Artist

Steve Marriott

English musician and songwriter

Manor Park, United Kingdom · 1945 – 1991

Steve Marriott is a musician from Manor Park, United Kingdom, active 1945–1991. Their discography on Gatefold includes 2 records. They also recorded with Small Faces and Humble Pie.

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Albums tracked

148

In collections

1945

Since

3 projects · 148 records in Gatefold collections

Biography

Olympic Studios in 1968, and Glyn Johns is pushing the faders into the red while Marriott screams into a Neumann mic until his vocal cords bleed. Five-foot-five of pure East End fury. Most singers need a wall of production to sound larger than life. Marriott just needed an open mic, a Gibson Les Paul Junior, and three minutes to obliterate whoever shared the marquee. He walked away from pop stardom with the Small Faces because he got sick of screaming over teenage girls. Then he built Humble Pie to play heavy blues-rock, bringing along an eighteen-year-old Peter Frampton. When that exploded into arena bloat and label squabbles, Marriott retreated to the pubs. He never chased the machine after the mid-seventies. He just kept blowing the roof off sweaty club stages for pint money and the sheer hell of it.

Bio from The Clerk

The Arc of Steve Marriott

The pivots — what forced Steve Marriott to reinvent.

The Carnaby Street Blueprint
Marriott and Ronnie Lane bonded over American R&B 45s and formed the Small Faces with Kenny Jones and Ian McLagan. Immediate Immediate Records deal with Andrew Loog Oldham let them run wild at Olympic Studios, turning mod pop into raw psychedelia like 'Ogdens' Nut Gone Flake'. You hear his larynx tearing apart over Hammond organ chords that were lightyears ahead of the British Invasion pack. By late 1968, Marriott walked off stage at Alexandra Palace mid-gig, completely fed up with the screaming teen audiences.
The Heavy Boogie Breakdown
Marriott pulled Peter Frampton from The Herd and formed Humble Pie to leave the pop charts in the rear-view mirror. Signing with A&M and recording live at the Fillmore East in 1971, they practically blueprinted American hard rock boogie. Frampton split because Marriott's volume and blues grit were suffocating the subtle acoustic tunes. Marriott doubled down on raw soul shouting and heavy riffs on 'Smokin'', turning the band into a relentless touring juggernaut.
Pub Circuit and The Majic Mijits
The big label money evaporated by the late seventies, but Marriott refused to play the corporate reunion game. He teamed back up with Ronnie Lane in 1981 for the unreleased 'Majic Mijits' project before grinding through European clubs with Packet of Three. No arena staging, no gloss—just an aging soul shouter in leather delivering blistering rhythm and blues to two hundred people a night. He stayed a working-class tavern rocker right up until the end.

Influences

Muddy Waters — Marriott lifted Waters' Chicago blues phrasing wholesale for early Small Faces cuts like 'You Need Loving'. You hear the direct cadence and swagger that later got cribbed by Robert Plant. He took raw South Side electric blues and sped it up for London teenagers.
Ray Charles — Marriott worshipped Charles and constantly attempted to emulate his gospel-rooted vocal rasp on tape. You hear it across 'Every Mother's Son' and Humble Pie's version of 'Hallelujah I Love Her So'. It was the foundation of his entire vocal attack.
Sam Cooke — Cooke's phrasing and soul elegance were the melodic counterweight to Marriott's natural grit. He covered Cooke classics across multiple tours and solo records, explicitly referencing his delivery in early Small Faces ballads. You hear it whenever Marriott pulled back on the throttle for a slow verse.
Otis Redding — The Small Faces' early singles directly mimicked the Stax rhythm section and Redding's explosive bark. Marriott tore through Redding's 'I Can't Turn You Loose' during live sets with total disregard for his own throat. That unhinged, sweat-soaked delivery shaped everything Humble Pie did on stage.
Buddy Guy — Guy's aggressive, attacking guitar tone was Marriott's primary blueprint before picking up a Les Paul Junior. You hear the sharp, biting treble stabs all over the early Olympic Studio tracking sessions. It taught him how to play rhythm guitar like a lead weapon.