Plant named a legend

Robert Plant is getting a new plaque in a record shop, not a hall of fame. Record Store Day named him a “Record Store Legend” this week, and the announcement comes just before the 2026 event on April 18. (recordstoreday.com) The award is tied to independent record stores, the small shops that built vinyl culture long before online carts and streaming playlists. Record Store Day says the event began in 2007 and the first celebration took place on April 19, 2008. (recordstoreday.com) Plant’s part in this year’s campaign is unusually concrete: he turned up at Spillers Records in Cardiff to oversee the installation of the official plaque. Record Store Day posted video of that visit alongside the announcement. (recordstoreday.com) That makes the honor feel less like a generic lifetime-achievement trophy and more like a thank-you from the shops themselves. Record Store Day has used the same line of honors before, with Elton John named the first recipient in 2017 and Johnny Marr honored in 2025. (everettpost.com) The timing also lines up with a new Robert Plant release built for the same crowd that still lines up outside stores before opening time. Record Store Day lists “Saving Grace: All That Glitters… with Suzi Dian” as an exclusive 12-inch vinyl extended play record for April 18, 2026. (recordstoreday.com) That release is limited to 3,500 copies and comes out through Nonesuch, which is exactly the kind of scarcity Record Store Day uses to turn a Saturday shopping trip into a hunt. The official listing calls it a four-track extended play record. (recordstoreday.com) The band name matters here because Plant is not treating this as a Led Zeppelin nostalgia lap. Everett Post reports the record is credited to Plant with Saving Grace and singer Suzi Dian, the group he has been touring and recording with in recent years. (everettpost.com) That group already has a deeper catalog than some casual fans may realize. Everett Post reported earlier this week that Robert Plant and Saving Grace released their self-titled debut album in September, after sessions that ran from April 2019 to January 2025. (everettpost.com) So the story is not just that a 77-year-old rock star got another honor. It is that Record Store Day picked a musician who still has a new physical release on the schedule, a current band in motion, and a reason for fans to show up at an actual counter on April 18, 2026. (recordstoreday.com)