Steve Marriott
Stephen Peter Marriott was an English musician, guitarist, singer, songwriter, and actor. He was a student at the Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts in London and appeared in the West End, before taking a role in music. He co-founded and played in the rock bands Small Faces and Humble Pie, in a career spanning over 20 years. Marriott was inducted posthumously into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2012 as a member of Small Faces.
In Britain, Marriott became a popular, often-photographed mod style icon. Marriott was influenced by musicians such as: Miles Davis, Buddy Holly, Booker T & the MG's, Ray Charles, Otis Redding, Muddy Waters and Bobby Bland.
In his later life, Marriott distanced himself from the mainstream music industry and turned away from major record labels, remaining in relative obscurity. He returned to his musical roots, playing in local pubs and clubs around London and Essex.
Marriott died on 20 April 1991 when a fire, which was thought to have been caused by a cigarette, swept through his 16th-century home in Arkesden, Essex. He was 44. In 1996 he received an Ivor Novello Award for his "Outstanding Contribution to British Music", and was listed in Mojo as one of the top 100 greatest singers of all time.
Early life
Steve Marriott was born on 30 January 1947 at East Ham Memorial Hospital, Plashet, East Ham,, England to parents Kay and Bill Marriott who lived at Strone Road, Manor Park. Born three weeks premature and weighing just, he developed jaundice and was kept in hospital four weeks before being well enough to go home. Marriott came from a working-class background and attended Monega Junior School. His father Bill worked as a printer and later owned a jellied eels stall, called 'Bill's Eels', outside the Ruskin Arms hotel. For a short time he also sold pie and mash.Kay worked at the Tate & Lyle factory in Silvertown. Bill was an accomplished pub pianist. Bill bought Marriott a ukulele and harmonica which Marriott taught himself to play. Marriott showed an early interest in singing and performing, busking at local bus-stops for extra pocket money and winning talent contests during the family's annual holiday to Jaywick Holiday camp near Clacton-on-Sea.
In 1959, at the age of twelve, Marriott formed his first band with school friends Nigel Chapin and Robin Andrews. They were called 'The Wheels', later the 'Coronation Kids', and finally 'Mississippi Five'. They later added Simon Simkins and Vic Dixon to their line-up. From a young age, Marriott was a huge fan of American singer Buddy Holly and would mimic his hero by wearing large-rimmed spectacles with the lenses removed. He wrote his first song, called "Shelia My Dear", after his aunt Shelia to whom he was close. Those who heard the song said it was played at a jaunty pace in the style of Buddy Holly and his bandmates also nicknamed him 'Buddy'.
They would play at the local coffee bars in East Ham and perform Saturday morning gigs at the Essoldo Cinema in Manor Park. Marriott was a cheeky, hyperactive child, according to his mother Kay, and well known by his neighbours in Strone Road for playing pranks and practical jokes. While he was a pupil at local Sandringham Secondary Modern School, Marriott was said to be responsible for deliberately starting a fire in a classroom, though he always denied this.
Acting career: 1960–1965
In 1960, Bill Marriott spotted an advertisement in a London newspaper for a new Artful Dodger replacement to appear in Lionel Bart's popular musical Oliver!, based on the novel Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens, at the New Theatre in London's West End, and without telling his son, applied for him to audition. At the age of thirteen, Marriott auditioned for the role. He sang two songs, "Who's Sorry Now" by Connie Francis, and "Oh, Boy!" by Buddy Holly. Bart was impressed with Marriott's vocal abilities and hired him. Marriott stayed with the show for twelve months, playing various boys' roles during that time, for which he was paid £8 a week. Marriott was also chosen to provide lead vocals for the Artful Dodger songs "Consider Yourself", "Be Back Soon", and "I'd Do Anything", which appear on the official album to the stage show, released by World Record Club and recorded at the famous Abbey Road Studios. In 1961 the Marriott family moved from Strone Road to a new council flat in Daines Close, Manor Park.Following Marriott's successful acting debut in Oliver!, his family encouraged him to pursue an acting career. In 1961 he auditioned and was accepted as a student at the Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts in London. Because his family were unable to afford the private school fees, it was mutually agreed the fees would be deducted from acting work the school found him. After Marriott's enrolment at the Italia Conti Academy, he quickly gained acting roles, working consistently in film, television and radio, often typecast as the energetic Cockney child. In 1963, he appeared in Heavens Above!, acting alongside Peter Sellers. Marriott utilised his passion for music and starred in Live it Up! as a drummer named Ricky and its follow-up Be My Guest. Soon he lost interest in acting and turned his attention back to his first love, which was music. His parents were devastated and his decision to give up acting caused a family rift. As a result, he left the family home for a short period to stay with friends.
Early music career: 1963–1964
In 1963, Marriott wrote "Imaginary Love" and touted it around the big record labels in London. On the strength of "Imaginary Love", Marriott secured a Decca Records deal as a solo artist with Dick Reagan. Marriott's first single was a song written by Kenny Lynch, "Give Her My Regards", with Marriott's self-penned song as the B-side. The single was released in July 1963 and was commercially unsuccessful. In the same year Marriott formed The Frantiks, who recorded a cover version of Cliff Richard's song "Move It" with ex-Shadows drummer Tony Meehan, who was brought in to help with production.Despite the single being hawked around the major record companies, no one was interested and the song was never released. The band then changed their name to The Moments, or Marriott and his Moments. They played support for artists such as The Nashville Teens, The Animals, Georgie Fame and John Mayall, playing venues such as the 100 Club in Soho, London, and the Crawdaddy Club in Richmond. The Moments gained a loyal following, and for a short time had their own fanzine, Beat '64, started by Stuart Tuck and dedicated to 'Steve Marriott's Moments'.
They are noted as performing a total of 80 gigs in 1964. The group was asked to record a single for the American market, a cover version of The Kinks' UK hit song "You Really Got Me", released on the World Artists record label. When their version of "You Really Got Me" failed to get attention, Marriott was dropped from the band, with members claiming he was too young to be a lead singer. According to Don Craine, frontman of London R&B band The Downliners Sect, Marriott applied to join the band as a replacement harmonica player. Craine did not invite him to audition because he knew Marriott wanted to be lead vocalist.
Between leaving the Moments and joining The Small Faces, Steve Marriott joined The Checkpoints. Chris Clements:
"He actually approached us and said he needed to fulfill some gigs that were pending. This was in 1965, he was with us for a couple of months. We rehearsed at The Kentish Drovers in the Old Kent Road in South London. He got us to learn James Brown numbers, which at the time we weren't very up in. One particular memory sticks in my mind. When we rehearsed with him, he almost spoke the words of the song, rather than sang the words. He was listening to us, making sure we got the backing right, so he didn't put himself out vocally. But when we did the first gig with him, out came this fantastic soul voice, we all looked at each other, and our mouths fell open! When doing the gigs, we would pick him up outside the Brewery in Romford road Essex. He always had a small case with his harmonicas in. His harmonica playing was excellent. Our transport at that time was a converted ambulance, and Steve would always sit up front with the owner driver, rather than sit in the back talking to us. He seemed to me to be a bit of a loner. Even when I had a conversation with him, he always seemed to be looking past me, as though in a hurry to be somewhere else. He was quite a heavy smoker as I recall. We did various venues in Essex, around the Basildon area. He had no guitar, he would use our lead guitarist's red Fender Strat. Steve would put many guitar breaks in the James Brown songs. So we would all huddle around our drummer Gary Hyde who would watch Steve. When Gary stopped, we stopped, when Gary started, we started, so by using those tactics the gigs went well. We had photos taken at the various venues at that time, I wish someone would dig them out from wherever, I would love to see them."
Career
Small Faces: 1965–1969
On 28 July 1964, Marriott first saw his future Small Faces partners, Ronnie Lane and 16-year-old drummer Kenney Jones. They were all performing at the Albion in Rainham, with their bands. Lane and Marriott met again by chance in the J60 Music Bar, a music shop in High Street North, Manor Park, where Marriott was working after his recent departure from the Moments. Lane came in looking to purchase a bass guitar, and afterwards was invited to Marriott's home to listen to his extensive collection of rare American R&B import records. With their shared love of R&B the trio were soon firm friends.Marriott was invited by Lane and Jones to perform with "the Outcasts" at the band's regular gig the Earl of Derby in Bermondsey. The trio each ended up completely drunk and Marriott enthusiastically destroyed the piano he was playing, much to the amusement of Lane and Jones. The landlord sacked them and the band was finished.According to David Bowie on a 1999 episode of VH1 Storytellers, in 1964 he and his good friend Marriott planned to form an R&B duo called 'David and Goliath'. Instead, Marriott, Lane and Jones decided to form their own band, with Marriott bringing along his acquaintance, Jimmy Winston. Marriott's friend Annabel, an ex-student from the Italia Conti, came up with the band's distinctive name after commenting that they all had "small faces"; the name stuck in part because they were all small, and the term "face" in English mod culture was the name given to a well-known and respected mod. Small Faces were signed to Don Arden within six weeks of forming and quickly became a successful mod influenced band highly regarded by the youth cult's followers when their debut single "Whatcha Gonna Do About It" hit the UK singles chart.
Robert Plant was a fan of Small Faces and a regular at their early gigs where he also ran small errands for them. Led Zeppelin's song "Whole Lotta Love" is a direct take of Marriott's version of the classic song "You Need Lovin'", originally written by Willie Dixon and recorded by American blues singer Muddy Waters. Small Faces would regularly perform "You Need Lovin'" in their live set and the song also appears on their debut album Small Faces, released by Decca in May 1966.
"It was fantastic, I loved it, Muddy Waters recorded it but I couldn't sing like Muddy Waters so it wasn't that much of a nick. I was a high range and Muddy was a low range so I had to figure out how to sing it. So I did and that was our opening number for all the years we were together. Every time we were on stage that was our opening number, unless we had a short set. That's where Jimmy Page and Robert Plant heard it. Robert Plant used to follow us around. He was like a fan." – Steve Marriott
However Marriott bore no animosity toward Plant. He is quoted as shouting "Go on my son!" and wishing him luck when he first heard Plant's version on the radio. Arden paid the band a wage of £20 a week each, along with accounts in clothes shops in Carnaby Street. On Boxing Day 1965, Arden arranged for them to move into a rented house, 22 Westmoreland Terrace, Pimlico. In his autobiography, McLagan describes the house as "party central", a place where the likes of Marianne Faithfull, Brian Epstein, Pete Townshend and other celebrities would hang out. Marriott was just 18 years old.
In 1967, after a dispute over unpaid royalties, relations between the Small Faces and Don Arden broke down and Arden sold them on to Andrew Loog Oldham, who owned the Immediate Records label. The band were much happier at Immediate, spending more time in the recording studio and far less time playing live, but they lost the dynamic live sound that had made them famous.
Marriott wrote or co-wrote most of Small Faces' hit singles. In an interview in 1984, Marriott was asked what his best Small Faces songs were: "I think 'All or Nothing', that I wrote, takes a lot of beating. To me, if there's a song that typifies that era, then that might be it. Words regardless, cos it's only a silly love song, but the actual feel and arrangement of the thing, and maybe 'Tin Soldier'". In 1967, Marriott wrote the evocative rock-ballad "Tin Soldier" to woo model Jenny Rylance. They first met in 1966 and Marriott was immediately smitten, but Rylance was dating up-and-coming singer Rod Stewart and so the two became friends. She later broke up with Stewart and had a brief romantic liaison with Marriott, but much to his disappointment ended it to go back to Stewart. Rylance and Stewart later split for good after a rocky four-year relationship; when Marriott found out he pursued her relentlessly, leading him to write "Tin Soldier". The song was a hit for the band in 1967 and for Marriott a personal triumph. He and Rylance were married at Kensington Register Office, London, on 29 May 1968.
In 1968, Marriott moved into Beehive Cottage with his wife Rylance in Moreton, Essex, a property he had bought jointly with Ronnie Lane and wife Susan and where he established his "Clear Sounds" music studio.
After the success of the group's number one hit concept album Ogdens' Nut Gone Flake Marriott was keen for the group to evolve and wanted to bring in ex-Herd frontman Peter Frampton, but McLagan, Jones and Lane refused. Marriott started to feel the band had reached the end creatively and began to spend more time with Frampton and Greg Ridley. After rumours in the press about the band splitting up, which were always officially denied, Marriott quit the group, storming off stage during a disastrous live performance on New Year's Eve, 1968. In a 1984 interview with NME reporter Paolo Hewitt on the subject of leaving the band, Marriott said "You grow apart for Christsakes. You're talking about people living together from the ages of seventeen to twenty-two and that's a growing up part of your life and we got to hate each other, no doubt about it. We didn't speak to each other for fucking years. Maybe ten years.
Frampton has said that after Marriott's departure from the Small Faces, the remaining members, Lane, McLagan and Jones, turned up at his home and offered him Marriott's role in the band: "The following day after the Alexandra Palace gig, I was back home and I got a call from Ronnie Lane who said, "Me, Kenney and Mac would like to come round and see you." I thought, 'Hello, what's all this about?' Anyway, they all came round to my horrible little flat in Earls Court and asked me to join the Small Faces. All I could say was it's a bit late now. Why couldn't you have asked me while we were in Paris? We'd all be in the same band together and Steve wouldn't have left." Ian McLagan vehemently denied this story.