In his show on Get Ready to ROCK! Radio on Sunday 21 April David Randall played a selection of tracks celebrating Steve Marriott.

It’s 33 years since the sad passing of Steve Marriott (20 April 1991). Here Iain McGonigal recalls the iconic musician whose career encompassed the Small Faces, Humble Pie and many more. But it was never all plain sailing…

In Part 2 Peter Frampton gives his side of the story.

All in all, life was pretty laidback and idyllic for Steve Marriott as winter of 1990 turned into 1991. He had scaled the heights of fame with the Small Faces and left a legacy of huge influence. Likewise he had conquered the USA with Humble Pie over many headlining tours coast to coast and from Shea Stadium to Madison Square Gardens.

None of this had made him happy – it certainly hadn’t made him rich – what with being subjected to a stressful lifestyle, management problems and a money grabbing music industry!

Now though he was playing the pub circuit. For Steve it had always been about the music, and finally he was seeing more cash than he had at just about any point in his career from these 500-1000 person venues.

The overheads were minimal, just a couple of band members and an agent. Even his home in Arkesden in Essex was well placed – leaving him handy for the London circuit and it meant that being away from home was kept to a minimum.

You can do the math, as the Americans say. If he kept his home base and travelled out doing only two or three gigs in a week, those 500 plus venues provided him with a healthy living – much more than spare cash

Now, to be honest, this writer was a little sceptical over the years when hearing about Steve’s state of mind, but I came to understand that Steve had no real jealousy of his peers like Pete Townshend and David Bowie or even Rod Stewart who had become megastars, in fact he was pleased for them.

But it may be more accurate to say that Steve had “convinced himself” that this was a better lifestyle for him.

You might remember that Steve was one of the top all-time vocalists to emerge from the UK. Onstage he was an absolute master of performance, a supreme ability to hold the audience tightly in his hand. But when it was time in those days to leave his home in Beehive Cottage in Essex for another American tour he would rail against it hard. “I can’t do it. I can’t be the person those people want me to be”. He knew what the pressurised lifestyle did to him.

“He wanted to be a frontman but he didn’t want to be a frontman” was the way Peter Frampton described it. In other words he didn’t want to be a frontman but he was one of the best frontmen in the universe!

In fact, the last time he was faced with a big time decision was a couple of years before with one of his best ever line-ups The Official Receivers. They were doing well, had a bunch of great songs and long time band member Jim Leverton urged Steve to make an album, figuring they could “play bigger venues, only have to work half as hard”.

Suddenly EMI Germany appeared on the scene and put a very lucrative offer on the table. Steve and Jim Leverton agreed to go to Germany to conclude a deal, and were booked overnight at the airport hotel prior to their flight in the morning. But suddenly – sod it – Steve didn’t want to go to Germany and left Jim without the career break he had worked for over many years.

It reminds me of the article the Daily Mail wrote about Steve in 2006. They titled it “The Man who Couldn’t Face Fame”.

But, back to 1991, Steve was enjoying his life and his music – and the splendid picturesque village of Arkesden helped considerably. He lived in a beautiful cottage called Sextons – later to become well known in the TV series Lovejoy. It was set with a huge willow tree in the front garden framing a bridge over a little stream.

A few yards across the road was his local pub, where Steve would wander in his pyjamas and dressing gown for his favourite tipple. His biggest problem was trying to make sure he didn’t get barred for constant swearing. Next door to his house was the village Post Office, complete with a red British Telephone Box, and where the postmistress recalls he would collect his mail every day.

Far from his mind was his previous life many years beforehand with Peter Frampton.

Enter Peter Frampton

So what a surprise when Peter turned up in Arkesden to see his old mucker. Peter was working on putting a band together again, and had toyed with various combinations and personnel. It dawned on him after he had compared many prospects with Steve that he was really looking for another Steve Marriott, when the original probably couldn’t be beaten anyway!

Steve and Peter went way back to the 60’s from a time when the Herd and the Small Faces played on the same bills at The Marquee. Peter had begun to spend weekends at Steve and Ronnie Lane’s home in Marlow in Buckinghamshire and struck up a friendship. Steve tried to give a helping hand to The Herd, including producing their single ‘Sunshine Cottage’.

He was blown away with Peter’s guitar playing “like a flower opening up – so talented”. At the same time Steve was struggling for some help in playing live with the Small Faces, with all the singing and guitar chores falling to him alone, and with the prospect of America looming. Many people don’t realise but Steve actually had Peter play several live gigs with the Small Faces. But the refusal of the others in the band to agree to Frampton joining was one the final nails in the coffin leading to Steve leaving the Small Faces.

Humble Pie in 1970: Back: Jerry Shirley, Steve Marriott; Front: Peter Frampton, Greg Ridley

They joined together in Humble Pie, and while they were very different characters to one another, Steve and Peter put their heart and soul into making the band a success, particularly Stateside. So Steve was of course extremely disappointed when after three years Peter decided to leave right on the cusp of success with the release of the Rocking The Fillmore album.

But Peter had his own career to pursue, with stunning effect as he moved into megastar territory with Frampton Comes Alive.

Steve always was always proud of what his mate Peter did, and full of sympathy when Peter suffered similar Management issues in his career. While Peter leaving the band had naturally hurt and disappointed Steve, they did again spend some time together, meeting up when they both contributed to Donovan’s Essence to Essence album – and Peter ended up wearing a Steve Marriott T-shirt on the cover of his self-titled 4th album, right before Frampton Comes Alive.

In Arkesden, that first day in January 1991 the re-united pair wrote a song together – in fact a great song aptly titled “Out Of The Blue”. And Peter made the offer for him to come out to LA to work together for a couple of months to see whether they could re-ignite their partnership.

If this was a quandary for Steve, he was extremely tempted by Los Angeles, which of course he knew well from the earliest Humble Pie days at the Whisky-a-go-go, and he missed it. Given that there was also substantial financial opportunity a deal was struck to work together.

Maybe there was something still unfulfilled in Steve after all.

The “Lost” Albums

Most people know Steve’s work with the Small Faces and Humble Pie, but there was an incredible number of “lost albums” and “might have beens” throughout his career.

For example, around 1974, Steve began to work on an album which came to be called “Scrubbers”. The project was not accepted by his record company A&M although they did take “Street Rats” as the lead/title track for the new Humble Pie album. Looking back the “Scrubbers” work was infinitely more innovative and memorable than the last Humble Pie album. And it remained unreleased.

There was a Blackberries album, produced by Steve and really a Humble Pie band project, and there was also a project with Greg Ridley, a duo album called “Joint Effort”, and a Marriot All Stars album. None of these were ever released.

Fast forward to 1979 and he recorded with Leslie West for their new band project The Firm, and also with the Steve Marriott Deluxe Band in the California mountains near Santa Cruz.

This incredible run of lost albums continued in the early 80’s with work done in Macon, Georgia for Capricorn Records.

And after all of this, in itself perhaps one of the greatest ever legacies of unreleased music, he made an album with Ronnie Lane – a truly fine piece of work called “Majic Mijits”.

And finally there was the aforementioned Official Receivers album, and many songs Steve recorded in his home studio, known as the Bedroom Tapes. Have a listen to any of these. The quality of the music and the range of musical styles is quite stunning.

The Packet of Three

At the time of meeting with Peter in January 1991, Steve had just done a gig in Norwich at The Waterfront as Packet of Three, and had one more commitment in the UK, at the Half Moon in Putney on 12th January 1991, before undertaking a tour of Germany and Switzerland. Germany was a home from home for Steve, having played countless gigs there all through the various stages of his career.

At what turned out to be his last ever gig on British shores, Peter joined Steve onstage for the encore where they played “Natural Born Bugie” together live for the first time ever.

The Packet of Three gigs in 1991 are as follows :-

The Waterfront Norwich 5/1/91
Half Moon, Putney 12/1
Capitol Hannover 19/1
Logo Club Hamburg 21/1
Endart Duren Germany 22/1
Spiegel Duren Germany 23/1
Bern Ruppingen Swi 24/1
Club Vaudeville Lindau 25/1
Diesel Strasse Esslingen 26/1
Bongo Boys Oberdreis 27/1
Schwimmbad Club Heidelberg 28/1
Sinkkasten Frankfurt 29/1
Komm Nurenberg 30/1
Poison Neunkirchen Swi 31/1
International Student Club Bern 1/2
Banhof Melchnau Swi 2/2
Atlantis Basel Swi 3/2

After The Official Receivers in 1987, Steve had joined forces with the critically acclaimed rhythm and blues band The DTs to form a killer combination. Their live set in 1988 was built around rhythm and blues standards.

In 1989/90 he retained virtuoso harp player and vocalist Honeyboy Hickling from the DTs and went out as Steve Marriott’s Next Band – showcasing all the band members on different songs, giving Jim Leverton and Honeyboy the lead vocals on several songs, and providing a balance of hits from the Small Faces and Humble Pie as well as covering old standards and more recent self-penned tracks.

However in 1991 the Packet of Three was reprised, although Steve kept a similarly balanced set-list.

Making up the Packet were longtime bassist and vocalist (Uncle) Jim Leverton, and Alan “Sticky” Wickett on drums.

Jim Leverton first came to prominence with Noel Redding’s band Fat Mattress, and worked with Steve Ellis, Henry McCullough and Joe Brown. The latter was a fast friend of Steve Marriott, and Jim joined Steve’s band in the 1970’s and stayed with him consistently almost all of the time until 1991.

Sticky Wicket is today billed as a world famous jazz and swing drummer. In fact these days he leads his own swing orchestra. He made his name working with the likes of Chris Barber, Roger Daltrey and Steve Gibbons.

As mentioned, the 1991 Packet of Three setlist was like a culmination or a summary of what Steve had been doing over the last few years with The Official Receivers, the DTs and the Next Band – in fact it was like a summary of his entire career.

Steve was a man who had to find an outlet – a way to get the music out of his system. He was also an absolute natural…..one of our very best ever British talents, and someone was was every bit at ease playing the pubs of England as he ever was playing Stadiums at his peak – maybe even more so.

And don’t forget – at his peak, for a couple of years in the early 70′s he was the best live performer in the world, bar none.

Ironic that in his last ever gigs he was playing songs like “Talking ‘Bout You”, twenty seven years after regularly playing the same song with Steve Marriott’s Moments in 1964.. Still playing “Hallelujah I Love Her So” twenty two years after doing likewise at Humble Pie’s first gigs……and playing “Whatcha Gonna Do About It”, which of course featured in the Small Faces early gigs.

But the opener each night in the 1991 setlist was a bit of a strange one – a homage to Chuck Berry, an instrumental version of “Memphis”. Chuck Berry featured heavily in these 1991 gigs, with Humble Pie’s “Natural Born Bugie” which is generally thought to be derivative of “Little Queenie” and of course the above mentioned “Talking ‘Bout You”.

His other major influences are well in evidence too, with Otis Redding’s “Mr Pitiful” and Ray Charles’ “Hallelujah I Love Her So”. Both of these artists pop up consistently throughout Steve’s career.

“Watch Your Step” is a Bobby Parker song from 1961. It was selected by Steve within his all time Top 10 favourite songs. In fact John Lennon was a fan too, having this track on his home jukebox, and it influenced the intro to “I Feel Fine” in 1964.

“Some Kind of Wonderful” hit Steve’s radar in the mid-80’s within a list of “numbers to have a go at”. He recorded a killer version for what would have been The Official Receivers album. It became a live opener and a staple in Steve’s sets until he died. The song itself was a minor hit single in the 60’s for Soul Brothers Six on Atlantic.

“Big Train Stops at Memphis” is a self-penned Steve Marriott classic, which never got the prominence or exposure it deserved. In the classic mode of American train songs, it originated in the Santa Cruz hills in 1979 , recorded both for his partnership with Leslie West (The Firm) and Steve Marriott’s Deluxe Band.

Simon Honeyboy Hickling performed the song with nightly Steve in the Next Band, and still includes it in his own solo sets to this day. He said “Steve wanted to do something in the same vein as Don Williams’ Tulsa Time, and he certainly came up with a great song”.

Other originals in the 1991 set include Humble Pie’s “Fool For A Pretty Face” and the Small Faces classics “Whatcha Gonna Do About It”, “All or Nothing” and ” Itchycoo Park”. “Fool For A Pretty Face” was written in the same 1979 timeframe and was Humble Pie’s lead single when they reformed in 1980.

“All Or Nothing” and “Whatcha Gonna Do About It” are long term live favourites of Marriott, with the chord progression of “All Or Nothing” and the feel of “Whatcha Gonna Do About It” fitting in well with the blues and soul classics he would always feature.

“Itchycoo Park” is a real strange one though. Outside of the Small Faces, Steve never ever played this live, in fact he said he never would, so it’s surprising to see it in the 1991 setlist. He would often announce it as “Here’s another silly song”.

The original silly song in the set is “Cockney Rhyme” (aka “What a Silly Song”) which is a light hearted interlude – reminiscent of the Small Faces and their music hall roots.

“Five Long Years” is another Steve Marriott live classic – being an onstage showstopper for many years.

The song was actually one of the first ever major blues hit out of Chicago, done by Eddie Boyd. Eddie was raised on Stovall Plantation – the premier pedigree for a Delta bluesman! He knew Muddy Water growing up, in fact later he was his brother-in-law and Muddy played in his band in early Chicago days.

The Packet of Three set then closes out with another couple of Rhythm & Blues standards – “This Old Fool” features Uncle Jim on lead vocals, and made famous by Buddy Guy and Junior Wells, and Bo Diddley’s classic “Before You Accuse Me”.

As mentioned, a very much balanced 1991 setlist, featuring Humble Pie numbers, Small Faces hits, some live Packet of Three staples and a smattering of Rhythm & blues standard
So with these last gigs behind him, in mid-February Steve and wife Toni headed off into the sunset into the land of opportunity once again. A house in Santa Monica awaited.

What had enticed him to go ? Well maybe the lure of America again. Maybe the recognition that if there was really lots of money on the table for an album and a tour – well he was getting older and could certainly do with the security.

1991 and America (again)

Peter Frampton picks up the story in Classic Rock magazine in 2011 “He came to Los Angeles and we spent two or three months writing songs and putting a band together. The plan was to do one album and one tour. Then, as brothers do, we had a little tiff and he went home. I was trying to keep things on the straight and narrow as it were. When we were working we needed to function properly so imbibing certain things wasn’t a good idea. I fully expected a couple of weeks to pass by and then as had happened quite a few times before someone would call up and say let’s get together again. Sadly that never happened.”

For sure Steve had his demons, and for sure they surfaced in the USA, like they always had done. The agreement was that during the working day Steve would desist from any temptations. It worked – for a while. There is no doubt he then spent time right off the rails. He mentioned that in a meeting with the music industry people he left the room to use the bathroom. Immediately someone asked Peter if he was gone to do a line!

But as Peter told Mojo Magazine in 2012 “Steve would short circuit when things got close to working out. I’d noticed it before he even left the Small Faces. Maybe he was nervous of getting too famous. There was a bit of sabotage going on.”

For sure – particularly as Peter was enticing him to go make a million bucks again!

In a letter dated March 1991, Santa Monica Steve wrote “I always had my doubts about living a pressurised lifestyle for money again. Now I know I don’t want or need it. Still both Toni and I gave it a good shot and came out of it skint but dignity intact. Now for home and to earn an honest living.”

Toni put it this way when she talked to the Daily Mail – “Pete is a nice bloke, but Steve couldn’t handle his Manager. He told Steve “it’s my way or the highway”. So Steve said “well, quite frankly mate, it’s the highway then”. But then this does conveniently avoid the fact that the core issue was that Steve was getting high! It had started so well too, the partnership in LA, and had already produced great music, great songs.

Peter in Classic Rock 2011 : “Steve and I had sat on an old couch together and he said ‘I never thought we’d get back together or realised how great it would be to do’. I said ‘I’ll remind you of that one day.”

Back to Blighty

So when he headed back to the UK people are split on what might have happened next. Many believe he would have called Jim Leverton again. Jim believes it 100%. There were plans for the next band to be called “I Should Coco” and certainly that name is written in his notebook at the top of a list of names. There were loose plans for a 1991 album, with again a prospective tracklist written in in his notebook.

Others, including Peter, are convinced he would have called again to take their partnership to the next step. He may well have done. Peter told Dan Muise for his biographical piece on Steve “Before he left he did call me and he said ‘did you just call me’ ? And of course I didn’t. I think he was fishing. But that was the last time I spoke to him.”

We will never know what would have transpired due to the tragic events of 20th April 1991.

Steve and Toni flew home to England on Friday 19th April. It was not a happy journey. There was much arguing between them and many drinks and reportedly some valium consumed.

Steve had been told that his house had been burgled, which would not have helped the mood.

He wanted to check on his narrowboat, berthed near his mother’s house in Sawbridgeworth, Herts, and after that they stayed briefly in Arkesden. However, more arguing commenced, and a friend persuaded them to go out for the evening to eat in Steve’s favourite restaurant The Straw Hat in Sawbridgeworth.

Afterwards they agreed to go stay the night with the friend, but after retiring Steve came back downstairs and asked for a taxi and went home to Arkesden alone. A few hours later the alarm was raised that the house is Askesden was on fire. Fireman soon after found Steve dead in a cupboard beside his bed.

The world had lost a giant. Steve was THE premier mod icon, he was a songwriter of classic hits, timeless songs and across many genres. He was also a genius arranger of songs, a colossal vocalist, a natural musician – his mother Kay said he could pick up a musical instrument of any description and within 30 minutes be playing it with some competence.

And of course, and most of all, for a few years in the early 1970’s he was the best live performer in the world bar none.

The Legacy

So what was the legacy of the Frampton/Marriott collaboration?

Here’s a summary of the key tracks and there may be others still unreleased in the vaults – I’ve heard reference to one called Shine On (like the Humble Pie track) and a Buddy Holly type song that Steve had not laid down vocals for yet.

“So Hard To Believe” is a very strong haunting song about Steve which appears on Peter’s 1994 self titled CD. Peter already had the guitar riff but the first couple of verses were written in his hotel the evening of the first day they got together – and the final verse was written after Steve’s death.

“I Won’t Let You Down” is an excellent track and a superb collaboration between the two. Those familiar with Steve’s vast collection of unreleased tracks can see its origins in his great song “Looking Through At You”. Check this one out – best place to find it is on Frampton’s “Shine On” Collection.

“The Band Played On” is altogether heavier with a meaty guitar riff – however apparently Steve never got to play or sing on this track. To my knowledge this track has only ever appeared on bootlegs.

“The Bigger They Come” is another very good collaboration – and sounds like you would expect their partnership to be – heavy rock driving sound. It is included on the soundtrack to “Harley Davidson and the Marlboro Man”. An entry in Steve’s notebook says “maybe for Peter!”

“Out Of The Blue” was the song they wrote together when Peter went to Arkesden to meet Steve – hence the title “Out Of The Blue”. This very commercial track appears on the 1994 CD Peter Frampton.

Finally, “Itch You Can’t Scratch” is a catchy tune which has its origins in The Official Receivers period.

Steve himself also noted a list of tracks which were intended for a 1991 era album – as follows

Out Of The Blue
I Wont Let You Down
I Know Better Than That
The Bigger They Come (Niteshift)
And The Band Played On
Phone Call Away
Two Lane Fever
My Door
Golden Spike
Lonely Eyes

Beyond the tracks mentioned above, I am aware of his single “Phone Call Away” and also “Lonely Eyes” and “Two Lane Fever”. I am not aware of “I Know Better Than That” though I’ve seen another reference to it in Steve’s handwriting which says “a la Lee Dorsey” and Peter Frampton remembers doing a little work on it.

I have no knowledge of “Golden Spike” nor “My Door” except they appear in Steve’s notebook around the 1991 time-frame.

And so, especially with all of the above going on, it was so tragic to lose Steve at such a young age. Sadly he survived only three and a half months of 1991, but you can see how much was packed in to those few months.

Steve Marriott in retrospect

And sadly the world lost a truly unique talent. He influenced so many of his fellow musicians, which is often the true sign of greatness! He was admired by Robert Plant, The Black Crowes, Paul Weller, Pete Townsend, Bryan Adams, Ozzie Osbourne, Jimmy Page – in fact even Jimi Hendrix credits Steve with the best guitar solo ever when he was just 18 and playing ‘Whatcha Gonna Do About It’.

The list is endless – Bob Dylan, believe it or not, Golden Earring, Sex Pistols, Squeeze, Starsailor, Supergrass, Oasis. Midge Ure – who attended all the same Humble Pie concerts that I did in Glasgow in the 70’s is also a great fan.

Even Noddy Holder of Slade admits to being in awe of Steve’s stagecraft as he watched an American gig from the side of the stage.

He influenced his peers. He influenced the mods and mod revivals. He influenced the punks and new wave. He influenced Britpop. And he is influencing 21st century acts today
He was blessed with a great voice, which can only be described as pulverising live.

He was well known for being heard in the back rows WITHOUT a microphone and above the powerful sound of Humble Pie. You can evidence this in tapes of live shows.

Some fans talk of being in a car with Steve when he suddenly started singing “30 Days in the Hole” – and they thought the car was going to cave in – windscreen first.

Hats off to the old Tosser! Thanks for the memories. Thanks for some of the best nights ever!

And dedications to Steve’s mother Kay who sadly passed away in 2016 – a true friend, sadly missed.

Feature by Iain McGonigal. Originally published by ‘Vive Le Rock’ magazine and reproduced exclusively with the author’s permission.

Part 2 (Peter Frampton, interview 2017)

Album review (Humble Pie, 2022)

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