The frontman for British hitmakers the
Small Faces and
Humble Pie, singer/guitarist
Steve Marriott was born January 30, 1947 in London; a successful child actor, he played the role of the Artful Dodger in the musical Oliver! as a teen, but by the mid-'60s, he was working in a local music shop. There he met bassist
Ronnie Lane, agreeing to jam with his band the
Pioneers;
Marriott soon joined the group full-time and, after adopting a sound influenced by American R&B and a look inspired by Mod fashions, they rechristened themselves the
Small Faces. Though best-known in the U.S. for their hit "Itchycoo Park," at home, the
Small Faces enjoyed much greater success, reeling off a series of smashes including "All or Nothing," "My Mind's Eye," and "Lazy Sunday" as well as the 1968 classic LP
Ogden's Nut Gone Flake. The chart popularity of "Lazy Sunday" rankled
Marriott, however -- he'd recorded the song as a joke and it was released despite his objections -- and when the more thoughtful "The Universal" failed to crack the Top 20, his dissatisfaction only increased.
Marriott's tenure with the
Small Faces ended after he stalked offstage during a New Year's Day 1969 performance; he soon recruited ex-
Herd guitarist
Peter Frampton to form the hard rock combo
Humble Pie, and after months of woodshedding at
Marriott's Essex cottage, the group issued its debut single, "Natural Born Boogie," cracking the U.K. Top Five. The LP
As Safe as Yesterday Is followed, but again American success eluded
Marriott until the release of the 1971
Humble Pie live album
Performance: Rockin' the Fillmore, which went gold. Although
Frampton left the band soon after, 1972's Smokin' was a smash, reaching the U.S. Top Ten; subsequent efforts failed to achieve the same heights, however, and
Humble Pie disbanded in 1975. After the release of the solo Marriott, in 1976, he joined in a
Small Faces reunion, then four years later re-formed
Humble Pie with original drummer
Jerry Shirley; after two LPs, the group again dissolved.
Marriott spent the better part of the decade in seclusion, but was planning to reunite with
Frampton when he lost his life in a house fire on April 20, 1991. ~ Jason Ankeny