Peter Frampton bonus Q&A: 'David Bowie reinvigorated my career incredibly'

What happens a decade after you release what was — at the time — the biggest selling double-live album in music history?

Not much, in the case of Peter Frampton whose career was at a near-standstill in 1986, 10 years after the release of the 11-million-selling "Frampton Comes Alive" made him a star and a celebrity who became known as much for his poster-boy good looks as his music. That image was reinforced by the cover of his 1977 follow-up album, "I'm In You," which featured him in satin pants and an unbuttoned shirt that exposed much of his chest and midriff.

Frampton's two most recent albums at the time, 1982's "The Art of Control" and 1986's "Premonition" had come and gone in a near instant. So had he, as far as much of the public was concerned. His radio airplay had largely dried up. And the British-born musician's reputation had yet to recover after he co-starred with the Bee Gees in the 1978 movie, "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band," a box-office dud that received scathing reviews from critics ("indescribably awful," "a bad idea badly executed," "has the feel of an interminable variety show").

By 1986, Frampton appeared to be a has-been on a downhill road to obscurity. Or he was, until David Bowie came knocking on the door of his former classmate. Bowie's attendance at London's Bromley Technical High School for Boys overlapped with that of Frampton, whose father was Bowie's art teacher at Bromley.

Almost as fast as you can say "show me the way," Frampton accepted the invitation to be the featured guitarist on Bowie's 1987 album, "Never Let Me Down," and the "Glass Spider" stadium tour the same year. Neither the album nor the tour ranked among the best by Bowie, who in 1969 had been the opening act on a U.K. tour by Frampton's then-band, Humble Pie.

Regardless, "Never Let Me Down," and "Glass Spider" proved cathartic for Frampton, who welcomed the opportunity to get back onstage and play guitar, without having the spotlight on him and without having to sing lead vocals.

"David reinvigorated my career incredibly," said Frampton. "From that point on, people started thinking of me as the guitar player, instead of the (celebrity) image I had before. Because during Humble Pie and my early solo records — and even when 'Frampton Comes Alive' had first come out — no one really knew what I looked like and it was all about the musicianship.

"Then, because of the 'I'm in You' album cover and possibly the 'Sgt. Pepper's' movie, my image was transformed into that of a pop star. So, David was the saving grace and I thank him once a day, every day. Because he knew what he was doing, and I had no idea what I was doing! We'd played on the same stages in the same venues for years, but not in the same band. It was great to finally be in one together."

Frampton was interviewed at length ahead of a recent tour stop. Here is a bonus Q&A from that conversation.

Q: The back cover of Roberta Flack's 2012 Beatles' tribute album, "Let It Be," has a photo taken backstage at the 1977 Grammy Awards of her, John Lennon and Yoko Ono. When I interviewed Flack in 2012, I asked her what she thought of that photo, 35 years later, and she replied: "I wish I had worn a bra!"

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