Humble Pie took shape in 1969 within Essex, England, as a platform for Steve Marriott, the former frontman of Small Faces, and Peter Frampton, the one-time virtuoso guitarist from The Herd. Completing the lineup were bassist Greg Ridley, previously with Spooky Tooth, and drummer Jerry Shirley. The quartet sequestered themselves for their first several months inside Marriott’s rural Essex cottage, pursuing an unyielding regimen of daily rehearsals. After signing with the Immediate label, they unveiled the single “Natural Born Boogie,” which reached the British Top Ten and cleared the path for their debut album, As Safe as Yesterday Is.
Following an American tour behind the 1969 release Town and Country, the band returned to learn that Immediate had filed for bankruptcy. They engaged Dee Anthony as manager, securing a fresh contract with A&M. Behind the scenes, Anthony urged Marriott to steer the music toward a tougher, more abrasive edge that departed from the acoustic leanings Frampton favored. With Marriott’s forceful blues vocals increasingly defining later records such as the 1970 self-titled album and 1971’s Rock On, Frampton’s influence within the ensemble he helped create steadily receded. His exit came after an electrified U.S. trek that produced the live set Performance: Rockin’ the Fillmore in 1971, freeing him to launch a solo path.
Dave “Clem” Clempson, the ex-Colosseum guitarist, stepped in to replace him, and Humble Pie intensified its attack on 1972’s Smokin’, their strongest commercial showing thus far. The ambitious 1973 double studio-and-live collection Eat It stopped just short of the Top Ten, while Thunderbox in 1974 failed to reach the Top 40. Street Rats climbed only to number 100 in 1975 before vanishing from the charts, prompting dissolution. Shirley subsequently formed Natural Gas with Badfinger’s Joey Molland, Clempson and Ridley joined Cozy Powell in Strange Brew, and Marriott led Steve Marriott’s All-Stars before reuniting with Small Faces in 1977.
Marriott and Shirley revived Humble Pie in 1980, adding vocalist Bobby Tench from the Jeff Beck Group and bassist Anthony Jones. The resulting albums, On to Victory in 1980 and Go for the Throat the following year, preceded a fraught American tour halted first when Marriott crushed his hand in a hotel door and then when an ulcer sidelined the singer. The group dissolved once more; Shirley later joined Fastway while Marriott retreated from view. At the start of the 1990s the two original guitarists discussed renewed collaboration, yet on April 20, 1991, Marriott perished at age 44 when fire engulfed his 16th-century cottage in Arkesden.
