As a kid, he was drawn to the barreling instrumental work of the Shadows, but his dad introduced him to the fleet work of Django Reinhardt as well. His father’s taste even wound up affecting Frampton’s approach to the guitar. Photograph: Photo courtesy of Peter Frampton Peter Frampton at the age of eight in 1958. “Everything my dad taught, Dave lapped up,” Frampton said. It was there Frampton met one Dave Jones – the future David Bowie – who was taking a class taught by his father. It helped that he shared a flair for creativity with his father, who served as the head art teacher at the school he attended. He credits that belief in himself – a trait which is currently sustaining him through a highly publicized degenerative muscle disease diagnosis – to his stable and loving upbringing. “It just took a lot longer than I thought.” “I knew I would make it back,” Frampton said in his characteristically upbeat tone. More, the book shows how Frampton eventually managed to re-figure his career, putting the focus back on his unique approach to the guitar. At the same time, the book highlights his many creative achievements, from his days as a guitar prodigy, to his time fronting the hit band the Herd, to his formation with Steve Marriott of one of the world’s first super groups, Humble Pie, to his promising early solo work. Now, the musician, aided by writer Alan Light, has detailed all of those issues in a bracing new memoir titled for one of his best-known songs, Do You Feel Like I Do? It’s a question few are likely to answer in the affirmative given the series of rip-offs, sketchy management deals and unfortunate choices Frampton made back then. A track from his second studio album Frampton's Camel.In fact, it set in motion a perfect storm of factors that turned the commercial peak of Frampton’s career into a case-study in rock stardom gone wrong. A true "Phenix" from the ashes.Ĭheck out the guitar in action in bottom clip, as Peter Frampton gives a live performance of the song "Lines on My Face". The footage of which can be viewed in the first video clip below.Īfter receiving a few repairs at the Gibson Custom Shop, the '54 Les Paul is now back on the road with Peter Frampton, three decades after it presumably met a fiery end. With the guitar in hand, Valentina and Kabbara flew out to meet with Frampton to return it to him in person in Nashville, Tennessee. A negotiation that would continue until November 2011, when facing some financial difficulties, he finally agreed to part with it for a reported fee of close to $5,000. Or so it appeared.Īmazingly, Donald Valentina, a Curacao customs agent who repairs guitars in his spare time, recognised Peter's Les Paul, when a local unnamed guitar player brought the battered guitar to him for a set-up (The details of how he came to own it via the burning wreckage are yet to be fully disclosed).Īfter Valentina had noticed the unusual three pick-up configuration coupled with the various burn marks, while knowing the history of the guitar, he suspected that this might be Frampton's Les Paul.įor the next few years, Valentina, along with Ghatim Kabbara of the local tourist board, tried to convince the guitarist to sell the instrument. The guitar that had become such an important part of his career was gone forever. Peter and the '54 graced the cover of the later, to create an image that is arguably one of the most recognisable of the 1970s.įrampton's partnership with the instrument looked to have come to an abrupt end during a tour of South America in 1980, as the Les Paul was thought to have been destroyed in a cargo plane crash near Caracas, Venezuela, that tragically killed all on board. The guitar would rarely leave Peter Frampton's side for the next decade, featuring on some of Rock's most memorable and multi-million selling recordings including Humble Pie's Rock On and Frampton Comes Alive. By the end of the set, Peter was so impressed with the guitar that he offered to buy it on the spot, however, incredibly and generously, Mariana insisted that Frampton accept it as a gift. This prompted Mark Mariana, (a fellow musician, and fan of Frampton) to suggest that Peter try out his modified 1954 Les Paul Custom, and loaned to him for the following nights performance. After recently switching from a Gibson SG to an ES-335, feedback from the hollow-bodied Gibson had plagued him throughout the band's opening show. In 1970, while performing a run of shows at the Fillmore West in San Fransisco with the band Humble Pie, guitarist Peter Frampton wasn't having the best show of his early career.
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