Frampton, who wanted to include more melodic and acoustic elements in the group ’s sound, was increasingly unhappy with Humble Pie ’s output. Under Anthony, the group pursued a harder-edge sound that took it further into heavy metal territory. The band subsequently signed to the A&M label and brought in a new manager, Dee Anthony. While Humble Pie toured the United States to promote its second album, Town and Country, Immediate went bankrupt. The single “Natural Bom Boogie ” hit the British top five in September of 1969, and the band ’s first album, As Safe As Yesterday Is, was released later that year on the Immediate label, owned by Andrew Oldham.

They recruited teenage drummer Jerry Shirley and bassist Greg Ridley and moved to Essex, England, to start rehearsing.Īfter making some preview concert appearances, the group was acclaimed by critics even before it entered the recording studio. Marriott and Frampton thus had a common goal in mind when they announced that they were looking for some bandmates to round out the lineup of the group that Marriott christened Humble Pie. After leaving the Herd in early 1969, he was determined to pursue a harder-edged sound with another band. Frampton was also unhappy with the Herd ’s increasingly pop-oriented direction. Although the group was not quite as successful as the Small Faces, it had made Frampton into something of a teen idol in England, a status that made the guitarist and singer uncomfortable. Intent on forming his own band, one of the first people he contacted was guitarist Peter Frampton.įrampton had just left the lineup of the Herd, another London-based band. Despite the band ’s success, Marriott was increasingly unhappy with its musical direction and in 1969 decided that he wanted to leave the group. The band was immediately popular in England and, with the release of the top-20 single “Itchycoo Park, ” in the United States as well. Bonded by a love of R&B and rock ‘n ’ roll, the two formed the Small Faces with Marriott as its lead singer. After a short-lived stint as a pop singer, Marriott worked in a music instrument shop, where he met bassist Ronnie Lane. London native Steve Marriott started his entertainment career as a child actor and singer and appeared in the musical Oliver! in the early 1960s. Humble Pie started out with one of the most distinguished pedigrees among rock bands of the late 1960s. Tragically, after recording a handful of tracks, Marriott died in a house fire in April of 1991 at the age of 44. Although their collaboration was not officially called a reunion, Humble Pie fans eagerly awaited the outcome of the duo ’s recording sessions.

In 1991 Marriott and Frampton decided to work together again. Marriott re-formed the band for a couple of years in the early 1980s, but it again broke up after releasing two more albums. Humble Pie subsequently released its most successful album, Smokin ’, in 1972 following this commercial peak, the group disbanded in 1974. The band was an immediate hit with critics and started to build solid sales when Frampton left the band in 1970.

Dissatisfied with the direction their respective bands were taking, Marriott and Frampton decided to form Humble Pie as a rock band with a blues-oriented sound.

Marriott had played guitar and sang with the Small Faces, a successful rock act that had achieved a string of hits around the world, and Frampton had played guitar with the Herd, a pop-rock group that was popular in England. When Humble Pie was formed in 1969, the act immediately garnered attention as one of the first “supergroups, ” as its leading members, Steve Marriott and Peter Frampton, had already attained stardom in other rock bands.

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