The Boys From Bromley: Peter Frampton

Welcome to Rock and Roll Flashback!  I'm your host, Jumpin' John, and this podcast episode will deal with the English musician Peter Frampton.  It is Part 2 of a two part series I am calling The Boys From Bromley.  This is a reference to London's Bromley Technical High School, a school that produced two extraordinary musical talents:  David Bowie and Peter Frampton.  

All podcasts on the Rock and Roll Flashback Podcast are produced by brothers-in-law Bill Price and "Jumpin' John" McDermott.  The Podcast Theme Song, "You Essay", was written by John.  It was initially recorded by Bill and John on April 1, 2004 with several revisions since then. 
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Rock On!

Transcript

Thank you for that introduction, and welcome to Rock and Roll Flashback!  I'm your host, Jumpin' John, and this podcast episode will deal with the English musician Peter Frampton.  It is Part 2 of a two part series I am calling The Boys From Bromley.  This is a reference to London's Bromley Technical High School, a school that produced two extraordinary musical talents:  David Bowie and Peter Frampton.  

Peter Kenneth Frampton was born in 1950 in Beckenham, Kent, England.   After teaching himself how to play guitar and piano, at the age of 8 he began taking classical music lessons.  Peter's father, Owen Frampton, introduced him to the recordings of jazz guitarist Django Reinhardt.  Young Peter was also influenced by Cliff Richard and the Shadows, Buddy Holly, and Eddie Cochran.  Later he cited the Ventures, Jimi Hendrix, and the Beatles as influencing his music.  By the age of 12, Frampton played in a band, the Little Ravens.  Both he and David Jones, who was three years older, were pupils at Bromley Technical School, where Frampton's father, Owen, was Jones's art teacher.  The Little Ravens played on the same bill at school as George and the Dragons, which was Jones's band.  Frampton and Jones (who would later become famous as David Bowie) spent lunch breaks together, playing Buddy Holly songs. 

After playing is several bands, 16 year old Peter became a member of the Herd.  With the Herd he was the lead guitarist and singer, scoring several British pop hits.  Frampton was named "The Face of 1968" by teen magazine Rave.  Then in 1969, when Frampton was 18 years old, he joined Steve Marriott from the band Small Faces to form Humble Pie.  While playing with Humble Pie, Frampton also did session recording with other artists, including George Harrison, Harry Nilsson, Jerry Lee Lewis, and John Entwistle.  During a recording session with George Harrison at Abbey Road Studios in London in 1970, Pete Drake introduced Frampton to the "talk box" that was to become one of his trademark guitar effects.

After four studio albums and one live album with Humble Pie, Frampton left the band.  He went solo in 1971, just in time to see Humble Pie's live LP, Rockin' the Fillmore, climb to #21 on the US Billboard 200 chart.  With Dee Anthony as his manager in 1972 A&M Records released Frampton's debut solo album, Wind of Change, with guest artists Ringo Starr and Billy Preston.  This album was followed by the LP Frampton's Camel in 1973, which featured Frampton working within a group project.  In 1974, Frampton released Somethin's Happening.  All three albums broke onto the Billboard 200 chart, but none of them cracked the top 100.  Frampton toured extensively to support his solo career, and in 1975 he finally had chart success when his fourth album, simply titled Frampton, was released.  The album went to #32 on the US charts and is certified Gold by the RIAA.

The year 1976 brought the release of the commercially successful, best-selling live album, Frampton Comes Alive!.  Three of the albums singles, "Baby, I Love Your Way", "Show Me the Way", and an edited version of "Do You Feel Like We Do", were hits. 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.  Frampton had a new band line-up, with Bob Mayo on keyboards and rhythm guitar, Stanley Sheldon on bass joining John Siomos on drums.  Frampton Comes Alive was released in early January, and the album was on the Billboard 200 for 97 weeks.  55 of those weeks it was in the top 40, of which 10 were at #1. The album was the top selling album of 1976.  It was also the 14th best selling LP of 1977, and that year the album won Frampton a Juno Award.  Thirty-five years later readers of Rolling Stone ranked Frampton Comes Alive #3 in a 2012 poll of all-time favorite live albums.  In 2015 it was ranked #41 on Rolling Stone's "50 Greatest Live Albums of All Time" list.  In 2020, Frampton Comes Alive! was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.  The LP has been certified eight times platinum by the RIAA. 

The single "Show Me the Way" was released in February 1976.  In the US, the song reached #6 on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming Frampton's biggest US hit until "I'm in You" in 1977.  In the United Kingdom the live single reached #10 on the UK Singles Chart.

Here is Peter Frampton's live version of "Show Me the Way":

The single "Baby, I Love Your Way" was released in June 1976. It peaked at #12 on the US Billboard Hot 100.  It also reached #3 in Canada.

[Play the intro of Peter Frampton's live version of "Do You Feel Like We Do"]

The single "Do You Feel Like We Do" was released in September 1976.  The live version of "Do You Feel Like We Do" was edited down extensively to 7 minutes and 19 seconds for the 45 RPM single and promo single for pop radio stations.  It reached #10 on the US pop charts and #39 in the UK, making it one of the longest songs to reach the US top 10.

Here is another excerpt from Peter Frampton's live version of "Do You Feel Like We Do":

The success of Frampton Comes Alive! put him on the cover of Rolling Stone, in a famous shirtless photo.  Frampton later said he regretted the photo because it changed his image from a credible artist into a teen idol.  In late 1976, Frampton and manager Dee Anthony visited the White House in Washington, DC at the invitation of Steven Ford, the president's son.  On August 24th, 1979, Frampton received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.  

Frampton's following album, 1977's I'm in You, was Frampton's most commercially successful studio album.  It rose to #2 on the US Billboard 200 and was certified platinum, while in Canada, the album entered the chart directly at #1.  In May 1977 the single "I'm in You" was released.  The song would become Frampton's biggest hit on charts around the world.  "I'm in You" rose to #2 on the US Billboard Hot 100 for 3 weeks.  It peaked at #1 on the Cash Box Top 100 and at #1 in Canada.

Here is an excerpt from Peter Frampton's "I'm in You":

In 1978 Peter Frampton starred, with the three Bee Gees, in producer Robert Stigwood's poorly received film Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.  He also played guitar on the title song of the 1978 film Grease, a song newly written for the film by Barry Gibb.  Then Frampton suffered a near-fatal car accident in the Bahamas in 1978.

After the car accident Frampton returned to New York City's Record Plant studio in November 1978 to begin recording the album Where I Should Be.  Released in June 1979, the album was certified gold status by July.  The single "I Can't Stand It No More" reached #14 on the US chart.  It would be Frampton's last hit single.

Here is an excerpt from Peter Frampton's "I Can't Stand It No More":

Peter's career had hit a lull.  Although his albums generally met with little commercial success, Frampton continued to record throughout the 1980's.  Frampton also admitted that he had gotten himself into a financial mess, and it was his old friend David Bowie who helped rejuvenate his career.  Bowie reached out, and they both worked together to make albums.  Frampton played on Bowie's 1987 album Never Let Me Down and sang and played on the accompanying Glass Spider Tour.  In 2013, Peter credited his participation in this tour for helping revive his career.

During the 1990's Frampton released two albums and also toured with Bill Wyman's Rhythm Kings and Ringo Starr's All-Starr Band.  With the All-Starr Band he and Jack Bruce performed a cover version of Cream's "Sunshine of Your Love".  The highlight of Frampton's career in the new century came on February 11th, 2007.  On that night his thirteenth studio album, Fingerprints, was awarded the 2007 Grammy Award for Best Pop Instrumental Album. Fingerprints was also significant because it was his first instrumental album, because it featured guest appearances from friends and musical acquaintances, and because it incorporated Frampton's signature effect, the talk box.

From the Fingerprints album, here is an excerpt from Peter Frampton's cover version of "Black Hole Sun": 

Peter Frampton has continued to record and tour up to the present day.  Sadly, the veteran guitarist and singer-songwriter is now bravely battling inclusion body myositis.  Peter is suffering with this autoimmune disease marked by chronic, progressive muscle inflammation, muscle weakness and degeneration, fatigue, and disability.

In 2011, he was honored at Music City's Walk of Fame in Nashville, Tennessee.  In 2016, Peter Frampton was inducted into the Musicians Hall of Fame and Museum.  In 2024 Frampton was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame by his long-time friend Roger Daltrey.

Thank you for listening to another episode of Rock and Roll Flashback, where I reviewed some of the highlights of the career of guitarist and singer-songwriter Peter Frampton!  This episode is Part 2 of a two part series called The Boys From Bromley.  Be sure to check out Part 1 of the series where I review the career of David Bowie.  So fellow travelers, may your path be smooth and your music always be rockin'!  And until next time...Rock On!