Randy Craig Wolfe (February 20, 1951 – January 2, 1997), known as Randy California, was a guitarist, singer and songwriter and one of the original members of the rock group Spirit, formed in 1967. Jimmy Page may have reworked California's guitar riff from "Taurus", an instrumental song from the first Spirit album, when he wrote Led Zeppelin's "Stairway to Heaven". Led Zeppelin was on the same bill as Spirit on two American music festival dates in 1969. In 1996, in the liner notes for the reissue of Spirit's first album, California stated "people always ask me why 'Stairway to Heaven' sounds exactly like 'Taurus,' which was released two years earlier. I know Led Zeppelin also played 'Fresh Garbage' in their live set. They opened up for us on their first American tour".
