After the breakup of Led Zeppelin in 1980, Robert Plant pursued a successful solo career comprising eleven studio albums, two compilation albums, three video albums, four collaborative albums, and 42 singles. He began his solo career with Pictures at Eleven in 1982, followed by 1983's The Principle of Moments. Popular tracks from this period include "Big Log", "In the Mood" (1984), "Little by Little", "Tall Cool One", Manic Nirvana's "Hurting Kind " (1990), and "I Believe", another song written for and dedicated to his late son, Karac. In 1984, Plant formed a short-lived all-star group with Jimmy Page and Jeff Beck called the Honeydrippers, who had a No. 3 hit with a remake of the Phil Phillips' tune, "Sea of Love" and a follow-up hit with a cover of Roy Brown's "Rockin' at Midnight". Although Plant avoided performing Led Zeppelin songs through much of this period, his tours in 1983 and 1985 were very successful, often performing to sold-out arena-sized venues.

Band of Joy is English rock singer Robert Plant's ninth solo album and the first with his new backing group, the Band of Joy. It was released on 13 September 2010 in the UK and 14 September in the US.