
During an appearance on Radio Forrest, Jason Bonham looked back on joining Heart’s Ann and Nancy Wilson during their emotional cover of “Stairway to Heaven”.
When the interviewer said, “[Robert] Plant was moved to tears. Was he actually crying, and did they know that you were gonna appear there on the drums?”, Bonham replied (transcribed by UG):
“Oh, it was definitely a surprise at that event. That’s why you’ve seen the reaction. It’s like, ‘You, what are you doing always hiding out?’
“They don’t usually honor the deceased member of the band, but I mean, the way the whole thing was put together – at the time, it wasn’t going to be announced, and I said, ‘I want people who love the band to be doing the song.’
“And then that took a life in itself. ‘Stairway’ is one of those songs, yeah, it was very special.”