| . | The world of rock and roll lost a real pioneer with the premature death of Steve Marriott on 20 April, 1991. He was 44. In groups Small Faces and Humble Pie, Mr Marriott’s powerful rock and soul voice was hailed as one ofthe finest of all time. He was also seen as a major influence on a host of other rock acts, including the legendary Led Zeppelin. Stephen Peter Marriott was born on 30 January 1947 in London and from a young age it was clear that he wanted a career in music. As a youngster he earned cash by busking in Stepney with his ukelele and despite a brief flirtation with the stage in a West End version of Oliver!, he soon formed his first band The Moments. There had been early signs of the stereotypical rock and roll rebel when he was expelled from school – for setting fire to it. After a short spell with The Moments, he formed The Small Faces with music shop pal Ronnie Lane, Kenny Jones and Jimmy Winston. The latter was soon replaced by Ian McLagan. The band’s first success was the mod-soul Watcha Gonna Do About It?, followed by Sha La LaLa Lee.For three years they produced a series of hits including All Or Nothing, Here Comes The Nice, Itchycoo Park and Tin Soldier. But when they struggled to reproduce their chart-topping concept album Ogden’s Nut Gone Flakeon stage, the Small Faces realised they had treated studio and stage separately for too long. They were also seen as one-hit wonders in the US, which they failed to crack. A despondent and disillusioned Mr Marriott left the band, who would soon enlist Rod Stewart and Ronnie Wood and become The Faces. In January 1969 he joined Humble Pie which he had initially helped Peter Frampton to form as a trio with ex-Spooky Tooth member Greg Ridley and Jerry Shirley. The group started to work on loads of songs in his country cottage in Essex . Two albums worth of material were recorded, including hard rock tunes with Faces stage character and quieter acoustic numbers. Their first single Natural Born Boogie made the Top Five. Humble Piesplit in 1975 and Mr Marriott went on to do solo work with an array of collaborators including Johnny Thunders. In the 1970s he bought a country house in Essex , which was later used as the location for the home of the title character in the BBC1 series Lovejoy. He died in a housefire at his home. After arriving jet-lagged from an overseas trip,the blaze is believed to have started after Mr Marriott left a cigarette burning. Despite his diminutive stature, Steve Marriott possessed one of the most thrillingly powerful voices the rock world will ever see. He is still widely admired today as one of the best British rock and soul singers and songwriters of his generation. He is also said to have been Jimmy Page’s yardstick when selecting a frontman for Led Zeppelin and Paul Weller has also cited him as being a major inspiration. In fact, Paul Weller joined Noel Gallagher and other rock luminaries on stage for a special tribute concert to Mr Marriott at London’s Astoria in2001. |
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