Peter Frampton

All Music Guide:

Peter Frampton was one of the biggest arena rock stars of the '70s, making his name largely on the double-LP concert set Frampton Comes Alive! Frampton was one of several '70s rock artists (Kiss, Cheap Trick, etc.) to break through to a wide audience with a live album; much like the others, he'd recorded several previous albums and built a following through extensive touring, in the process honing an exciting concert presence. That helped Frampton Comes Alive! become the best-selling live album of all time (up to that point), with eventual sales of over six million units in the U.S. and over 16 million copies worldwide. Frampton had paid nearly a decade's worth of dues before reaching superstardom, and unfortunately for him, it proved to be short-lived -- bad luck and a failure to duplicate the phenomenon of Frampton Comes Alive! conspired to halt his career momentum.

Peter Frampton was born April 22, 1950, in the town of Beckenham in Kent. He started playing guitar at age eight, and took several years of classical lessons. In his early teens, he played with rock & roll combos like the Little Ravens, the Trubeats, and the Preachers, the latter of which were managed by the Rolling Stones' Bill Wyman and appeared on the TV show Ready, Steady, Go. In 1966, Frampton dropped out of school to join the mod-pop group the Herd, where he got his first taste of success. The Herd scored several British hits over 1967-1968, and Frampton's youthful good looks made him a teen idol, earning him the tag the "Face of 1968" from the music press. In 1969, Frampton left the Herd to form the harder-rocking Humble Pie with erstwhile Small Faces frontman Steve Marriott. Although Humble Pie was poised for a breakthrough after two years of touring, Frampton departed in 1971 over differences in musical direction, and decided to start a solo career.

Having already performed on George Harrison's landmark All Things Must Pass, Frampton contributed guitar work to Nilsson's Son of Schmilsson, and released his debut solo album, Wind of Change, in 1972. Despite help from the likes of Ringo Starr and Billy Preston, it failed to make much of an impact. Frampton next formed an official backing band dubbed Frampton's Camel, which included keyboardist Mickey Gallagher (Cochise), bassist Rick Wills (Bell & Arc), and drummer Mike Kellie (Spooky Tooth). Their 1973 album, Frampton's Camel, also sold disappointingly, but Frampton began to build a following through near-constant touring over the next few years. He broke up Frampton's Camel prior to the release of his next album, 1974's Somethin's Happening. The title would prove prophetic: The follow-up, Frampton, became his first hit LP in America, climbing into the Top 40 in 1975 and going gold.

By this point, Frampton had amassed a considerable catalog of underexposed songs, the best of which were tightly constructed and laden with hooks. He'd also developed into a top concert draw, since he was able to inject those songs with an energy that was sometimes missing from his studio outings. Plus, in concert, he often expanded the songs into vehicles for his economical, tasteful guitar playing, and his pioneering use of the talk-box guitar effect became a trademark part of his performances. All those elements came together on Frampton Comes Alive!, a double-LP set recorded at San Francisco's Winterland in 1975. The album was a surprise smash, rocketing to the top of the charts (where it stayed for ten weeks) and selling over 16 million copies worldwide to become the most popular live album yet released. It stayed on the charts for nearly two years, and spawned Frampton's first three hit singles: "Baby, I Love Your Way" and the Top Tens "Do You Feel Like We Do" and "Show Me the Way." Naturally, his supporting tour was a multimillion-dollar blockbuster as well. When the dust settled, Frampton was a star, and Rolling Stone named him its Artist of the Year.

Under pressure from A&M to deliver a quick follow-up, Frampton fought his better judgment and went back to the studio, instead of taking a break to rest and let his success sink in. The result was I'm in You, which rose to the number two spot on the album charts soon after its release in 1977. Its title track did the same on the singles charts, giving Frampton the biggest hit of his career. In the wake of the Frampton Comes Alive! phenomenon, it was perhaps inevitable that many fans would regard I'm in You as a disappointment; even if it sold over three million copies, its hasty writing process showed through in spots. Unfortunately, 1978 was a disastrous year for Frampton. He made a high-profile acting debut playing Billy Shears in the big-budget film version of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, a tremendous critical and commercial flop. In June, he was involved in a near-fatal car accident in the Bahamas, sustaining a concussion, multiple broken bones, and muscle damage; to make matters worse, he and his longtime girlfriend also ended their relationship. Frampton recovered fully from his accident, only to endure a brief slide into drug abuse. His 1979 album Where I Should Be only went gold, and its biggest hit was the Top 20 "I Can't Stand It No More" -- respectable, but nonetheless a startling drop-off from the success Frampton had just recently enjoyed.

Frampton seemed increasingly directionless as the '80s dawned. He cut his hair prior to the release of 1981's Breaking All the Rules, but the new image failed to send it higher than the lower reaches of the Top 50. The following year's The Art of Control was an unequivocal flop, and Frampton retreated from the music business for several years. He returned on Virgin in 1986 with Premonition, and though it wasn't a smash hit, he did get substantial rock radio airplay for the cut "Lying." The following year, Frampton played on onetime schoolmate David Bowie's Never Let Me Down album and accompanying tour. He recorded another new album, When All the Pieces Fit, for Atlantic in 1989, and had been planning a reunion with Steve Marriott not long before Marriott's tragic death in a 1991 house fire. Frampton subsequently started touring again, and cut an eponymous album for Relativity in 1994 that was later reissued by Sony Legacy. The following year, he issued the newly recorded live album Frampton Comes Alive II on IRS. During the late '90s, he recorded and toured with Bill Wyman & the Rhythm Kings and Ringo Starr's All-Starr Band. Frampton's first DVD, Live in Detroit, a newly recorded concert that was also issued on CD by CMC International, was released in 2000. Now, his first studio album in nine years, arrived in 2004. It was followed in 2006 by the all-instrumental Fingerprints.

Wikipedia:

Peter Kenneth Frampton (born 22 April 1950) is an English musician, singer, songwriter, producer, guitarist and multi-instrumentalist. He was previously associated with the bands Humble Pie and The Herd. Frampton's international breakthrough album was his live release, Frampton Comes Alive!. The album sold more than six million copies in the United States alone and spawned several hits. Since then he has released several major albums. He has also worked with David Bowie and both Matt Cameron and Mike McCready from Pearl Jam, among others. Frampton is best known for such hits as "Breaking All The Rules", "Show Me the Way", "Baby, I Love Your Way", "Do You Feel Like We Do", and "I'm in You", which remain staples on classic-rock radio. He has also appeared as himself in television shows such as The Simpsons and Family Guy. Frampton is known for his work as a guitar player and particularly with a Talkbox and his tenor voice.

Early life [edit]

Frampton was born in Bromley, UK. He attended Bromley Technical High School, at which his father, Owen Frampton, was a teacher and the head of the Art department. He first became interested in music when he was seven years old. Upon discovering his grandmother's banjolele (a banjo-shaped ukulele) in the attic, he taught himself to play, and later taught himself to play guitar and piano as well. At age eight he started taking classical music lessons.

Early influences were Cliff Richard & the Shadows (featuring guitarist Hank Marvin) and American rockers Buddy Holly and Eddie Cochran, and then the Ventures, Jimi Hendrix, and The Beatles. His father introduced him to the recordings of Belgian gypsy jazz guitarist Django Reinhardt.

Music career [edit]

Early bands [edit]

By the age of twelve, Frampton played in a band called The Little Ravens. Both he and David Bowie, who is 3 years older, were pupils at Bromley Technical School. The Little Ravens played on the same bill at school as Bowie's band, George and the Dragons. Peter and David would spend time together at lunch breaks, playing Buddy Holly songs.

At the age of 14, Peter was playing with a band called The Trubeats followed by a band called The Preachers, produced and managed by Bill Wyman of The Rolling Stones.

He became a successful child singer, and in 1966, he became a member of The Herd. He was the lead guitarist and singer, scoring a handful of British pop hits. Frampton was named "The Face of 1968" by teen magazine Rave.

In early 1969, when Frampton was 18 years old, he joined with Steve Marriott of The Small Faces to form Humble Pie.

While playing with Humble Pie, Frampton also did session recording with other artists, including: Harry Nilsson, Jim Price, Jerry Lee Lewis, as well as on George Harrison's solo All Things Must Pass, in 1970, and John Entwistle's Whistle Rymes, in 1972. During the Harrison session he was introduced to the 'talk box' that was to become one of his trademark guitar effects.

Solo career [edit]

After four studio albums and one live album with Humble Pie, Frampton left the band and went solo in 1971, just in time to see Rockin' The Fillmore rise up the US charts. He remained with Dee Anthony, the same personal manager that Humble Pie had used.

His own debut was 1972's Wind of Change, with guest artists Ringo Starr and Billy Preston. This album was followed by Frampton's Camel in 1973, which featured Frampton working within a group project. In 1974, Frampton released Somethin's Happening. Frampton toured extensively to support his solo career, joined for three years by his former Herd mate Andy Bown on keyboards, Rick Wills on Bass, and American drummer John Siomos. In 1975, the Frampton album was released. The album went to #32 in the US charts, and is certified Gold by the RIAA.

Peter Frampton had little commercial success with his early albums. This changed with Frampton's breakthrough best-selling live album, Frampton Comes Alive!, in 1976, from which "Baby, I Love Your Way", "Show Me the Way", and an edited version of "Do You Feel Like We Do", were hit singles. The latter two tracks also featured his use of the talk box guitar effect. The album was recorded in 1975, mainly at the Winterland Ballroom in San Francisco, California, where Humble Pie had previously enjoyed a good following. Frampton had a new lineup, with Americans Bob Mayo on keyboards and rhythm guitar and Stanley Sheldon on bass. Wills had been sacked by Frampton at the end of 1974, and Bown had left on the eve of Frampton Comes Alive, to return to England and new fame with Status Quo. Frampton Comes Alive was released in early January, debuting on the charts on 14 February at number 191. The album was on the Billboard 200 for 97 weeks, of which 55 were in the top 40, of which 10 were at the top. The album beat, among others, Fleetwood Mac's Fleetwood Mac to become the top selling album of 1976, and it was also the 14th best seller of 1977. With sales of six million copies it became the biggest selling live album, although with others subsequently selling more it is now the fourth biggest. Frampton Comes Alive! has been certified as six times platinum.

The success of Frampton Comes Alive! put him on the cover of Rolling Stone, in a famous shirtless photo by Francesco Scavullo. Frampton later said he regrets the photo because it changed his image as a credible artist into a teen idol.

Setbacks [edit]

In late 1976 he and manager Dee Anthony visited the White House at the invitation of Steven Ford, the president's son. Frampton starred, with The Bee Gees, in producer Robert Stigwood's poorly received film Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. Frampton's career seemed to be falling as quickly as it had risen.

His following album, I'm in You (1977) contained the hit title single and went platinum, but fell well short of expectations compared to Frampton Comes Alive!.

Frampton suffered a near-fatal auto accident in the Bahamas in 1978 that marked the end of his prolific period and the beginning of a long fallow period where he was less than his old self. He returned to the studio in 1979 to record the album Where I Should Be. Among those contributing to the album were past band members Stanley Sheldon (bass), Bob Mayo (keyboards/guitar/vocals), Chad Cromwell (drums), and John Siomos (drums/vocals).

In 1980 his album Rise Up was released to promote his tour in Brazil, although he suffered another serious setback that year when all his guitars were destroyed in a cargo plane crash that killed three people. Among the instruments he lost was the treasured black Les Paul Custom (pictured on the cover of Frampton Comes Alive) given to him by Mark Mariana and first used on the night of the recording of the Humble Pie live album Performance, and which he had used all through his early solo career. The guitar was recovered and returned to him in December 2011. The album eventually turned into Breaking All the Rules, released the next year in 1981. These albums were the first he recorded almost completely live. In 1982 Frampton tried unsuccessfully to split his ties with A&M Records; he, however, re-signed with the label in 2006 and released his Grammy Award-winning Fingerprints.

Although his albums generally met with little commercial success, Frampton continued to record throughout the 1980s. He did, however, achieve a brief, moderate comeback of sorts in 1986 with the release of his Premonition album, and the single "Lying," which became a big hit on the Mainstream Rock charts. Most notably, he also united with old friend David Bowie, and both worked together to make albums. Frampton played on Bowie's 1987 album Never Let Me Down and joined the Glass Spider world tour.where he played lead guitar on, and performed a vocal solo in, Sons Of The Silent Age.

Looking for that band experience again after touring with Bowie, Frampton kept referencing Steve Marriott, and at the beginning of 1991 rejoined his old Humble Pie mate for some shows (Marriott's last English gigs) at the Half Moon in Putney, London. The chemistry was still there for a while, as both Frampton and Marriott laid down some tracks in L.A. and prepared to do a "Frampton-Marriott" tour. However, Marriott abruptly returned to England in April (some say he didn't want to do the Humble Pie thing, others claim he would have returned to play with Frampton) but he died in a house fire less than 24 hours after his return. Broken up by Marriott's death, Frampton went off the road for a time, then reformed his old touring band with his old friends Mayo and John Regan (at least three songs, and possibly a fourth from the sadly ended Marriott-Frampton partnership were subsequently recorded; two ending up on Frampton's "Shine On" compilation, a third on his subsequent solo album.

Return [edit]

In the late 1990s he starred in an infomercial plugging the internationally successful eMedia Guitar Method, a piece of instructional software represented as an alternative to taking actual guitar lessons. He claimed in the infomercial that the software was the best way to learn guitar.

In 1994 Frampton wrote and released the album Peter Frampton, the final version of which contained material recorded on Tascam cassette recorders. Originally released on the Relativity label, this record was re-released in 2000 by Legacy Records, with four bonus tracks and additional notes by Peter.

In 1995 Frampton released Frampton Comes Alive! II, which contained live versions of many of the songs from his 1980s and 1990s solo albums. Frampton Comes Alive! II was accompanied by a video release on DVD, recorded at The Fillmore Theatre on June 15, 1995. Although there was a large amount of marketing for the album, it did not sell well. After Frampton Comes Alive! II, he recorded and toured with Bill Wyman's Rhythm Kings and Ringo Starr's All-Starr Band, where he and Jack Bruce performed a cover version of Cream's "Sunshine of Your Love".

In 2003, Frampton released the album Now, and embarked on a tour with Styx to support it. He also toured with The Elms, and even appeared in 2006 on the Fox Broadcasting variety show Celebrity Duets, paired with Chris Jericho of WWE fame. They were the first pair voted out.

On 12 September 2006 Frampton released an instrumental work titled Fingerprints. His band consisted of drummer Shawn Fichter, guitarist Audley Freed, bassist John Regan (Frampton's life long best friend,), and keyboardist/guitarist Rob Arthur, and guest artists such as members of Pearl Jam, Hank Marvin, and his bassist on Frampton Comes Alive!, Stanley Sheldon - the only member of the backing band on that album still alive.

On 11 February 2007 Fingerprints was awarded the 2007 Grammy Award for Best Pop Instrumental Album. In February 2007, he also appeared on the Chicago based PBS television show Soundstage.

Frampton released his fourteenth studio album, Thank You Mr. Churchill, on 27 April 2010. In summer 2010 he began touring North America with the English band Yes; the two acts had played stadium shows on a bill together in 1976. His 2010 band consisted of Rob Arthur (keyboards, guitar, backing vocals), John Regan (bass), Adam Lester (guitar), and Dan Wojciechowski (drums).

He embarked on a UK Tour in March 2011 in support of his new album, visiting Leamington Spa, Glasgow, Manchester, London and Bristol.

Frampton went on tour in 2011 with The Frampton Comes Alive 35th Anniversary Tour that showcased and followed exactly the songs on the play list for the original tour from 1976, recorded for the famous Frampton Comes Alive! The concerts each night started with the prerecorded thump of a microphone being turned on, familiar to many fans of the album, followed by the recorded voice of Jerry Pompili saying, "If there was ever a musician that was an honorary member of San Francisco society, Mr. Peter Frampton"...and then the crowd goes wild. He played the album song for song for 69 locations between June 15, 2011, and October 22, 2011, throughout the U.S.

Media appearances [edit]

In 1978, Frampton acted out the character of Peter Buckley in an episode of Baa Baa Black Sheep titled "A Little Bit of England."

In 1978, Frampton played Billy Shears in the movie Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band starring along with the three brothers Gibb of the band the Bee Gees. The movie was inspired by The Beatles album of the same name. Critics were hostile, and the film was a box-office failure.

In 1996, Frampton appeared in an episode of The Simpsons entitled "Homerpalooza", in which he played "Do You Feel Like We Do". He also made a TV appearance in the Family Guy episode "Death Lives", in which Peter Griffin asks Death to bring Peter Frampton to play "Baby, I Love Your Way" to his wife.

In 1999, Frampton appeared in "Blues Brothers 2000" as a member of a competing blues band.

Also in 2000, Frampton served as a technical advisor for Cameron Crowe's autobiographical film Almost Famous and also was the guitar instructor for Billy Crudup, who starred in the film as Russell Hammond, the guitarist for the fictitious band "Stillwater." Crudup is quoted as saying, "Who could ask for a better tutor than Peter Frampton?" As an inside joke, he also appears briefly in the film as "Reg," a road manager for Humble Pie, Frampton's real-life former band.

On December 20, 2006 Frampton appeared on The Colbert Report. Stephen Colbert had a fake feud with The Decemberists to be decided by a guitar shred-down. When Colbert faked an injury, Colbert called on Father Christmas to supply a guitar hero, at which point Frampton appeared and won the shred-down.

Frampton has made an appearance in a television commercial as well. He played a supporting role in a GEICO commercial, where he performed a small portion of "Do You Feel Like We Do".

On April 23, 2010, Peter Frampton became the all-time celebrity champion of the trivia game called No Apparent Reason, with five correctly answered questions on the nationally syndicated Mark and Brian Radio Program originating from KLOS Los Angeles. However, on May 5, 2010, Frampton was reduced to second place after only two short weeks by Luke Perry's answering six questions correctly.

On November 4, 2010, Frampton appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show as one of her favorite musicians.

On October 21, 2011, Frampton was honored at Music City’s at Walk of Fame Park in Nashville, Tennessee.

In 2012 Frampton appeared in a Buick Verano commercial, playing himself.

On July 22, 2012, Frampton appeared on a segment on CBS Sunday Morning.

Personal life [edit]

Frampton has been married three times and has four children. His first marriage was to Mary Lovett (1972–1976). In June 1978, Frampton was involved in a near fatal car accident in the Bahamas, suffering multiple broken bones, a concussion and muscle damage. Dealing with the pain of the accident contributed to a brief period of drug abuse. He later married Barbara Gold (1983–93), with whom he had two children, Jade and Julian (who co-wrote and sang on Frampton's song "Road To The Sun" from Thank You Mr. Churchill). His third was to Tina Elfers (13 January 1996 – 22 June 2011), with whom he had two more children, actress Mia Frampton who starred as Becca Keeler on Make It or Break It, and a step-daughter by the name of Tiffany Wiest. Frampton filed for divorce from Elfers in Los Angeles on June 22, 2011, citing irreconcilable differences.

Frampton has lived in London, Guatemala, and the USA, including Westchester County, New York, Los Angeles, and Nashville. He moved to Indian Hill, an eastern suburb of Cincinnati, Ohio, USA in June 2000. This is the birthplace of his ex-wife Tina Elfers and the city in which they were married in 1996. They chose to live there to be closer to Tina's family. After the September 11, 2001 attacks, Frampton decided to become an American citizen. He made the change in 2004.

He is a strict vegetarian.