Peter Frampton is considered the biggest arena rock star of the 70s. Frampton, along with Kiss and Cheap Trick, broke into the music industry with a live album. He made his entry with FRAMPTON COMES ALIVE, a double LP concert set. He also recorded many other albums and toured all over, which made the double set sell over six million copies in the U.S. and sixteen million copies around the world.
Frampton was born in England in 1950, in the town of Kent. He began to play the guitar at age 8 and also took classical lessons. In his young adult life, he played with rock and roll bands like Little Ravens, the Trubeats, and the Preachers. He ended up dropping out of high school in 1966 and joined the British pop group, Herd. He played the guitar, sang, and toured the United Kingdom until 1977.
With his good looks, in the next year he became 'The Face of '68', a teen pop idol. He departed from Herd and joined Humble Pie with Steve Marriott. It was a harder rock music group, where Frampton's jazz chords were not wanted. He left the band a few months before they released ROCKIN' THE FILLMORE, which brought them international success. That didn't matter to Frampton; he was on his way to start his solo career.
In 1972, his first solo album, WIND OF CHANGE, was released but didn't make the impact that was expected. Most of the songs were detested by his old band mates, but ended up becoming his best songs. The singles included 'The Lodger', 'All I Want To Be Is By Your Side', and 'Fig Tree Bay'. Along with the likes of Ringo Starr and Billy Preston, his band toured and released four albums in three years, including Frampton's CAMEL, SOMETHIN'S HAPPENING, and FRAMPTON, which reached the top 40 in America and went gold.
That is when he recorded FRAMPTON COMES ALIVE in 1975, at San Francisco's Winterland. The record stayed at the top of the charts for ten weeks and also was the most popular live recording ever released at the time. Three hits came from this double disc set, 'Baby, I Love Your Way', 'Do You Feel Like We Do', and 'Show Me the Way'. After he made his millions touring, Rolling Stone awarded him Artist of the Year.
The follow up album, I'M IN YOU, went to number 2 on the charts in 1977. It sold nearly three million copies and produced a few hit singles, but was still considered a disappointment compared to his live album. In 1979, he released WHERE I SHOULD BE, which went gold and created a hit in the top 20s, 'I Can't Stand It No More'.
Frampton didn't receive any accumulated attention until 1988 when he played on David Bowie's NEVER LET ME DOWN album, and also toured with him. He decided to record an album, WHEN ALL THE PIECES FIT, in 1989. He started to tour again and in 1995 he released a new live album, FRAMPTON COMES ALIVE II. In the 1990s he began to tour with Bill Wyman & the Rhythm Kings and All-Starr Band. Frampton still tours all over the North America, England, and Scotland with fellow rockers at music fairs and fests.
