from my days with the Yardbirds. The Yardbirds allowed me to improvise a lot in live performance and I started building a textbook of ideas that I eventually used in Zeppelin. In addition to those ideas, I wanted to add acoustic textures. Ultimately, I wanted Zeppelin to be a marriage of blues, hard rock and acoustic music topped with heavy choruses – a combination that had never been done before. Lots of light and shade in the music."

Led Zeppelin broke up in 1980 following the death of Bonham at Page's home. Page initially refused to touch a guitar, grieving for his friend. For the rest of the 1980s, his work consisted of a series of short-term collaborations in the bands the Firm, the Honeydrippers, reunions and individual work, including film soundtracks. He also became active in philanthropic work.

1980s
Page made a return to the stage at a Jeff Beck show in March 1981 at the Hammersmith Odeon. Also in 1981, Page joined with Yes bassist Chris Squire and drummer Alan White to form a supergroup called XYZ (for former Yes-Zeppelin). They rehearsed several times, but the project was shelved. Bootlegs of these sessions revealed that some of the material emerged on later projects, notably The Firm's "Fortune Hunter" and Yes songs "Mind Drive" and "Can You Imagine?". Page joined Yes on stage in 1984 at Westfalenhalle in Dortmund, Germany, playing "I'm Down".

In 1982, Page collaborated with director Michael Winner to record the Death Wish II soundtrack. This and several subsequent Page recordings, including the Death Wish III soundtrack, were recorded and produced at his recording studio, The Sol in Cookham, which he had purchased from Gus Dudgeon in the early 1980s.

In 1983, Page appeared with the A.R.M.S. (Action Research for Multiple Sclerosis) charity series of concerts which honoured Small Faces bassist Ronnie Lane, who suffered from the disease. For the first shows at the Royal Albert Hall in London, Page's set consisted of songs from the Death Wish II soundtrack (with Steve Winwood on vocals) and an instrumental version of "Stairway to Heaven". A four-city tour of the United States followed, with Paul Rodgers of Bad Company replacing Winwood. During the tour, Page and Rodgers performed "Midnight Moonlight", which would later appear on The Firm's first album. All of the shows featured an on stage jam of "Layla" that reunited Page with Beck and Clapton. According to the book Hammer of the Gods, it was reportedly around this time that Page told friends that he had just ended seven years of heroin use. On 13 December 1983, Page joined Plant on stage for one encore at the Hammersmith Odeon in London.

Page next linked up with Roy Harper for the 1984 album Whatever Happened to Jugula? and occasional concerts, performing a predominantly acoustic set at folk festivals under various guises such as the MacGregors and Themselves. Also in 1984, Page recorded with Plant as the Honeydrippers the album The Honeydrippers: Volume 1 and with John Paul Jones on the film soundtrack Scream for Help.

Page subsequently collaborated with Rodgers on two albums under the name The Firm. The first album, released in 1985, was the self-titled The Firm. Popular songs included "Radioactive" and "Satisfaction Guaranteed". The album peaked at number 17 on the Billboard pop albums chart and went gold in the US. It was followed by Mean Business in 1986. The band toured in support of both albums, but soon split up.

Various other projects followed, such as session work for Graham Nash, Stephen Stills and the Rolling Stones (on their 1986 single "One Hit (To the Body)"). In 1986, Page reunited temporarily with his former Yardbirds bandmates to play on several tracks of the Box of Frogs album Strange Land. Page released a solo album entitled Outrider in 1988, which featured contributions from Plant, with Page contributing in turn to Plant's solo album Now and Zen, which was released the same year. Outrider also featured singer John Miles on the album's opening track "Wasting My Time".

Throughout these years, Page also reunited with the other former bandmates of Led Zeppelin to perform live on a few occasions, most notably in 1985 for the Live Aid concert with both Phil Collins and Tony Thompson filling drum duties. However, the band members considered this performance to be sub-standard, with Page having been let down by a poorly tuned Les Paul. Page, Plant and Jones, as well as John Bonham's son Jason, performed at the Atlantic Records 40th Anniversary show on 14 May 1988, closing the 12-hour show.

1990s: Coverdale–Page, Page and Plant
In 1990, a Knebworth concert to aid the Nordoff-Robbins Music Therapy Centre and the British School for Performing Arts and Technology saw Plant unexpectedly joined by Page to perform "Misty Mountain Hop", "Wearing and Tearing" and "Rock and Roll". The same year, Page appeared with Aerosmith at the Monsters of Rock festival. Page also performed with the band's former members at Jason Bonham's wedding. In 1993, Page collaborated with David Coverdale (of English rock band Whitesnake) for the album Coverdale–Page and a brief tour of Japan.

In 1994, Page and Robert Plant reunited as Page and Plant for an initial performance as part of MTV's "Unplugged" series. The 90-minute special, dubbed Unledded, premiered to the highest ratings in MTV's history. In October of the same year, the session was released as the live album No Quarter: Jimmy Page and Robert Plant Unledded, and on DVD as No Quarter Unledded in 2004. Following a highly successful mid-1990s tour to support No Quarter, Page and Plant recorded 1998's Walking into Clarksdale, featuring the Grammy Award-winning songs "Most High" and "Please Read the Letter".

Page was heavily involved in remastering the Led Zeppelin catalogue. He participated in various charity concerts and charity work, particularly the Action for Brazil's Children Trust (ABC Trust), founded by his wife Jimena Gomez-Paratcha in 1998. In the same year, Page played guitar for rap singer/producer Puff Daddy's song "Come with Me", which heavily samples Led Zeppelin's "Kashmir" and was included in the soundtrack of Godzilla. The two later performed the song on Saturday Night Live.

Following a benefit performance in the summer where the Black Crowes guested with him, Page teamed up with the band for six shows in October 1999, playing material from the Led Zeppelin catalogue and old blues and rock standards. The last two concerts were recorded in Los Angeles and released as a double live album, Live at the Greek in 2000.

2000s
Following the release of the live album, Page and the Black Crowes continued their collaboration by joining a package tour with the Who in 2000, which Page ultimately quit before completion.

In 2001, after guesting with Fred Durst and Wes Scantlin's performance of "Thank You" at the MTV Europe Video Music Awards, Page once again continued his collaboration with Robert Plant. After recording a cover of "My Bucket's Got a Hole in It" for a tribute album, the duo performed at the Montreux Jazz Festival.

In 2005, Page was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in recognition of his Brazilian charity work for Task Brazil and Action For Brazil's Children's Trust, made an honorary citizen of Rio de Janeiro later that year and won a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award with Led Zeppelin.

In November 2006, Led Zeppelin was inducted into the UK Music Hall of Fame. The television broadcasting of the event consisted of an introduction to the band by various famous admirers (including Roger Taylor, Slash, Joe Perry, Steven Tyler, Jack White and Tony Iommi), an award presentation to Page and a short speech by him. After this, rock group Wolfmother played a tribute to Led Zeppelin. During an interview for the BBC in connection with the induction, Page expressed plans to record new material in 2007, saying: "It's an album that I really need to get out of my system ... there's a good album in there and it's ready to come out" and "Also there will be some Zeppelin things on the horizon." On 10 December 2007, the surviving members of Led Zeppelin, as well as John Bonham's son, Jason Bonham played a charity concert at the O2 Arena London. According to Guinness World Records 2009, Led Zeppelin set the world record for the "Highest Demand for Tickets for One Music Concert" as 20 million requests for the reunion show were rendered online. On 7 June 2008, Page and John Paul Jones appeared with the Foo Fighters to close the band's concert at Wembley Stadium, performing "Rock and Roll" and "Ramble On". On 20 June 2008, at a ceremony at Guildford Cathedral, he was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Surrey. For the 2008 Summer Olympics, Page, David Beckham and Leona Lewis represented Britain during the closing ceremonies on 24 August 2008. Beckham rode a double-decker bus into the stadium, and Page and Lewis performed "Whole Lotta Love".

In 2008, Page co-produced a documentary film directed by Davis Guggenheim entitled It Might Get Loud. The film examines the history of the electric guitar, focusing on the careers and styles of Page, The Edge and Jack White. The film premiered on 5 September 2008 at the Toronto International Film Festival. Page also participated in the three-part BBC documentary London Calling: The making of the Olympic handover ceremony on 4 March 2009. On 4 April 2009, Page inducted Jeff Beck into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Page announced his 2010 solo tour while talking to Sky News on 16 December 2009.

2010s
In January 2010, Page announced an autobiography published by Genesis Publications, in a hand-crafted, limited edition of 2,150 copies. Page was honoured with a first-ever Global Peace Award by the United Nations' Pathways to Peace organisation after confirming reports that he would be among the headliners at a planned Show of Peace Concert in Beijing, on 10 October 2010.

On 3 June 2011, Page played with Donovan at the Royal Albert Hall in London. The concert was filmed. Page made an unannounced appearance with The Black Crowes at the Shepherd's Bush Empire in London on 13 July 2011. He also played alongside Roy Harper at Harper's 70th-birthday celebratory concert, in London's Royal Festival Hall on 5 November 2011.

In November 2011, British Conservative MP Louise Mensch launched a campaign to have Page knighted for his contributions to the music industry. In December 2012, Page, along with Plant and Jones, received the annual Kennedy Center Honors from President Barack Obama in a White House ceremony. The honour is the U.S.'s highest award for those who have influenced American culture through the arts. In February 2013, Plant hinted that he was open to a Led Zeppelin reunion in 2014, stating that he is not the reason for the band's dormancy, saying "Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones are quite contained in their own worlds and leave it to [him]", adding that he is "not the bad guy" and that he has "got nothing to do in 2014."

In 2013, Page (with Led Zeppelin) was awarded a Grammy Award "Best Rock Album" for Celebration Day.

In May 2014, Page was awarded an honorary doctorate by the Berklee College of Music in Boston. In a spring 2014 interview with the BBC about the then forthcoming reissue of Led Zeppelin's first three albums, Page said he was confident fans would be keen on another reunion show, but Plant later replied that "the chances of it happening [were] zero." Page then told The New York Times that he was "fed up" with Plant's refusal to play, stating "I was told last year that Robert Plant said he is doing nothing in 2014, and what do the other two guys think? Well, he knows what the other guys think. Everyone would love to play more concerts for the band. He's just playing games, and I'm fed up with it, to be honest with you. I don't sing, so I can't do much about it", adding, "I definitely want to play live. Because, you know, I've still got a twinkle in my eye. I can still play. So, yeah, I'll just get myself into musical shape, just concentrating on the guitar."

In July 2014, an NME article revealed that Plant was "slightly disappointed and baffled" by Page in ongoing Led Zeppelin dispute during which Page declared he was "fed up" with Plant delaying Led Zeppelin reunion plans. Instead, Plant offered Led Zeppelin's guitarist to write acoustically with him as he is interested in working with Page again but only in an unplugged way.

In September 2014, Page – who has not toured as a solo act since 1988 – announced that he would start a new band and perform material spanning his entire career. He spoke about his prospects for hitting the road, saying: "I haven't put [musicians] together yet but I'm going to do that next year [i.e. 2015]. If I went out to play, I would play material that spanned everything from my recording career right back to my very, very early days with The Yardbirds. There would certainly be some new material in there as well ...".

In December 2015, Page was featured in the two-hour long BBC Radio 2 programme Johnny Walker Meets, in conversation with DJ Johnny Walker. In October 2017, Page spoke at the Oxford Union about his career in music.

2020s
Page is among the people interviewed for the documentary film If These Walls Could Sing directed by Mary McCartney about the recording studios at Abbey Road.

Legacy
Page is considered – by musical peers – one of the greatest and most influential guitarists. His experiences in the studio and with the Yardbirds were key to the success of Led Zeppelin. As a producer, songwriter and guitarist, he helped make Zeppelin a prototype for countless bands and was one of the major driving forces behind the rock sound of that era, influencing a host of guitarists.

Guitarists influenced by Page include Eddie Van Halen, Ace Frehley, Joe Satriani, John Frusciante, Kirk Hammett, Joe Perry, Richie Sambora, Slash, Dave Mustaine, Mick Mars, Alex Lifeson, Steve Vai, Dan Hawkins, and Char, among others. John McGeoch was described as "the new wave Jimmy Page" by Mojo magazine.

Queen's Brian May told Guitarist in 2004: "I don't think anyone has epitomised riff writing better than Jimmy Page—he's one of the great brains of rock music."

"If Jimmy Page would play guitar with me," remarked Stevie Nicks, "I'd put a band around us tomorrow."

Guitars

For the recording of most of Led Zeppelin material from Led Zeppelin's second album onwards, Page used a Gibson Les Paul guitar (sold to him by Joe Walsh) with Marshall amplification. A Harmony Sovereign H-1260 was used in-studio on Led Zeppelin III and Led Zeppelin IV and on-stage from 5 March 1971 to 28 June 1972. During the studio sessions for Led Zeppelin and later for recording the guitar solo in "Stairway to Heaven", he used a Fender Telecaster (a gift from Jeff Beck). He also used a Danelectro 3021, tuned to DADGAD, most notably on live performances of "Kashmir".

Page also plays his guitar with a cello bow, as on the live versions of the songs "Dazed and Confused" and "How Many More Times". This was a technique he developed during his session days. On MTV's Led Zeppelin Rockumentary, Page said that he obtained the idea of playing the guitar with a bow from David McCallum, Sr. who was also a session musician. Page used his Fender Telecaster and later his Gibson Les Paul for his bow solos.

Notable guitars

 * 6-string electric guitars
 * 1959 Fender Telecaster (The Dragon). Given to Page by Jeff Beck and repainted with a psychedelic dragon design by Page. Played with the Yardbirds. Used to record the first Led Zeppelin album and used on the early tours during 1968–69. In 1971, it was used for recording the "Stairway to Heaven" solo. It was later disassembled and parts used in other guitars.
 * 1959 Gibson Les Paul Standard (No. 1). Sold to Page by Joe Walsh for $500. This guitar was also used by Gibson as the model for the company's second run of Page signature models in 2004. Produced by Gibson and aged by luthier Tom Murphy, this second generation of Page tribute models was limited to 25 guitars signed by Page himself; and only 150 guitars in total for the aged model issue.
 * 1959 Gibson Les Paul Standard (No. 2) with a shaved-down neck to match the profile on his No. 1. He added four push/pull pots to coil split the humbuckers as well as phase and series switches which were added under the pick guard after the break-up of Led Zeppelin. Used primarily as an alternate-tuning guitar (DADGAD) and as a back-up for his No. 1 guitar.
 * 1969 Gibson Les Paul DeLuxe (No. 3). Seen in The Song Remains the Same during the theremin/solo section of "Whole Lotta Love" and for "Kashmir" at the O2 reunion concert. In 1985, the guitar was fitted with a Parsons-White B-string bender and used extensively by Page from the mid-to-late 1980s onward, including the Outrider tour and the Page/Plant "Unledded" special on MTV.
 * 1969 Gibson Les Paul Deluxe. Used only for "Over the Hills and Far Away" during the 1977 North American tour. Slightly different from the Les Paul Deluxe (No. 3) due to its smaller headstock and thin cutaway binding. Refinished in a solid brick-red paint.
 * 1991 Gibson Les Paul Custom Shop. English luthier Roger Giffin built a guitar for Page-based loosely on Page's No. 2. Giffin's work was later copied for Gibson's original run of Jimmy Page Signature model Les Pauls in the mid-1990s.
 * 1961 Danelectro 3021. Tuned to DADGAD and used live for "White Summer", "Black Mountain Side", "Kashmir" and "Midnight Moonlight" with The Firm. Also tuned to open G live for "In My Time of Dying".
 * 1958 Danelectro 3021. Tuned to open G and used on the Outrider tour. This one has a smaller pickguard, as opposed to the large "seal" pickguard on his 1961 Danelectro.
 * 1960 Black Gibson Les Paul Custom (with Bigsby tremolo) – stolen in 1970. Page ran an ad requesting the return of this highly modified instrument but the guitar was not recovered until 2015–2016. In 2008 the Gibson Custom Shop produced a limited run of 25 re-creations of the guitar, each with a Bigsby tremolo and a new custom six-way toggle switch.
 * 1953 Botswana Brown Fender Telecaster featuring a Parsons and White B-string bender, originally with a maple neck, and later refitted with the rosewood neck originally from the "Dragon Telecaster". Seen primarily during the 1980s since it was one of his main guitars on stage during The Firm and Outrider era. Also used on the Led Zeppelin's 1977 North American concert tour and at Knebworth in 1979, notably on "Ten Years Gone" and "Hot Dog".
 * 1964 Lake Placid Blue Fender Stratocaster. Used during recording sessions for In Through the Out Door, at Earls Court in 1975, Knebworth in 1979 and the Tour Over Europe 1980 for In the Evening.
 * 1966 Cream Fender Telecaster (used on Physical Graffiti and on "All My Love" during the Tour Over Europe in 1980).

 * 12-string electric guitars

 * 1967 black Vox Phantom 12-string used during the recording for the Yardbirds album Little Games and for onstage appearances. This was also the electric twelve-string guitar used to record "Travelling Riverside Blues" on the BBC Sessions and it was used to record "Thank You" and "Living Loving Maid (She's Just A Woman)" on Led Zeppelin II.
 * 1965 Fender Electric XII (12-String) used to record "When the Levee Breaks", "Stairway to Heaven" and "The Song Remains The Same".

 * Acoustic guitars

 * 1963 Gibson J-200, used to record acoustic parts for Led Zeppelin I. It was loaned to Page by its owner, Big Jim Sullivan, and returned to him after recording the album.  Page would later own a re-issue built to the same specs as the 1963 model.
 * 1972 Martin D-28, used to record acoustic songs after Led Zeppelin IV, used live at Earls Court in 1975
 * Harmony Sovereign H-1260 (year unknown), used on Led Zeppelin III, for the acoustic intro to "Stairway to Heaven", and in live shows from 1970 to 1972.
 * 1970 Giannini Craviola twelve-string acoustic used in recording "Tangerine" and in live performances of the same.

 * Multi-neck guitars
 * 1971 Gibson EDS-1275. Used during live concerts for playing "Stairway to Heaven", "The Song Remains the Same", "The Rain Song", "Celebration Day" (1971, 1972, and 1979 performances), "Tangerine" (1975 Earls Court shows) and "Sick Again" (1977 North American tour). Jimmy Page says: "My original idea for the opening tracks for 'Houses Of The Holy' was that a short overture would be a rousing instrumental introduction with layered electric guitars that would segue in to 'The Seasons', later to be titled 'The Rain Song'."
 * In 1994 Andy Manson was commissioned to make another triple neck guitar for Page. It was used during the "Unledded" performances.

Strings

 * Ernie Ball Super Slinky electric guitar strings .009s-.042s

Signature models
Gibson released a Jimmy Page Signature Les Paul, discontinued in 1999, then released another version in 2004, which was also discontinued. The 2004 version included 25 guitars signed by Page, 150 aged by Tom Murphy (an acknowledged ageing "master") and 840 "unlimited" production guitars. The Jimmy Page Signature EDS-1275 has been produced by Gibson. Recently, Gibson reproduced Page's 1960 Les Paul Black Beauty, the one stolen from him in 1970, with modern modifications. This guitar was sold in 2008 with a run of 25, again signed by Page, plus an additional 500 unsigned guitars.

In December 2009, Gibson released the 'Jimmy Page "Number Two" Les Paul'. This is a re-creation of Page's famous "Number Two" Les Paul used by him since about 1974. The model includes the same pick-up switching setup as devised by Page, shaved-down neck profile, Burstbucker pick-up at neck and "Pagebucker" at the bridge. A total of 325 were made in three finishes: 25 Aged by Gibson's Tom Murphy, signed and played by Page ($26,000), 100 aged ($16,000) and 200 with VOS finish ($12,000).

In 2019, Fender released two signature models, both based on Page's 1959 Telecaster (which he received as a gift from Jeff Beck):
 * Page's "Mirror" design, which features the guitar in a white blond finish with eight mirrors attached throughout the body.
 * Page's "Dragon" design. After the dissolution of the Yardbirds, Page removed the mirrors from the guitar, stripped the finish and applied a dragon design himself.

Other instruments
Theremin

Page frequently employed a scaled-down version of the Theremin known as the Sonic Wave, first using the instrument during live performances with the Yardbirds. As a member of Led Zeppelin, Page played the Sonic Wave on the studio recordings of "Whole Lotta Love" and "No Quarter", and frequently played the instrument at the band's live shows.

Hurdy-gurdy

Page owns two hurdy-gurdies, and is shown playing one of the instruments in the 1976 film The Song Remains the Same. The second hurdy-gurdy owned by Page was produced by Christopher Eaton, father of renowned English hurdy-gurdist Nigel Eaton.

Amplifiers and effects
Page usually recorded in studio with assorted amplifiers by Vox, Axis, Fender and Orange amplification. Live, he used Hiwatt and Marshall amplification. The first Led Zeppelin album was played on a Fender Telecaster through a Supro amplifier.

Page used a limited number of effects, including a Maestro Echoplex, a Dunlop Cry Baby, an MXR Phase 90, a Vox Cry Baby Wah, a Boss CE-2 Chorus, a Yamaha CH-10Mk II Chorus, a Sola Sound Tone Bender Professional Mk II, an MXR Blue Box (distortion/octaver) and a DigiTech Whammy.

Music production techniques
Page is credited for the innovations in sound recording he brought to the studio during the years he was a member of Led Zeppelin, many of which he had initially developed as a session musician:

"This apprenticeship ... became a part of [learning] how things were recorded. I started to learn microphone placements and things like that, what did and what didn't work. I certainly knew what did and didn't work with drummers because they put drummers in these little sound booths that had no sound deflection at all and the drums would just sound awful. The reality of it is the drum is a musical instrument, it relies on having a bright room and a live room ... And so bit by bit I was learning really how not to record."

He developed a reputation for employing effects in new ways and trying out different methods of using microphones and amplification. During the late 1960s, most British music producers placed microphones directly in front of amplifiers and drums, resulting in the sometimes "tinny" sound of the recordings of the era. Page commented to Guitar World magazine that he felt the drum sounds of the day in particular "sounded like cardboard boxes." Instead, Page was a fan of 1950s recording techniques, Sun Studio being a particular favourite. In the same Guitar World interview, Page remarked: "Recording used to be a science" and "[engineers] used to have a maxim: distance equals depth." Taking this maxim to heart, Page developed the idea of placing an additional microphone some distance from the amplifier (as much as twenty feet) and then recording the balance between the two. By adopting this technique, Page became one of the first British producers to record a band's "ambient sound" – the distance of a note's time-lag from one end of the room to the other.

For the recording of several Led Zeppelin tracks, such as "Whole Lotta Love" and "You Shook Me", Page additionally utilised "reverse echo" – a technique which he claims to have invented himself while with the Yardbirds (he had originally developed the method when recording the 1967 single "Ten Little Indians"). This production technique involved hearing the echo before the main sound instead of after it, achieved by turning the tape over and employing the echo on a spare track, then turning the tape back over again to get the echo preceding the signal.

Page has stated that, as producer, he deliberately changed the audio engineers on Led Zeppelin albums, from Glyn Johns for the first album, to Eddie Kramer for Led Zeppelin II, to Andy Johns for Led Zeppelin III and later albums. He explained: "I consciously kept changing engineers because I didn't want people to think that they were responsible for our sound. I wanted people to know it was me."

John Paul Jones acknowledged that Page's production techniques were a key component of the success of Led Zeppelin:

"The backwards echo stuff [and] a lot of the microphone techniques were just inspired. Using distance-miking ... and small amplifiers. Everybody thinks we go in the studio with huge walls of amplifiers, but Page doesn't. He uses a really small amplifier and he just mikes it up really well, so that it fits into a sonic picture."

In an interview that Page himself gave to Guitar World magazine in 1993, he remarked on his work as a producer:

"Many people think of me as just a riff guitarist, but I think of myself in broader terms ... As a record producer I would like to be remembered as someone who was able to sustain a band of unquestionable individual talent and push it to the forefront during its working career. I think I really captured the best of our output, growth, change and maturity on tape – the multifaceted gem that is Led Zeppelin."

Relationships
During the 1960s Page was with American recording artist Jackie DeShannon, who is cited as a possible inspiration for the Page composition and Led Zeppelin recording "Tangerine".

French model Charlotte Martin was Page's partner from 1970 to about 1982 or 1983. Page called her "My Lady" and together they had a daughter, Scarlet Page (born in 1971), who is a photographer.

While touring with Led Zeppelin, Page's view on groupies was described as "the younger, the better," according to tour manager Richard Cole. For example, Page had a well-documented, one-year-long relationship with "baby groupie" Lori Mattix (also known as Lori Maddox), beginning when she was 14 or 15 and while he was 28. Mattix describes her first meeting with Page starting by being approached by Peter Grant and taken to a room with Page as "[feeling] like I was being kidnapped." In light of the Me Too movement four decades later, their relationship attracted renewed attention.

From 1986 to 1995, Page was married to Patricia Ecker, a model and waitress. They have a son, James Patrick Page (born April 1988). Page later married Jimena Gómez-Paratcha, whom he met in Brazil on the No Quarter tour. He adopted her oldest daughter Jana (born 1994) and they have two children together: Zofia Jade (born 1997) and Ashen Josan (born 1999). Page and Gómez-Paratcha divorced in 2008.

Page has been in a relationship with actress and poet Scarlett Sabet, forty-five years his junior, since August 2014.

Properties

In 1967, when Page was still with The Yardbirds, he purchased the Thames Boathouse on the River Thames in Pangbourne, Berkshire and resided there until 1973. The Boathouse was also the place where Page and Plant first officially got together in the summer of 1968 and Led Zeppelin was formed.

In 1972, Page bought the Tower House from Richard Harris. It was the home that William Burges (1827–81) had designed for himself in London. "I had an interest going back to my teens in the pre-Raphaelite movement and the architecture of Burges", Page said. "What a wonderful world to discover." The reputation of Burges rests on his extravagant designs and his contribution to the Gothic revival in architecture in the nineteenth century.

From 1980 to 2004 Page owned the Mill House, Mill Lane, Windsor, which was formerly the home of actor Michael Caine. Fellow Led Zeppelin band member John Bonham died at the house in 1980.

From the early 1970s to the early 1990s, Page owned the Boleskine House, the former residence of occultist Aleister Crowley. Sections of Page's fantasy sequence in the film The Song Remains the Same were filmed at night on the mountainside directly behind Boleskine House.

Page also previously owned Plumpton Place in Sussex, formerly owned by Edward Hudson, the owner of Country Life magazine and with certain parts of the house designed by Edwin Lutyens. This house features in the Zeppelin film The Song Remains The Same where Page is seen sitting on the lawn playing a hurdy-gurdy.

He currently resides in Sonning, Berkshire in Deanery Garden, a house also designed by Edwin Lutyens for Edward Hudson.

Recreational drug use
Page has acknowledged heavy recreational drug use throughout the 1970s. In an interview with Guitar World magazine in 2003, he stated: "I can't speak for the [other members of the band], but for me drugs were an integral part of the whole thing, right from the beginning, right to the end." After the band's 1973 North American tour, Page told Nick Kent: "Oh, everyone went over the top a few times. I know I did and, to be honest with you, I don't really remember much of what happened."

In 1975, Page began to use heroin, according to Richard Cole. Cole claims that he and Page took the drug during the recording sessions of the album Presence, and Page admitted shortly afterward that he was addicted to the drug.

By Led Zeppelin's 1977 North American tour, Page's heroin addiction was beginning to hamper his guitar playing performances. By this time the guitarist had lost a noticeable amount of weight. His onstage appearance was not the only obvious change; his addiction caused Page to become so inward and isolated it altered the dynamics between him and Plant considerably. During the recording sessions for In Through the Out Door in 1978, Page's diminished influence on the album (relative to bassist and keyboardist John Paul Jones) is partly attributed to his heroin addiction, which resulted in his absence from the studio for long periods of time.

Page reportedly overcame his heroin habit in the early 1980s, although he was arrested for possession of cocaine in both 1982 and 1984. He was given a 12-month conditional discharge in 1982 and, despite a second offence usually carrying a jail sentence, he was only fined.

In a 1988 interview with Musician magazine, Page took offence when the interviewer noted that heroin had been associated with his name and insisted: "Do I look as if I'm a smack addict? Well, I'm not. Thank you very much."

In an interview he gave to Q magazine in 2003, Page responded to a question as to whether he regrets getting so involved in heroin and cocaine:

"I don't regret it at all because when I needed to be really focused, I was really focused. That's it. Both Presence and In Through the Out Door were only recorded in three weeks: that's really going some. You've got to be on top of it."

Interest in the occult
Page's interest in the occult started as a schoolboy at the age of fifteen, when he read English occultist's Aleister Crowley's Magick in Theory and Practice. He later said that following this discovery, he thought: "Yes, that's it. My thing: I've found it."

The appearance of four symbols on the jacket of Led Zeppelin's fourth album has been linked to Page's interest in the occult. The four symbols represented each member of the band. Page's own so-called "Zoso" symbol originated in Ars Magica Arteficii (1557) by Gerolamo Cardano, an old alchemical grimoire, where it has been identified as a sigil consisting of zodiac signs. The sigil is reproduced in Dictionary of Occult, Hermetic and Alchemical Sigils by Fred Gettings.

During tours and performances after the release of the fourth album, Page often had the "Zoso" symbol embroidered on his clothes, along with zodiac symbols. These were visible most notably on his "Dragon Suit", which included the signs for Capricorn, Scorpio and Cancer which are Page's Sun, Ascendant and Moon signs, respectively. The "Zoso" symbol also appeared on Page's amplifiers.

The artwork inside the album cover of Led Zeppelin IV is from a painting attributed to the artist Barrington Colby, influenced by the traditional Rider/Waite Tarot card design for the card called "The Hermit". Very little is known about Colby and rumours have persisted down the years that Page himself is responsible for the painting. Page transforms into this character during his fantasy sequence in Led Zeppelin's concert film The Song Remains the Same.

In the early 1970s Page owned an occult bookshop and publishing house, The Equinox Booksellers and Publishers, at 4 Holland Street in Kensington, London, named after Crowley's biannual magazine, The Equinox. The design of the interior incorporated Egyptian and Art Deco motifs, with Crowley's birth chart affixed to a wall. Page's reasons for setting up the bookshop were straightforward: "There was not one bookshop in London with a good collection of occult books and I was so pissed off at not being able to get the books I wanted."

The company published two books: a facsimile of Crowley's 1904 edition of The Goetia and Astrology, A Cosmic Science by Isabel Hickey. The lease eventually expired on the premises and was not renewed. As Page said: "It obviously wasn't going to run the way it should without some drastic business changes, and I didn't really want to have to agree to all that. I basically just wanted the shop to be the nucleus, that's all."

Page has maintained a strong interest in Crowley for many years. In 1978, he explained:

"I feel Aleister Crowley is a misunderstood genius of the 20th century. It is because his whole thing was liberation of the person, of the entity and that restrictions would foul you up, lead to frustration which leads to violence, crime, mental breakdown, depending on what sort of makeup you have underneath. The further this age we're in now gets into technology and alienation, a lot of the points he's made seem to manifest themselves all down the line. ... I'm not saying it's a system for anybody to follow. I don't agree with everything but I find a lot of it relevant and it's those things that people attacked him on, so he was misunderstood. ... I'm not trying to interest anyone in Aleister Crowley any more than I am in Charles Dickens. All it was, was that at a particular time he was expounding a theory of self-liberation, which is something which is so important. He was like an eye to the world, into the forthcoming situation. My studies have been quite intensive, but I don't particularly want to go into it because it's a personal thing and isn't in relation to anything apart from the fact that I've employed his system in my own day to day life. ... The thing is to come to terms with one's free will, discover one's place and what one is, and from that you can go ahead and do it and not spend your whole life suppressed and frustrated. It's very basically coming to terms with yourself."

Page was commissioned to write the soundtrack music for the film Lucifer Rising by Crowley admirer and underground movie director Kenneth Anger. Page ultimately produced 23 minutes of music, which Anger felt was insufficient because the film ran for 28 minutes and Anger wanted the film to have a full soundtrack. Anger claimed Page took three years to deliver the music and the final product was only 23 minutes of "droning". The director also slammed the guitarist in the press by calling him a "dabbler" in the occult and an addict and being too strung out on drugs to complete the project. Page countered that he had fulfilled all his obligations, even going so far as to lend Anger his own film editing equipment to help him finish the project. Page released the Lucifer Rising music on vinyl in 2012 via his website on "Lucifer Rising and other sound tracks". Side one contained "Lucifer Rising – Main Track", whilst side two contained the tracks "Incubus", "Damask", "Unharmonics", "Damask – Ambient", and "Lucifer Rising – Percussive Return". In the December 2012 Rolling Stone cover story "Jimmy Page Looks Back", Page said: "... there was a request, suggesting that Lucifer Rising should come out again with my music on. I ignored it."

Although Page collected works by Crowley, he has never described himself as a Thelemite nor was he ever initiated into Ordo Templi Orientis. The Equinox Bookstore and Boleskine House were both sold off during the 1980s, as Page settled into family life and participated in charity work.

Discography
With Led Zeppelin:

 * Led Zeppelin (1969)
 * Led Zeppelin II (1969)
 * Led Zeppelin III (1970)
 * Untitled album (1971) (de facto Led Zeppelin IV)
 * Houses of the Holy (1973)
 * Physical Graffiti (1975)
 * Presence (1976)
 * In Through the Out Door (1979)
 * Coda (1982)

With Roy Harper:

 * Whatever Happened to Jugula? (1985)

With the Firm:

 * The Firm (1985)
 * Mean Business (1986)

Solo:

 * Outrider (1988)

With Coverdale–Page:

 * Coverdale–Page (1993)

with Page and Plant:

 * Walking into Clarksdale (1998)

title: Jimmy Page


text:
User:Roan

I have been a member of the wikipedia since september 2002. At the moment, I'm enjoying reading through the entries and sometimes contributing a little bit.

I graduated in 2002 as a computer scientist from the University of Ghent, Belgium. My main interests are politics and social sciences, Anti-globalization and software design and java programming.

Currently I work as a free software developer for the Free University of Brussels (Belgium), working mainly on Dokeos. In my spare time I am a human rights activist.

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Annika Sörenstam

Annika Charlotta Sörenstam (born 9 October 1970) is a Swedish professional golfer. She is regarded as one of the best female golfers in history. Before stepping away from competitive golf at the end of the 2008 season, she had won 96 international professional tournaments, making her the female golfer with the most wins to her name. She has won 72 official LPGA tournaments including ten majors and 24 other tournaments internationally. After turning 50, she came back from her retirement and added a win in the 2021 U.S. Senior Women's Open.

In 2003, she achieved a career grand slam, winning, at least once in her career, each of the four tournaments recognized as major championships during the main part of her career.

Despite retiring from regular tournament golf in 2008, as of the end of 2022, she still topped the LPGA's career money list with earnings of over $22 million—over $2 million ahead of her nearest rival while playing 187 fewer events.

The winner of a record eight Player of the Year awards, and six Vare Trophies given to the LPGA player with the lowest seasonal scoring average, she is the only female golfer to shoot a 59 in competition. She holds various all-time scoring records including the lowest season scoring average: 68.6969 in 2004.

Representing Europe in the Solheim Cup on eight occasions between 1994 and 2007, Sörenstam was the event's all-time leading points earner until her record was surpassed by England's Laura Davies during the 2011 Solheim Cup. Sörenstam also was captain of the 2017 European Solheim Cup team.

In 2003, Sörenstam played in the Bank of America Colonial tournament to become the first woman to play in a PGA Tour event since 1945.

On 7 January 2021, she received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Donald Trump.

Childhood and amateur career
She was born in Bro near Stockholm, Sweden. Sörenstam's father Tom was an IBM executive and her mother Gunilla worked in a bank. Her younger sister Charlotta also became a professional golfer and LPGA Tour winner, and, after her playing career, coached at her sister's academy. Annika and Charlotta Sörenstam became the first two sisters to both win $1 million on the LPGA Tour.

As a child, Sörenstam was a talented all-around athlete. She was a nationally ranked junior tennis player, played association football (soccer) in her hometown team Bro IK, and was such a good skier that the coach of the Swedish national ski team suggested the family move to northern Sweden to improve her skiing year round.

Junior golf
The Sörenstam family began playing golf at Viksjö Golf Club in Jakobsberg, north of Stockholm, and later switched to nearby Bro-Bålsta Golf Club, opened in 1980, initially with a 9-hole course. At the age of 12, Annika shared her first set of golf clubs with her sister. Annika got the odd numbered clubs and Charlotta the even - and earned her first handicap of 54.

At the European Tour tournament Scandinavian Enterprise Open in Stockholm in July 1986, she tried to be a volunteer caddie and was asked to stand in a line with all other candidates. When all male volunteer caddies finally had been chosen by the tournament professionals, three teen-age girls were left without a bag yet. It was Annika, Charlotta and Fanny Sunesson.

She was so shy as a junior, she used to deliberately three-putt at the end of a tournament to avoid giving the victory speech. The coaches noticed and at the next tournament both the winner and the runner-up had to give a speech. Sörenstam decided that if she were going to have to face the crowd anyway she might as well win and the deliberate misses stopped.

Swedish national team
Her successful amateur career included a win in the St Rule Trophy played at St Andrews and a runner-up finish in the Swedish national mother/daughter Championship. As a member of the Swedish National Team from 1987 to 1992, she played in the 1990 and 1992 Espirito Santo Trophy, winning the individual competition in 1992. While waiting to start college in Sweden, Sörenstam worked as a personal assistant at the Swedish PGA and played on the Swedish Golf Tour, winning three tournaments during 1990/1991.

University of Arizona
After a coach spotted Sörenstam playing in a collegiate event in Tokyo, she moved to the U.S. to play college golf at the University of Arizona in Tucson. She won seven collegiate titles and in 1991, became the first non-American and first freshman to win the individual NCAA Division I Championship. Sörenstam was 1991 NCAA Co-Player of the Year with Kelly Robbins, runner-up in the 1992 NCAA championship, 1992 Pac-10 champion and a 1991–92 NCAA All-American. She qualified for the U.S. Women's Open at Oakmont in July, made the cut, and tied for 63rd. A few weeks later at the U.S. Women's Amateur at Kemper Lakes near Chicago, she was the runner-up to Vicki Goetze, bogeying the last hole in the 36-hole final.

1990s
Sörenstam turned professional in 1992, but missed her LPGA Tour card at the final qualifying tournament by one shot, and began her professional career on the Ladies European Tour (LET), formerly known as the WPGET. She was invited to play in three LPGA Tour events in 1993, where she finished T38th, 4th, and T9th, earning more than $47,000. She finished second four times on the Ladies European Tour and was 1993 Ladies European Tour Rookie of the Year. By tying for 28th at the LPGA Final Qualifying Tournament she earned non-exempt status for the 1994 season. Sörenstam's first professional win came at the 1994 Holden Women's Australian Open on the ALPG Tour.

In the United States, Sörenstam was LPGA Rookie of the Year, had three top-10 finishes including a tie for second at the Women's British Open and made her Solheim Cup debut. Her breakout year was 1995, when she won her first LPGA Tour title at the U.S. Women's Open. She finished at the top of the Money List and was the first non-American winner of the Vare Trophy. She became the second player ever to be Player of the Year and Vare Trophy winner the year after being Rookie of the Year. A win at the 1995 Australian Ladies Masters and two other wins on the Ladies European Tour put her top of the LET Order of Merit and made her the first player to top both the European and LPGA Tour money lists in the same season. Her success worldwide resulted in her winning the Jerringpriset award in Sweden, as well as being awarded the Svenska Dagbladet Gold Medal, the country's most prestigious award in sports.

1996 saw Sörenstam win her home LET tournament, the Trygg Hansa Ladies' Open in Sweden and three LPGA tournaments including the U.S. Women's Open. In defending her title, she became the first non-American to win back to back U.S. Women's Open titles, passed the $1 million mark in LPGA career earnings, and won her second consecutive Vare Trophy.

She won six tour events in 1997, regaining the money list and player of the year titles. Internationally, she won on the JLPGA and defended her home LET title at the renamed Compaq Open. She became the first player in LPGA history to finish a season with a sub-70 scoring average of 69.99 en route to retaining the 1998 Player of the Year and Money List titles as well as winning the LET Swedish tour stop for the third time running. September 1999 saw Sörenstam change her on-course team replacing her caddie of six years, Colin Cann, with Terry McNamara.

2000s
At this point in her career, Sörenstam says she lost focus having reached her biggest goals. Karrie Webb became the best LPGA Tour player but Sörenstam still managed to win more LPGA tournaments than any other LPGA Tour player during the 1990s. She qualified for the World Golf Hall of Fame when she won the 2000 Welch's/Circle K Championship, but was not eligible for induction until finishing her tenth year on the LPGA tour in October 2003. Sörenstam was the first international player to be inducted into the Hall of Fame through the LPGA criteria.

Having lost her preeminent position, Sörenstam embarked on a new five-day-a-week exercise program including weight-lifting and balance work which by 2003 added over 20 yd to her driving distance. During the 2001 season, she had eight LPGA wins, became the only female golfer to shoot a 59 in competition and the first LPGA player to cross the $2 million mark in single-season earnings. She set or tied a total of 30 LPGA records en route to regaining the Vare Trophy and winning her fourth Player of the Year and Money List titles in 2001. In a made-for-TV alternate shot competition between the two best male and female players in the world, Sörenstam and Tiger Woods beat Karrie Webb and David Duval.

At the end of that season Karrie Webb said she "would eat her hat" if Sörenstam repeated her eight wins in 2002. Sörenstam accomplished that feat, joining Mickey Wright as the only players to win 11 LPGA tournaments in one season, earning her fifth Player of the Year title and fifth Vare Trophy. She successfully defended the Kraft Nabisco Championship, her fourth major victory, and also won the ANZ Ladies Masters in Australia and Compaq Open in Sweden on the Ladies European Tour giving her 13 wins in 25 starts worldwide in 2002.

Sörenstam was invited to play in the PGA Tour's Bank of America Colonial golf tournament in Fort Worth, Texas, in May 2003, making her the first woman to play in a PGA Tour event since Babe Zaharias, who qualified for the 1945 Los Angeles Open. Vijay Singh, fourth in the world rankings at the time, criticised her invitation, saying that she should have to qualify like the men and that he did not want to be beaten by a woman. Cheered through each hole, she shot five over par, tying for 96th out of the 111 who finished the first two rounds. After shooting 1-over-par 71 in the first round, finishing in 73rd and on pace to challenge for a weekend spot, Sörenstam said she was nervous all day but pleased by her performance. In the first round she led the field in driving accuracy, was in the top 20 in greens in regulation, and was 84th out of 111 in driving distance. Poor putting (last in the field, averaging over a two-putt) caused her to miss the cut.

Later in the 2003 season, she won the LPGA Championship and the Women's British Open, becoming only the sixth player to complete the LPGA Career Grand Slam, winning, at least once in her career, each of the four tournaments recognized as major championships during the main part of her career. Five years earlier, in 1998, she finished second in the fifth major at the time, du Maurier Classic, which she won in 2001, the first year when it was not recognized as a major tournament anymore. She had won the Evian Masters twice, in 2000 and 2002, before it became recognized as the fifth major from 2013, which was after Sörenstam's retirement in 2008.

She had five other victories worldwide in 2003, set or tied a total of 22 LPGA records and earned her sixth Player of the Year award. She competed against Fred Couples, Phil Mickelson and Mark O'Meara in the 2003 Skins Game, finishing second with five skins worth $225,000; Sörenstam holed a 39 yd bunker shot on the ninth hole—the eighth eagle in Skins Game history. In September, she was part of the winning European Solheim Cup team in her native Sweden. She was awarded her second Jerringpriset award in Sweden plus the 2003 Golf Writers' Trophy by the Association of Golf Writers.

Sörenstam's dominance continued in 2004 with her seventh LPGA Player of the Year award tying Kathy Whitworth for the most in LPGA history. She posted 16 top-10 finishes in 18 LPGA starts, including eight wins, had two additional international wins, became the first player to reach $15 million in LPGA career earnings and took her own LPGA single-season scoring average record to 68.69696, but played too few rounds to win the Vare Trophy. The Women's Sports Foundation gave her the 2004 Sportswoman of the Year Award, and the Laureus World Sports Academy named her World Sportswoman of the Year. She also released a combination autobiography and golf instructional book, Golf Annika's Way.

Sörenstam's life both on and off the golf course changed in 2005. In February, she announced that she had filed for divorce from David Esch, her husband of eight years, and this was finalised in August but it did not adversely affect her golf. Her achievements included being the first player in LPGA history to win a major three consecutive years at the LPGA Championship and the first golfer in LPGA or PGA history to win the same event five consecutive years at the Mizuno Classic. 11 wins in 21 tournaments entered worldwide included victory in the Scandinavian TPC hosted by Annika where she presented herself the trophy, giving her an eighth Money List title, tying the LPGA record, an eighth Rolex Player of the Year (POY) award (a record) and a sixth Vare Trophy. She is the only LPGA player ever to win Money List, POY award and Vare trophy in the same year in five different years. Team competition saw her make her seventh consecutive Solheim Cup appearance, her 4 points making her total 21, the event's all-time leading points earner, and the inaugural Lexus Cup was played with Sörenstam as the Captain of the victorious International Team. These events resulted in her receiving numerous awards. The Golf Writers Association of America named Sörenstam Female Player of the Year for the eighth time (1995,1997, 2000–2005),  Associated Press voted her Female Athlete of the Year for the third consecutive year   and she became the first woman to win the Golf Writers' Trophy twice in the 55-year history of European golf's most prestigious award. Having previously won six Best Female Golfer ESPY Awards (1996, 1998–99, 2002–04), Sörenstam also received the 2005 ESPY Award as Best Female Athlete

When the first-ever official Women's World Golf Rankings were unveiled in February 2006, Sörenstam was confirmed as the number-one player in women's golf, a position she relinquished to Lorena Ochoa on 22 April 2007. In partnership with Liselotte Neumann in team Sweden, she won the Women's World Cup of Golf, opened her LPGA season with a defence of her title in the MasterCard Classic. She then went winless in eight starts, causing some to talk of a slump. Her winning drought ended at the U.S. Women's Open, where she won an 18-hole playoff over Pat Hurst for her tenth major championship title, tying her for third on the list of players with most major championship titles. She totalled 3 wins on the LPGA and two on the Ladies European Tour, the inaugural Dubai Ladies Masters and the Swedish tournament she hosts, which she defended in her home town at the course where she learned to play. Her International team lost the second Lexus Cup competition to Team Asia.

Sörenstam started 2007 by losing a playoff while defending of her MasterCard Classic title. At the Kraft Nabisco Championship she shot her highest 72-hole score in a major in nine years, a result explained by her subsequent diagnosis with ruptured and bulging discs in her neck, the first major injury in Sörenstam's 13-year LPGA career. After a two-month injury rehabilitation break, Sörenstam returned as the Ginn Tribute tournament hostess where she admitted to being at only 85% fitness and finished tied for 36th place. She was still not fully fit in her next two tournaments, the LPGA Championship where she finished tied for 15th place, and the 2007 U.S. Women's Open, where, as defending champion, she finished tied for 32nd. After an early round defeat at the World Matchplay Championship, Sörenstam finished sixth at the Evian Masters, 16th at the Women's British Open and ninth in the Swedish tournament she hosts on the Ladies European Tour. On her return to the US, Sörenstam had three top ten finishes but missed the weekend at the season closing ADT Playoffs for the second year running. However, Sörenstam did win a worldwide title at the Dubai Ladies Masters on the Ladies European Tour in November 2007.

Declaring herself recovered from injury and ready to return to a complete season of competitive golf in 2008, Sörenstam opened the year at the SBS Open at Turtle Bay where she captured her 70th LPGA Tour victory and first since September 2006. She won next at the Stanford International Pro-Am in April then following a week off, won again at the Michelob ULTRA Open at Kingsmill in a tournament record score, giving her three wins and over $1 million in earnings by mid-May. It was her 72nd and final ever win on the LPGA Tour.

In 2008, Sörenstam was highly critical of other female golfers who tried to play in the PGA Tour – her comments to Michelle Wie for playing on the men's tour: "I really don't know why Michelle continues to do this. We have a major this week and, if you can't qualify for a major, I don't see any reason why you should play with the men."

Retirement
On 13 May 2008, Sörenstam announced at a press conference at the Sybase Classic that she would "step away" from competitive golf at the conclusion of the 2008 season. That night, she threw out the first pitch of the Washington Nationals/New York Mets baseball game at Shea Stadium in New York and the following day read the Top Ten on the Late Show with David Letterman. Her last tournament victory came in a playoff at the Suzhou Taihu Ladies Open, an event co-sanctioned by the Ladies European Tour and the Ladies Asian Golf tour. Her last scheduled tournament on the LPGA Tour was the season-ending ADT Championship in November, where she failed to make the weekend play in the event's unique playoff structure. Her final sanctioned LPGA appearance was as the winning captain of Team International at the 2008 Lexus Cup in Singapore. Her last professional tournament was the Dubai Ladies Masters on the Ladies European Tour in December 2008, where she finished tied for 7th.

Solheim Cup captaincy
At the 2013 Solheim Cup at the Colorado Golf Club in Parker, Colorado, United States, Sörenstam participated as a non-playing assistant captain, selected by European Team captain Liselotte Neumann. During the match, an incident with Sörenstam involved, occurred. The Americans accused Sörenstam of telling a European caddie that European player Jodi Ewart Shadoff should concede a putt for par to Paula Creamer, so it could not show teammate Lexi Thompson the line for a coming putt. By the rules, only the captain was allowed to give advice to players during the competition. In the end, the 2013 match became an 18–10 triumph for the European team, winning on American soil for the first time and defending the cup for the first time.

For the 2015 Solheim Cup at Golf Club St. Leon-Rot, Germany, Sörenstam again was appointed an assistant captain by a Swedish European Team captain, this time Carin Koch. Two controversies with Sörenstam involved, given a lot of public attention, occurred during the match. The second day afternoon four-ball match between Suzann Pettersen and Charley Hull for Europe against Alison Lee and Brittany Lincicome, United States, was all square, when Lee missed a putt to win the 17th hole. Taking for granted that the next 18-inch putt was conceded, Lee picked up her ball. However, Pettersen pointed out that it was not conceded, and the Europeans won the hole. Koch and Sörenstam tried to convince Pettersen to change her mind and concede the putt, but as it was a fact that Lee had picked up her ball without the putt being given to her, it was not a possibility within the rules of golf, for the players to agree on the outcome of the hole and change the sequence of events afterwards. Pettersen/Hull eventually won the match.

Later during the 2015 Solheim Cup, after Koch and Sörenstam was seen in a discussion with U.S. captain Juli Inkster, Sörenstam explained that she was accused of giving advice, which she strongly denied. The 2015 match ended in a U.S. win 14$1/2$–13$1/2$, after a strong American come-back the last day, said to have been inspired by the incident with the not conceded putt.

Sörenstam was appointed captain of the 2017 European Solhem Cup team. The match, played at Des Moines Golf and Country Club, Iowa, United States, was won by the U.S. team 16$1/2$–11$1/2$.

Comeback as a senior
After turning 50 in October 2020, Sörenstam became eligible for the 2021 U.S. Senior Women's Open. It was played at Brooklawn Country Club, Fairfield, Connecticut and Sörenstam won by 8 shots, ahead of fellow countrywoman Liselotte Neumann after leading the tournament wire to wire, with her husband Mike McGee as her caddie. Ahead of the Senior Open, she played her first LPGA Tour event since 2008, finishing 74th at the 2021 Gainbridge LPGA at Boca Rio.

Her win at the Senior Open qualified her to play in the 2022 U.S. Women's Open, at which she missed the cut by shooting 13-over.

Affiliations, honors
In 1998, Sörenstam was awarded honorary member of the PGA of Sweden.

In four years, 2005-2008, Sörenstam was host for a Ladies European Tour tournament in Sweden, Scandinavian TPC hosted by Annika. She won the tournament twice herself during those years and another four times before that.

In 2012, Sörenstam founded the ANNIKA Invitational Europe, an annual amateur golf tournament in Sweden for European girls under 18. The tournament is a qualifying event for the European team in the Junior Solheim Cup since 2015 and has been rated up to level "A" in the World Amateur Golf Ranking.

In 2014, the LPGA established the yearly Rolex Annika Major Award, named after Sörenstam, to recognize the overall best performance in the LPGA majors. Points are award for top-10 finishes in each major. The major winner with the most points at the end of the season wins the award.

In February 2015, Sörenstam became one of seven women, invited as the first female honorary members of The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews. The other six women were HRH Princess Anne, Dame Laura Davies, Renee Powell, Belle Robertson, Lally Segard and Louise Suggs.

On 2 December 2020, Sörenstam was appointed president of the International Golf Federation from 1 January 2021.

In June 2021, Sörenstam hosted, together with fellow countryman Henrik Stenson, the Scandinavian Mixed hosted by Henrik and Annika, co-sanctioned by the European Tour and the Ladies European Tour, taking place in Sweden, for the first time bringing 78 men and 78 women together to compete in the same tournament for the same prize money, but playing from different tees. Sörenstam played in the first edition of the tournament at Vallda Golf & Country Club as well as in the second edition in 2022 at Halmstad Golf Club and the third edition in 2023 at Ullna Golf & Country Club.

In 2021, it was announced that Sörenstam will host an LPGA tournament in 2023; the ANNIKA Driven by Gainbridge at Pelican.

In 2022 Sörenstam accepted an invitation to become the first woman vice-president of the Association of Golf Writers, following in the footsteps of Sir Michael Bonallack, Tony Jacklin, Bernhard Langer, Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player.

In October 2023, Sörenstam became, as the first LPGA player and one of few women, a member of Augusta National Golf Club.

Business career
Sörenstam began the transition from professional golfer to entrepreneur during the later years of her career, attempting to combine golf, fitness and charitable works into various businesses under the ANNIKA brand with the brand statement "Share my Passion". They are all promoted by her website on which there is a blog to which she and her staff regularly contribute.

Golf course design
Since 2003, Sörenstam has also worked as a golf course architect, undertaken a number of course design projects. Her first, the Annika Course, was completed at Mission Hills Golf Club in Shenzhen, China, in 2003; the second was officially launched in January 2006 and opened in 2008 at Euphoria Golf Estate & Hydro in South Africa. In 2008 she also announced a new project at Mines Golf City, near Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Projects closer to home include a redesign of the Patriots Point Links Course near Charleston, South Carolina and a course at Red Mountain Resort, British Columbia.

She and Jack Nicklaus lost out on a bid to build the Olympic golf course in Rio to Gil Hanse and his consultant Amy Alcott. In 2010, a golf course she designed was opened in South Korea at Golden Bay Resort. This was the first project for her after-retirement golf course design.

In an interview with CNN in October 2017, Sörenstam spoke about the difficulties of being a woman in the golf course design industry, saying that a common stereotype is that courses she designs will be "short and easy".

The ANNIKA Academy
The ANNIKA Academy at Ginn Reunion Resort in Reunion, Florida began construction in 2006 and opened in April 2007 with Sörenstam's longtime coach Henri Reis serving as head instructor, her sister Charlotta an instructor and club fitter, her personal trainer Kai Fusser focusing on overall fitness training, and with Sörenstam available for coaching on certain golfing packages. The opening ceremony included a Make-A-Wish Foundation golf clinic conducted by Sörenstam who is a United States ambassador for the Make-A-Wish Foundation and it also hosted clinics for junior golfers during The Annika Invitational, an American Junior Golf Association invitation-only event featuring the top 60 girls from around the world hosted by The ANNIKA Foundation.

The Annika Academy closed in May 2016.

Other business ventures
Other branches of the ANNIKA business include a clothing line with Cutter & Buck, a limited label wine produced in partnership with Wente Vineyards, and a signature fragrance developed by SA Fragrances. Sörenstam also hosted the Ginn Tribute Hosted by Annika, an event on the LPGA Tour in 2007 and 2008, and the Scandinavian TPC hosted by Annika on the Ladies European Tour during its last four years from 2005 through 2008. She won the latter tournament in 2005 and 2006.

One of Sörenstam's hobbies is cooking. She has participated in cooking demonstrations during LPGA tournaments and has talked about enrolling in cooking school. Before the 2003 season Sörenstam took the opportunity to improve her culinary skills by working eight-hour shifts in the kitchens of the Lake Nona Country Club. Sörenstam has had a serious interest in investments, real estate and the stock market since she earned her first LPGA check and in August 2006 was invited to ring the closing bell at the New York Stock Exchange.

Personal life
Sörenstam met her first husband David Esch in 1994 on the driving range at Moon Valley Country Club, Phoenix, Arizona, where she was an LPGA rookie practicing for a tournament and he worked for club manufacturer Ping. They were engaged at the 1995 Evian Masters, married in Lake Tahoe on 4 January 1997. They divorced in 2005.

In August 2007, Sörenstam became engaged to Mike McGee, the managing director for the ANNIKA brand of businesses and son of former PGA Tour and Champions Tour player Jerry McGee. They married at Lake Nona Golf & Country Club in Orlando, Florida, on 10 January 2009.

Their daughter Ava Madelyn McGee was born 1 September 2009. On 21 March 2011, Sörenstam gave birth to a son, William Nicholas McGee, thirteen weeks premature.

Since 2006, Sörenstam has held dual American and Swedish citizenship. Sörenstam has been described as an atheist.

Amateur wins

 * 1991 NCAA Division I Championship Individual title
 * 1992 Espirito Santo Trophy Individual title

LPGA Tour wins (72)
LPGA Tour playoff record (16–6) Sources:

LPGA majors are shown in bold.

Note: Sörenstam won the Bank of Montreal Canadian Women's Open (formerly named the du Maurier Classic) in 2001, the year after it stopped being recognized as a major championship on the LPGA Tour.

Ladies European Tour wins (17)
Ladies European Tour playoff record (3–0) Sources:

Note: Sörenstam won The Evian Championship (formerly named the Evian Masters) twice before it was recognized as a major championship on the LPGA Tour in 2013.

ALPG Tour wins (4)
ALPG Tour playoff record (1–1)

LPGA of Japan Tour wins (7)
Source:

Swedish Golf Tour wins (4)
Source:

Other wins (2)
Notes
 * 1 Co-sanctioned by LPGA Tour and Ladies European Tour
 * 2 Co-sanctioned by LPGA Tour and LPGA of Japan Tour
 * 3 Co-sanctioned by ALPG Tour and Ladies European Tour
 * 4 54-hole tournament shortened to 45 holes
 * 5 Unofficial-money tournament on the LPGA Tour
 * 6 Team event and unofficial-money tournament on the LPGA Tour and Ladies European Tour

Legends Tour wins (1)
Sources:

Wins (10)
1 Defeated Grace Park with par on first extra hole 2 Defeated Hurst in 18-hole playoff: Sörenstam (70), Hurst (74)

Results timeline
^ The Women's British Open replaced the du Maurier Classic as an LPGA major in 2001

^^ The Evian Championship was added as a major in 2013. {{legend|lime|Win}} {{legend|yellow|Top 10}} {{legend|#eeeeee|Did not play}} CUT = missed the half-way cut

"T" = tied for place

Summary

 * Most consecutive cuts made – 24 (2003 Kraft Nabisco − 2008 British Open)
 * Longest streak of top-10s – 4 (4 times)

LPGA Tour record
^ As of 2023 season

* Includes matchplay and other tournaments without a cut.

† Not official in LPGA records, 307 tournaments played, 296 cuts made, 207 top-10s

World ranking
Position in Women's World Golf Rankings at the end of each calendar year. On 5 January 2009, Sörenstam, who was ranked third the previous week despite having announced her retirement effective at the end of the 2008 season, was removed from the rankings. No official explanation was given for her removal. Sörenstam later posted in her personal blog that she asked to be removed.

Team appearances
Amateur
 * European Lady Junior's Team Championship (representing Sweden): 1990 (winners)
 * Espirito Santo Trophy (representing Sweden): 1990, 1992 (individual winner)
 * European Ladies' Team Championship (representing Sweden): 1991

Professional Sources:
 * Solheim Cup (representing Europe): 1994, 1996, 1998, 2000 (winners), 2002, 2003 (winners), 2005, 2007, 2017 (non-playing captain)
 * Lexus Cup (representing International team): 2005 (winners), 2006, 2007, 2008 (winners)
 * World Cup (representing Sweden): 2006 (winners)

Awards
 1993

 * LET Rookie of the Year

 1994

 * LPGA Rookie of the Year

 1995

 * Golf Writers Association of America Female Player of the Year
 * LPGA Tour Player of the Year
 * LPGA Tour Money Winner
 * LPGA Vare Trophy
 * LET Order of Merit
 * LET Players' Player of the Year
 * Svenska Dagbladet Gold Medal
 * Swedish Golfer of the Year
 * Jerringpriset Swedish Athlete of the Year

 1996

 * LPGA Vare Trophy (2)
 * Swedish Golfer of the Year (2)
 * ESPY Awards Best Female Golfer

 1997

 * Golf Writers Association of America Female Player of the Year (2)
 * LPGA Tour Player of the Year (2)
 * LPGA Tour Money Winner (2)
 * Swedish Golfer of the Year (3)

 1998

 * LPGA Tour Player of the Year (3)
 * LPGA Tour Money Winner (3)
 * LPGA Vare Trophy (3)
 * Swedish Golfer of the Year (4)
 * ESPY Awards Best Female Golfer (2)

 1999

 * ESPY Awards Best Female Golfer (3)

 2001

 * Golf Writers Association of America Female Player of the Year (3)
 * LPGA Tour Player of the Year (4)
 * LPGA Tour Money Winner (4)
 * LPGA Vare Trophy (3)
 * LPGA Crowne Plaza Achievement Award
 * Swedish Golfer of the Year (5)

 2002

 * Golf Writers Association of America Female Player of the Year (4)
 * LPGA Tour Player of the Year (5)
 * LPGA Tour Money Winner (5)
 * LPGA Vare Trophy (4)
 * LPGA Crowne Plaza Achievement Award (2)
 * Swedish Golfer of the Year (6)
 * ESPY Awards Best Female Golfer (4)
 * LET Players' Player of the Year (2)

 2003

 * World Golf Hall of Fame
 * AP Female Athlete of the Year
 * Golf Writers Association of America Female Player of the Year (5)
 * LPGA Tour Player of the Year (6)
 * LPGA Tour Money Winner (6)
 * Patty Berg Award
 * Association of European Golf Writers Golf Writers' Trophy
 * Jerringpriset Swedish Athlete of the Year (2)
 * Swedish Golfer of the Year (7)
 * ESPY Awards Best Female Golfer (5)

 2004

 * AP Female Athlete of the Year (2)
 * Laureus World Sports Awards Sportswoman of the Year
 * Golf Writers Association of America Female Player of the Year (6)
 * LPGA Tour Player of the Year (7)
 * LPGA Tour Money Winner (7)
 * Swedish Golfer of the Year (8)
 * ESPY Awards Best Female Golfer (6)

 2005

 * AP Female Athlete of the Year (3)
 * Golf Writers Association of America Female Player of the Year (7)
 * LPGA Tour Player of the Year (8)
 * LPGA Tour Money Winner (8)
 * LPGA Vare Trophy (5)
 * Association of European Golf Writers Golf Writers' Trophy (2)
 * Swedish Golfer of the Year (9)
 * ESPY Awards Best Female Athlete

 2006

 * ESPY Awards Best Female Athlete (2)

 2009

 * H. M. The King's Medal 8th size with blue ribbon

 2010

 * Francis Ouimet Award for Lifelong Contributions to Golf

 2012

 * Bob Jones Award

 2014

 * Old Tom Morris Award

 2020
 * Presidential Medal of Freedom Originally scheduled for 23 March 2020. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the ceremony was rescheduled and held 7 January 2021.

Sources:

title: Annika Sörenstam


text:
Paulus Potter

Paulus Potter (20 November 1625 (baptised) – 17 January 1654 (buried)) was a Dutch painter who specialized in animals within landscapes, usually with a low vantage point.

Before Potter died of tuberculosis at the age of 28 he succeeded in producing about 100 paintings, working continuously.

Life

Paulus Potter was born in Enkhuizen. He was baptized on 20 November 1625. In 1628 his family moved to Leiden, and in 1631 to Amsterdam, where young Paulus studied painting with his father, Pieter Symonsz Potter. After his mother died, his father started an affair with the wife of Pieter Codde, also living in the fancy Sint Antoniesbreestraat. For some time his father was a manufacturer of gilded leather hangings outside the city walls.

Potter became a member of the Guild of Saint Luke in Delft, but by 1649, he moved to The Hague, next to Jan van Goyen. In July 1650, Potter married Adriana van Balckeneynde (1627-1690). His father-in-law was a leading building contractor in the Hague and introduced him to the Dutch elite. Amalia of Solms-Braunfels, a member of the stadholder's family and an art-lover, bought one of Potter's paintings, The Farmyard, but some court ladies seemed to have advised against it. In May 1652, he returned to Amsterdam on invitation of Nicolaes Tulp, who owned a number of his paintings. Tulp was impressed by his civilized behavior and politeness and had Potter paint his son, Dirck Tulp, as a noble equestrian. Potter composed a will in January of 1653 and died a year later of tuberculosis, two months after his 28th birthday.

Paulus painted a self-portrait which was at Hackwood Park, Hampshire until 1998.

Paintings
Potter's most famous painting is The Young Bull (circa 1647), and is not to be confused with his work The Bull. The Young Bull was composed after drawings Potter made in nature, and is now located in Mauritshuis in The Hague. Though this painting was criticized, it was greatly admired during the 19th century as an early example of Romanticism. The Young Bull features as the canvas being studied in Mark Tansey's 1981 monochromatic oil on canvas The Innocent Eye Test.

Memorials
A statue of Potter (sketching a distant statue of a goat) was erected at the Drommedaris in Enkhuizen in 1991.

title: Paulus Potter


text:
Alexander Morrison National Park

Alexander Morrison National Park is a national park in Western Australia, located 207 km north of Perth in the Shire of Coorow along the Green Head-Coorow Road. It was named for Alexander Morrison, the first Government Botanist of Western Australia.

Description
The 8500 ha park contains sandplains and low lateritic breakaways over sandstones and shales of the Lower Jurassic Cockleshell Gully Formation. Sand heaths are the dominant vegetation, but the park also contains extensive stands of low woodland and mallee typical of the area, especially in the western parts of the park. Prominent eucalypt species in the area are Powder-barked Wandoo (Eucalyptus accedens) and Mallalie (E. eudesmoides), while the heaths are rich in species typical of the region and include rare species such as spiral bush (Spirogardnera rubescens). The northern variant of Banksia vestita is also common.

History
Land for the national park was set aside by the Department of Lands and Surveys under Reserves ↑26800, ↑26803 and ↑26804 on 23 May 1969, and over 1970 and 1971, the land was classified as an "A" Class reserve, meaning its purpose could not be changed except by an Act of Parliament, and vested in the National Parks Authority of Western Australia. The park was officially named on 8 October 1971.

The Environmental Protection Authority recommended in 1974 that a one-kilometre-wide strip of vacant Crown land on the south side of Green Head-Coorow Road be added to the reserve – however, this was not actioned.

title: Alexander Morrison National Park


text:
Avon Valley National Park

Avon Valley is a national park in Western Australia, 47 kilometres northeast of Perth. It was named after the Avon River, which flows through it. The area is an undulating plateau with the sides of the valley steeply sloping back to the river approximately 200 m below. The area contains granite outcrops and a mix of soil types including loams, gravels and lateritic sands.

It was officially named on 15 October 1971.

Jarrah, marri and wandoo trees are found in the park along with 90 different species of birds, making it an ideal place for bird watching. Christmas trees and grasstrees are interspersed through the woodlands.

In the springtime the park is visited by wildflower enthusiasts to view the diverse range of flowers, including dryandras, donkey orchids and lechenaultias. Other plants found in the area are Conostylis, and the rare fringed lily is also found within the park.

The bushranger Moondyne Joe used the area as a hide-out with his cave and corral situated within the park boundaries. Both have since been damaged by a series of bushfires within the park. The area was subsequently designated as a reserve within the National Park in the Moondyne Nature Reserve in 1981.

The third route of the Eastern Railway is in parts the southern border of the park, on the southern side of the Avon River, and provides - at times of bushfires and other emergencies - a track and point of access.

Facilities
Entry and camping fees apply for visitors to the park. Toilets, water, shaded areas and wood barbecues are available for use. Trail signage and an information shelter are located within the park and a dedicated ranger is on site ( No longer on site).

title: Avon Valley National Park


text:
Badgingarra National Park

Badgingarra National Park is a national park in Western Australia, 190 km north of Perth off the Brand Highway adjacent to the town of Badgingarra.

The park is 13108 ha in area and features high breakaway country overlooking low undulating sandplains. The park is renowned for its incredible diversity of endemic wildflowers. Mullering Brook passes through the park creating a swampy area.

The area is mostly composed of low scrub with plant species such as mottlecah, smokebush, Banksia, Verticordia, kangaroo paw and the rare Badgingarra mallee are found throughout the area. The area is threatened by the spread of dieback.

Some of the spectacular wildflowers that can be found within the park include rare species such as Hakea flabellifolia, Strangea cynanchicarpa and Eucalyptus pendens.

Many animals such as western grey kangaroos, emus, bustards and wedgetail eagles also inhabit the area.

title: Badgingarra National Park