Steve Marriott (30 January 1947 – 20 April 1991) was an English musician, songwriter and frontman of two notable rock and roll bands, spanning over two decades. Marriott is remembered for his powerful singing voice which belied his small stature, and for his aggressive approach as a guitarist in mod rock bands Small Faces (1965–1969) and Humble Pie (1969–1975 and 1980–1981). Marriott was inducted posthumously into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2012 as a member of Small Faces. (More from Wikipedia)
The article on Small Faces in Allmusic opens: “Small Faces were the best English band never to hit it big in America.” Frontman Steve Marriott was the lead guitarist and lead vocalist for the band; he had already appeared in a key role in the musical Oliver!. Ronnie Lane (bass guitar) invited Marriott to jam with his band the Pioneers, which also included Kenney Jones (drums) – while that gig didn’t go well, the three decided to move in the direction of American R&B. The fourth bandmember was Jimmy Winston (organ), who was replaced by 1966 with Ian McLagan.
As the 1960’s wound down, Steve Marriott wanted to make some changes in Small Faces, and one day he just took off in the middle of a concert. Marriott had wanted to bring Peter Frampton into the band; instead, the two put together a new band called Humble Pie.
The remaining bandmembers in Small Faces found two dynamite replacements for Steve Marriott; Rod Stewart was brought in as the vocalist, and Ron Wood joined as the lead guitarist. The direction of the band changed dramatically after that; although Small Faces was still the name on the first album by this line-up, First Step (at least in the U.S.), the band is better known as Faces.
(April 2014)
