The tragic death of Small Faces singer Steve Marriott
Retrospect singles out The Beatles as the top dogs of the 1960s, with The Rolling Stones hot on their heels. This picture is mostly accurate, but our hindsight often mirages the success and popularity of the barrage of other British invasion groups, like The Who, The Kinks, The Zombies, The Yardbirds and Small Faces, that shook the charts at the time.
Of the groups listed above, Small Faces is the name we seem to hear least these days, but their contributions to the rock ‘n’ roll drive of the ’60s were vital and immensely enjoyable. For salient hits like ‘Itchycoo Park’, ‘Lazy Sunday’, ‘All or Nothing’, ‘Tin Soldier’ and, of course, their magnum opus concept album, Ogdens’ Nut Gone Flake, we tip our hats to the genius of the late, great Steve Marriott.
Following the 1968 release of Ogdens’ Nut Gone Flake, Marriott was still clearly irritated by the band’s status as a pop group as he had strived for the psychedelic banner. The capricious frontman finally left Small Faces as he walked off stage during a live New Year’s Eve gig yelling: “I quit”. 1969 would see the final Small Faces double LP, The Autumn Stone, released after the band’s breakup as Marriott looked to form his new band, Humble Pie, with Peter Frampton. Meanwhile, Ronnie Lane, Kenney Jones and Ian McLagan were joined by former members of The Jeff Beck Group, Rod Stewart and Ronnie Wood as they looked to form Faces.
“I wish we had been a little bit more grown up at the time,” Jones recalled of Small Faces’ demise in a 2001 interview with John Hellier. “If we had have [sic] played Ogdens’ live, it would have boosted our confidence so much. We were labelled as a pop band, which definitely got up Steve’s nose more than we realised. I wish we had been more like The Who in the fact that when they have problems, they stick together until they’ve overcome them. Steve just thought, well, how do we top Ogdens’ and he was off. Ogdens’ was a masterpiece; if we had played it live, we would have gone to even greater things. I reckon we were on the verge of crossing the great divide and becoming a heavier band.”
Marriott’s post-Small Faces career never returned to the heights of Small Faces’ chart attack and besides the highlight of a brief Small Faces reunion in the late 1970s. With scattered Humble Pie and solo efforts over the early 1980s, Marriott fell into a pit of despair as previously unpaid tax orders and drug habits took an increasingly firm hold.
As was the case during the collapse of Small Faces in the late 1960s, Marriott was disillusioned with fame and fortune and turned down would-be lucrative deals with the likes of EMI in the 1980s.
While Marriott managed to tone down his drug use in the mid-to-late 1980s, his long-lived hedonistic lifestyle had caught up with him, and he was struggling with several health concerns with a ragged and overweight appearance as he entered his 40s. This phase saw Marriott diminish from the public eye despite a frequent touring schedule with various backing groups in smaller venues.
By 1990, Marriott was performing an average of 200 gigs a year to make ends meet, but his luck changed when he was visited by former Humble Pie bandmate Peter Frampton who suggested they reform the band for a one-off album. Marriott agreed, hoping the money would ease his situation, and flew out to Los Angeles in January 1991. The pair began drafting a few songs, but after a change of heart, Marriott returned to the UK, abandoning the project with vague plans to complete it in the future.
Two recorded songs from these final sessions, ‘The Bigger They Come’ and ‘I Won’t Let You Down’, appeared on Frampton’s 1992 compilation, Shine On: A Collection. A third song, ‘Out of the Blue’, was also released on Frampton’s first solo album after Marriott’s death. The fourth and final track from the sessions, ‘An Itch You Can’t Scratch’, has been found in illegal bootlegged releases but has never been officially published.
On April 19th, 1991, Marriott and his third wife, Toni Poulton, flew home from the USA, where Marriott had abandoned the new project with Frampton. As Poulton recalled later, Marriott had been drinking heavily and was in a bad temper, leading to a heated argument. When they arrived back in the UK, the couple joined a friend at one of Marriott’s favourite restaurants, The Straw Hat in Sawbridgeworth, for a meal where he continued to drain the bar.
After the meal, Poulton and Marriott returned to their friend’s house, where they decided to stay the night; but upstairs in the bedroom, they continued to bicker. Poulton finally fell asleep, but when she awoke, she realised Marriott had taken a taxi home alone.
At about 6:30am on April 20th, a passing motorist saw the roof of Marriott’s cottage in Arkesden ablaze and immediately called the fire brigade. It was reported that four fire engines were required to dowse the inferno.
“It was a tough fight getting upstairs,” Assistant Divisional Fire Officer Keith Dunatis reported to national newspapers at the time. “We searched the bedroom areas, and it was very hot; we knew immediately that no one could have survived the fire. We began to feel around the walls and discovered him lying on the floor between the bed and the wall. I would say he had been in bed and tried to escape.”
“As soon as I saw the body clearly, I knew who it was,” he continued. “I used to be a fan; it’s difficult to put my feelings into words. The scene was horrific in that corner of the room. I saw him lying there and thought, what a pity it all was. I deal with many fires, but this one was like walking down memory lane. We managed to salvage all his guitars and musical equipment. I feel a bit upset; all the firemen do. It was like seeing part of our lives gone forever.”
It is generally believed that the blaze was triggered after a jet-lagged and inebriated Marriott lit a cigarette and quickly fell into a deep sleep. Due to the positioning of his body, it’s suspected that he had woken up to an inferno, and after inhaling vast amounts of smoke, he became disorientated and took the wrong turn away from the door of his bedroom. Sadly, the circumstances didn’t allow him to correct his course.
An inquiry following the incident concluded with a verdict of accidental death by smoke inhalation. Marriott’s blood was found to contain Valium, taken earlier for flight nerves, alcohol and cocaine.
Commenting on the death of his Humble Pie bandmate, drummer Jerry Shirley said: “He [Marriott] was certainly the most talented person I ever worked with. He was like a brother to me, and I was devastated when he died. He always lived on the edge, and I was always waiting for a ‘phone call to say that he had died, but I never dreamed it would be under those circumstances. He’s never got the credit he deserves. He should be in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame because he was the greatest white soul singer that England ever produced. I’m certain that if you caught the likes of Rod Stewart and Paul Rodgers in a private moment and asked them who was the main man, they would say, Steve Marriott.”
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