Steve Marriott – 30th January 1947 to 20th April 1991.

Born in East London, Marriott was a child actor who disappointed his parents when he turned to music as a career. With his East End friends, Ronnie Lane and Kenney Jones he formed the highly influential band Small Faces (they were all no taller than 5’ 6”). In another Led Zeppelin link, Jimmy Page was said to have admired Marriott’s voice and brought (Small Faces fan) Robert Plant into the band because of the similarity in their voices. Despite his undoubted genius as a white soul singer, bad management, and a drink and drugs fuelled lifestyle meant that he was constantly short of funds and hounded by the Inland Revenue. After forming and breaking Humble Pie with Peter Frampton and launching various new bands including the aptly (and jokingly) named Steve Marriott and the Official Receivers, he died in a fire at his Essex home. He was 44.
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