Peter Frampton

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Peter Frampton

Born April 22, 1950 (age 56)
in Beckenham, England
Genre(s) Rock
Arena rock
Affiliation(s) Humble Pie
The Herd
Notable guitars Peter Frampton Signature model Les Paul
Years active 1966 - present
Official site Official website

Peter Kenneth Frampton (born April 22, 1950 in Beckenham, Kent) is a Grammy winning English musician, best known today for his solo work in the mid-1970s as an "arena rocker".

Contents

[edit] Career

By the age of ten, he played in a band called the Little Ravens. Both he and David Bowie were pupils at Bromley Technical School (where Peter's father, Owen, was head of the Art department), and the Little Ravens played on the same bill at school as Bowie's band, George and the Dragons.[1]

He originally became famous, however, as a member of The Herd and became a teen idol in Britain. He then worked with Steve Marriott (of Small Faces) in Humble Pie, as well as on albums by Harry Nilsson, Jim Price, Jerry Lee Lewis, and George Harrison's solo masterpiece All Things Must Pass. His solo debut was 1972's Wind of Change

Peter Frampton is famous for his use of the talk box in the 14-minute epic "Do You Feel Like We Do", and the shorter "Show Me the Way". The talk box allows the guitar sounds to be pumped into one end of a tube; the other end of the tube ends in the performers mouth next to the vocal microphone. When the guitar is played and the performer fashions his/her mouth as if speaking, the audial illusion of a "talking guitar" is produced.

Frampton's first American appearance was in an obscure club at the tip of Long Island, NY called the "Rock Pile". The group that he played lead guitar for was Humble Pie. That group was already a staple on late night NY radio, WNEW-FM.

Frampton's solo breakthrough was the best-selling live album ever released, Frampton Comes Alive! (1976), which included "Do You Feel Like We Do", "Baby, I Love Your Way" and "Show Me the Way". After his follow-up, I'm in You, was released, selling close to 1 million copies, Frampton co-starred with The Bee Gees in Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band which almost ruined his career. To make matters worse, he was in a near fatal car accident in the Bahamas near the time of Sgt Pepper's' release. In the 1980s, Frampton returned to recording. Past band members included Stanley Sheldon (bass), Bob Mayo (keyboards/guitar/vocals), Chad Cromwell (drums), and John Siomos (drums/vocals).

In the late 1990s he starred in an infomercial plugging the internationally successful eMedia Guitar Method, a piece of instructional software represented as an alternative to taking actual guitar lessons. He claimed in the infomercial that the software was the best way to learn guitar.

After the September 11, 2001 attacks, Frampton decided to become a United States citizen. He was active in the U.S. presidential election, 2004 in support of John Kerry. He now resides in Indian Hill, a suburb east of Cincinnati.

In 2003, he released the album Now, and embarked on a tour with Styx to support it. He also toured with The Elms. He appeared in 2006 on the FOX Broadcasting variety show Celebrity Duets, paired with Chris Jericho of WWE fame. They were the first pair voted out.

On September 12, 2006, A&M released his newest album, an instrumental work titled "Fingerprints". His band consists of drummer Shawn Fichter, guitarist Gordon Kennedy, bassist John Regan, and keyboardist/guitarist Rob Arthur, and guest artists such as members of Pearl Jam, Hank Marvin, and his bassist on Frampton Comes Alive Stanley Sheldon.

On February 11 2007 Peter Frampton's 2006 recording "Fingerprints" was awarded the 2007 Grammy for Best Pop Instrumental Album.

In February 2007 Peter Frampton appeared on the Chicago based PBS television show Soundstage.

[edit] Marriages

Frampton has been married four times. Mary Lovett (1971-1973), Penny McCall (1974-1980), Barbara Gold (1983-1993) two children, and Tina Elfers (January 13, 1996-Present) 1 child.[citation needed]

[edit] Frampton in popular culture

  • In Family Guy, Peter claims that everyone must have the album, "Frampton Comes Alive!", due to its success.
  • In the television series Arrested Development Gob records a music CD with with his puppet Franklin called "Franklin Comes Alive," a spoof of "Frampton Comes Alive".
  • In the movie Wayne's World 2, Wayne (Mike Myers) is asked if he's heard Frampton Comes Alive!. He states "Everybody in the world has 'Frampton Comes Alive'. If you lived in the suburbs you were issued it free along with samples of Tide."
  • In the Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode "Dead Things", while the trio are hiding out in Andrew's cellar Jonathon finds Andrew's copy of Frampton Comes Alive.
  • In the 1994 film Reality Bites, Ben Stiller's character Michael states that the Frampton Comes Alive! album "like, totally changed my life".
  • In the 2000 film High Fidelity, John Cusack's character Rob says "Is that Peter fucking Frampton?!" when listening to Lisa Bonet's character Marie DeSalle performing a version of Frampton's "Baby I Love Your Way".
  • Billabong created a bikini with Peter Frampton's likeness and the phrase "Baby I love your waves" on the back without permission. They were sued.

[edit] Discography

Full artwork from "Frampton Comes Alive"
Full artwork from "Frampton Comes Alive"

[edit] Filmography

[edit] References

  1. ^ Buxton, John (19th August 2006). "Answers to Correspondents". Daily Mail, London: p.64. 

[edit] External links

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