Peter Frampton

Peter Frampton (born April 22, 1950) is an English guitarist and singer who released a string of 1966–68 singles in beat combo The Herd, including the freakbeat rubbles “From the Underworld,” “Mixed Up Minds,” “I Can Fly,” and “Sunshine Cottage.” In 1969, he embarked on a five-album stint in blues-rockers Humble Pie with ex-Small Faces guitarist/singer Steve Marriott.

Frampton went solo with the 1972 A&M release Wind of Change, followed by Frampton’s Camel and the concert staples “Do You Feel Like We Do” and “Lines On My Face.” His fourth album, Frampton, contains the original versions of his twin signatures “Baby, I Love Your Way” and “Show Me the Way,” both made famous on his mega-selling live double-album Frampton Comes Alive!  His next album, I’m In You, features the popular title ballad (covered by Bob James and Grover Washington Jr.) and “Putting My Heart On the Line” (covered by Elkie Brooks).

After appearing with the Bee Gees in the 1978 movie adaptation of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, Frampton cut three more albums on A&M, culminating with his 1982 modern-rock release The Art of Control.

Background

Peter Kenneth Frampton was born April 22, 1950, in Beckenham, Kent, England, to educators Owen and Peggy Frampton. His father headed the art department at Bromley Technical High School and played guitar.

Frampton found his grandmother’s banjolele at age seven in the family attic. Owen showed him his first chords on the instrument. His parents gave him a six-string guitar the following Christmas. Frampton took classical-guitar lessons from Susan Graham in Bromley and studied music through O-level. He spent one year at Bromley Technical High School, where he played guitar at lunch with David Jones and George Underwood. Frampton then transferred to Bromley Grammar School. 

Frampton played school events with the Little Ravens and moved into semi-professional work with The Trubeats by his early teens. Drummer Tony Chapman recruited the fourteen-year-old guitarist into The Preachers, a beat group managed and produced by Rolling Stones bassist Bill Wyman. The Preachers cut the August 1965 Columbia single “Hole in My Soul” (b/w “Too Old in the Head”) and appeared the Stones on Ready Steady Go! 

In 1966, Frampton joined The Herd in a reorganized lineup with keyboardist Andy Bown, bassist Gary Taylor, and drummer Andrew Steele. The group played a Saturday residency at the Marquee and secured a Fontana contract. Frampton sang their April 1967 single “I Can Fly” (b/w “Diary of a Narcissist”), followed in August with “From the Underworld” (b/w “Sweet William”), a UK No. 6 hit. Their carnival-esque “Paradise Lost” (b/w “Come On—Believe Me”) reached No. 15, followed by “I Don’t Want Our Loving to Die” (b/w “Our Fairy Tale”), a No. 5 hit. Frampton and Bown co-wrote the October 1968 Herd single “Sunshine Cottage,” a harmonized guitar-driven rocker (b/w “Miss Jones”).

Frampton left the Herd in late 1968 and joined a week of Johnny Hallyday sessions in Paris with Glyn Johns and the Small Faces, whose singer-guitarist Steve Marriott had grown distant fromt he group. With a mutual desire for rockier blue-based pursuits, Marriott  and Frampton formed Humble Pie with bassist Greg Ridley and drummer Jerry Shirley. The group signed with Immediate Records and recorded the 1969 albums As Safe as Yesterday Is and Town and Country. Humble Pie subsequently signed with A&M Records and recorded Humble Pie and Rock On for the label. The quartet taped Performance: Rockin’ the Fillmore in May 1971 at New York’s Fillmore East.

Frampton also developed a separate session career while he remained in Humble Pie. Terry Doran introduced him to George Harrison at a Doris Troy session at Trident Studios. Harrison subsequently recruited Frampton for acoustic guitar on All Things Must Pass. Frampton worked on the sessions beside Ringo Starr, Billy Preston, Klaus Voormann, and pedal-steel guitarist Pete Drake.

Frampton chose to leave Humble Pie while he helped Eddie Kramer mix the Fillmore recordings in New York. He wanted control over acoustic songs and jazz-based material outside the increasingly hard electric direction of the group. Frampton stayed with A&M Records as a solo artist and continued session work while he developed new songs. He played several songs for Ringo Starr and secured the drummer for the planned album. Billy Preston and Klaus Voormann also accepted session dates. Frampton entered Olympic Studios in London in October 1971 with Chris Kimsey as engineer and began recording Wind of Change. 

Discography:

• Wind of Change (1972)
• Frampton’s Camel (1973 • Frampton’s Camel)
• Somethin’s Happening (1974)
• Frampton (1975)
• Frampton Comes Alive! (live 2LP, 1976)
• I’m in You (1977)
• Where I Should Be (1979)
• Breaking All the Rules (1981)
• The Art of Control (1982)
• Premonition (1986)
• When All the Pieces Fit (1989)

Sources:

• Discogs: Peter Frampton

Reference trail:

• Peter Frampton official biography — exact birth name/date/place, parents, Little Ravens, Bowie school connection, Trubeats, Preachers, Herd, Harrison connection. (Frampton Mail)
• Peter Frampton, Melody Maker, June 17, 1967 — particularly useful because it is contemporary: banjolele, first guitar, early public playing, classical study, school group, semi-professional work, Preachers single, and Ready Steady Go! appearance. (World Radio History)
• Owen Frampton obituary, The Independent — resolves the school chronology: one year at Bromley Technical High School followed by Bromley Grammar; also confirms Owen Frampton as art-department head and Peter’s first guitar teacher. (The Independent)
• Peter Frampton interviews in Premier Guitar, Guitar Player, Classic Rock, and Guitar World — Susan Graham lessons, Herd recruitment, Marquee residency, Howard/Blaikley lead-vocal decision, Paris sessions, Humble Pie formation, Fillmore mixing, and reasons for leaving Humble Pie. (Premier Guitar)
• Rock & Roll Hall of Fame 2024 induction essay — Tony Chapman, the Preachers, Bill Wyman, Columbia single, and early Herd transition. (Rock & Roll Hall of Fame)
• 45cat — Preachers release date and pairing; Herd UK singles, B-sides, catalogue sequence, and dates. (45cat)
• Official Charts Company — “From the Underworld” at No. 6, “Paradise Lost” at No. 15, and “I Don’t Want Our Loving to Die” at No. 5. This corrects biographies that loosely describe the Herd as scoring three UK Top 10 singles. (Official Charts)
• Humble Pie / A&M archival material — Immediate albums, A&M move, original quartet, and label history. (Onam Records)
• George Harrison official archive / Frampton interview material — Frampton’s transition from Doris Troy sessions into All Things Must Pass and the circle that later supplied musicians for his debut. (George Harrison)
• 1975 Cash Box interview, A&M archive, and MusicBrainz session data — Frampton directly recalls asking Starr to play, meeting Preston through A&M, and securing Voormann; session data places Wind of Change recording from October 1971 through April 1972 with Chris Kimsey engineering. (World Radio History)