Alfie Boe Speaks of Robert Plant Duet

There are times when it becomes almost impossible to legislate for success and Lady Luck takes over. So says tenor Alfie Boe when he recalls his chance meeting with Robert Plant in a Soho bar.

Boe, whose current album, Alfie, is taking the world by storm, is joined by the former Led Zeppelin frontman on a haunting version of Tim Buckley’s Song to the Siren. 

Speaking to website Noise11.com, Boe tells of plucking up the courage to speak with the rock star after Plant strolled in for a drink. 

“I went up to him and told him I was a big fan of his work,” said Boe. 

"What I thought would be a 5-minute conversation turned into an hour talking about his days in Led Zep and his days with the other guys with [guitarist] Jimmy Page, [drummer] John Bonham and [bassist] John Paul Jones”. 

The pair then kept in touch as they discussed their mutual love of football before Boe plucked up the courage to ask for a duet with Plant. 

"We got onto the real reason that I phoned and that was for him to duet with me on ‘Song To The Siren’ because it’s on one of his albums,” Boe explained. “He said ‘send me a demo.’” 

As evidenced by the results on Alfie, the demo obviously made an impression on the one-time Golden God.