WHETHER or not one of the world’s most famous rock bands created their signature song in Headley could soon become the focus of a court case in the United States.

It has long been claimed that Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page and singer Robert Plant composed Stairway to Heaven at Headley Grange, before it was finally recorded in London and released on the band’s untitled fourth album (often called Led Zeppelin IV) in 1971.

But now Plant and Page face a US trial over whether they stole opening chords for the classic song, often referred to as one of the greatest rock anthems of all time.

A US district judge in Los Angeles ruled, last Friday, that the song and a 1967 instrumental piece, called Taurus, by the band Spirit were similar enough to let a jury decide whether Plant and Page were liable for copyright infringement. The trial is scheduled for May 10.

Michael Skidmore, trustee for the late composer of Taurus Randy Wolfe, said Page may have been inspired to write Stairway to Heaven for Led Zeppelin after hearing Spirit perform Taurus when the bands toured together in 1968 and 1969.

However Led Zeppelin’s tour manager Richard Cole is reported, in Barney Hoskyns’ 2013 book Trampled Under Foot: The Power and Excess of Led Zeppelin, as saying: “The first time I heard Stairway to Heaven, John Paul (bassist) was playing it on a recorder.

“Whenever they (the band) got together to write or record, he would come down (to Headley Grange)?with a carload of instruments, usually acoustic.

“This time he came down with the mandolins, and I remember Robert sitting on a radiator working out the words.”

Speaking to Rolling Stone magazine, Plant recalled of the composing of Stairway to Heaven: “Bonzo (drummer) and Jonesy had gone off the Speakeasy Club in London. Jimmy and I stayed in, and we got the theme and thread of it there and then.”

Wikipedia says: “Stairway to Heaven commenced in December 1970 at Island Records’ new Basing Street Studios in London.

“The song was completed by the addition of lyrics by Plant during the sessions for Led Zeppelin IV at Headley Grange, Hampshire, in 1971.”