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'Stairway to Heaven' creator faces questions of song origin

'Stairway to Heaven' creator faces questions of song origin
Posted at 4:07 AM, Jun 16, 2016
and last updated 2016-06-16 06:18:11-04
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Led Zeppelin founder Jimmy Page faces tough questioning in a trial over whether the band stole a riff for the opening of "Stairway to Heaven."
 
Page is to resume testimony Thursday in Los Angeles federal court in a dispute over the copyright to the Spirit song, "Taurus."
 
Page says he never heard the instrumental tune on Spirit's first album and didn't realize he owned a copy of it until he learned that comparisons with "Stairway" were cropping up online.
 
Page says his band did borrow a riff from another Spirit tune in the early days of the band when it didn't have a lot of material and relied heavily on cover songs.
 
Page says he only knew Spirit's song "Fresh Garbage" because he heard it on the radio.