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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 Something'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. Frampton Comes Alive is no longer the top-selling
live album of all time; that honor goes to Garth Brooks' 16-times
platinum Double Live set. The category of best-selling live rock
album is more debatable. Bruce Springsteen's five-LP/triple-CD
box set Live 1975-1985 has been certified for sales of 13 million
units, as opposed to six million for Frampton Comes Alive. However,
since the RIAA counts "units" rather than the number of actual
copies sold (i.e., one double-disc set equals two units), it's
harder to determine who holds the edge in raw sales over time.
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.
This bio courtesy www.allmusic.com
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