Peter Frampton

Peter Frampton has been revelling in that “two hour event” since he became a professional musician at age 16. Born in Beckenham, England, Peter first became interested in music as a seven-year old, when he discovered his grandmother’s banjolele (a banjo-shaped ukulele) in the attic. Teaching himself to play, he became near obsessed, and, upon receiving a guitar from his parents, mastered that as well.
By the age of 10, Frampton was playing in a band called The Little Ravens and played on the same bill at school as George & The Dragons, a group including David Bowie, then a student of Peter’s art teacher/ dad, Owen Frampton. In fact, Peter and David would spend time together at lunch breaks, playing Buddy Holly songs. At the age of 11, Peter was playing with a band called The Trubeats, before playing with a band called The Preachers, produced and managed by Bill Wyman, of the Rolling Stones. By 16, Peter had been recruited to be the lead guitarist/singer in The Herd, scoring a handful of British teenybopper hits. Peter was named “The Face 0f 1968” by the UK press – he was well on his way.

By 1969, he had formed Humble Pie with ex-Small Faces singer/guitarist Steve Marriott. Peter was 19 years old. The original band stayed together for five albums.
PF – “The great thing for me about Humble Pie was that it was energy unlimited. We were all at that age where we were just going for it. lt was the perfect band for me to develop and define the Frampton style guitar. When everybody was listening to Blues Breakers and Cream for Eric Clapton, so was I. But at the same time I was listening to Kenny Burrell, George Benson, Wes Montgomery and Django Reinhardt. When it came to working my style out with Humble Pie, it was sort of a jazzy lyrical style that developed over a very rockin’, blues based band. Just listen to ‘Stone Cold Fever’ from Humble Pie’s ‘Performance – Rockin’ The Fillmore’ album. We were on fire. We played with so many different people…..and I guess that playing Shea Stadium in the the summer of ’70, with Grand Funk, was one of the biggest thrills because we were actually the first band to play Shea Stadium since the Beatles. So it was pretty historic for us. ”

After five albums with Humble Pie, Frampton went solo in 1971, just in time to see ‘Rockin’ The Fillmore’ chase up the US charts. But not regretting his decision to leave, the next five years were a period of writing, recording and touring, as well as guesting on many other artists records ( Nilsson, George Harrison to name two ). Signed to A&M, his first 3 albums were building the foundations of a solid fan base – ‘Wind Of Change’ in 1971, ‘Frampton’s Camel’ in 1973 ( which featured Peter within a group project ) and ‘Somethin’s Happening’ in 1974. Peter’s live work did much to enhance his reputation and eventually the hard work paid off with the release in 1975 of ‘Frampton’, which gave the world a taste of what was yet to come. The album went to #32 in the US charts, and went gold.

PF – “My most prolific writing period was right before we recorded ‘Frampton’. The whole album took only three weeks to write, and gave us ‘Show Me The Way’, which was written one day before lunch, and ‘Baby I Love Your Way’, which was written the same day after tea, as the sun was setting! ‘Frampton’ was the most satisfying album to date, as I felt I had a really good selection of songs.”

All this culminated in the astonishing success of ‘Frampton Comes Alive!’, a live album recorded at San Francisco’s famed Winterland, and released in 1976.

The concert was recorded, and the album went from a single album to a double when one of the record label’s bosses, Jerry Moss ( the ‘M’ in ‘A&M’ Records ) said “Where’s the rest?”! The extra tracks put on to make it a double included Peter’s two biggest hits.
PF – “I remember it was one of the first nights we had ever headlined in San Francisco, or anywhere else for that matter. I wasn’t worried about the (recording) truck being outside, I was worried that we had enough material to do an hour and a half act. It was a stretch at that point. We were used to doing 50 minutes. lt was a special night overall. Looking back, I like the vibe on ‘Lines On My Face’. The feeling was magical for that song.”

The resulting publicity and multi-million-dollar grossing tour made Peter Frampton an international superstar and launched three singles, ‘Do You Feel Like We Do?’, ‘Baby I Love Your Way’ and ‘Show Me The Way’ that exemplify the best of ’70s rock, and remain radio play fixtures.

In 1976, Frampton was named Rolling Stone Magazine’s ‘Artist of the Year’ and received innumerable industry plaudits for album and concert sales. The album was the biggest selling live album in rock music history, selling an estimated 10 million copies. By the end of 1976, Peter had reportedly earned an estimated gross of $70 million in concert fees and royalties. To date, the album has sold over 16 million copies.

The subsequent years were a challenge, both musically and personally. Although, he would have preferred a long break from the nonstop hubbub of ’76, Peter nonetheless returned to the studio, and released ‘I’m In You’ in 1977, seeing the album and same-titled single reach platinum and #1 respectively. Guest musicians lined up to help out….Mick Jagger and Stevie Wonder included. A version of Stevie Wonder’s ‘Signed, Sealed, Delivered, I’m Yours’ was a single success.
In 1978 Peter appeared in the movie version of The Beatles’ ‘Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band’, alongside the Bee Gees. He played the role of Billy Shears……sadly the movie was not received well, although it did give Peter another Rolling Stones magazine cover appearance! The soundtrack WAS successful though….it reached #5 in the album charts and went platinum! Peter appears on the album, performing Beatles tunes alongside people like George Burns!

In 1978, Peter suffered a near fatal car crash in the Bahamas, which left him with a concussion, muscle damage and broken bones. But in 1979, he released the album ‘Where I Should Be’, which went gold and produced the hit ‘I Can’t Stand It No More’.