Heirs of the estate of Randy Craig Wolfe, aka Randy California, lead guitarist, singer and songwriter for the band Spirit, have filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania alleging that key portions of Led Zeppelin’s “Stairway To Heaven”, arguably the band’s biggest hit, are actually from the California penned “Taurus”, a song he composed while just 16 years old.
Before reaching mega-star status in the 70’s, Zeppelin first toured the U.S. as an opening act, which included opening a number of concerts for the California led Spirit in the late 60’s, thus providing access to Spirit’s catalog at that time, which included “Taurus” from Spirit’s 1968 eponymous debut LP.
For further analysis: http://www.forbes.com/sites/oliverherzfeld/2014/05/21/spirit-v-led-zeppelin-analysis-of-the-stairway-to-heaven-infringement-lawsuit/
To hear Randy California’s Taurus: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xd8AVbwB_6E