Simon Spence - All Or Nothing: The Story of Steve Marriott

ALSO BY SIMON SPENCE

The Stone Roses: War and Peace

When the Screaming Stops: The Dark History of the Bay City Rollers

Staying Alive: The Disco Inferno of the Bee Gees

Happy Mondays: Excess All Areas

Just Cant Get Enough: The Making of Depeche Mode

Still Breathing: True Adventures of the Donnelly Brothers

Immediate Records: Lets You In

Stoned: Andrew Loog Oldham (Interviews and Research)

2Stoned: Andrew Loog Oldham (Interviews and Research)

Rolling Stoned: Andrew Loog Oldham (Interviews and Research) Rock Stars at Home (Contributor)

Mr Big: Don Arden (Interviews and Research)

Night Fever: Club Writing in The Face, 19801997 (Contributor)

To Shirley

I got a packet in my pocket, its full of racket, lets go and rock it. Steve Marriott

More praise for Steve Marriott

Steve Marriott was one of the best British rock singers of all time.

Roger Daltrey, The Who

I wanted to be Steve Marriott.

Robert Plant, Led Zeppelin

I loved Stevie Marriott, what a great voice and guitar player one of my favourites.

Keith Richards, The Rolling Stones

Simply an amazing talent he was his own meter, tethered by nothing.

Bob Dylan

Very short but long on big ideas: Steve Marriott was the best vocalist that this country has ever produced.

David Bowie

He could sound like a pixie with the sweetest pipes. He could have led children off a cliff with that side of his voice. And then he could bray like a donkey, gale force and the power of his voice would turn your skin to ice.

Mick Jagger, The Rolling Stones

The greatest British singer of all time. The most talented person Ive ever known.

Peter Frampton

The greatest frontman ever. Steve Marriott was unbelievable, an inspiration.

Paul Stanley, KISS

I loved Stevie, just a fantastic singer. But he pissed off everyone around him.

Paul Rodgers, Free and Bad Company

When he died, a part of me died too.

Ozzy Osbourne, Black Sabbath

Steve Marriott is one of Britains great white soul voices and his cockney music hall vocals paved the way for musicians like Bowie and the Pistols to sing in hometown accents while also influencing people like myself to write in their local dialect. A towering cultural icon. Irvine Welsh

He was something else.

Steve Perry, Journey

He is the guy its so obvious Im a Steve Marriott rip-off.

Chris Robinson, The Black Crowes

He was a huge figure in my life.

Martin Freeman, The Hobbit, The Office, Sherlock, Fargo

One of the greatest vocalists and a powerhouse of a performer. Its so sad that hes not with us anymore.

Gary Kemp, Spandau Ballet

One of my heroes. Steves voice was the perfect combination of soul and blues.

Bryan Adams

Steve Marriotts voice is as sweet and soulful as Otis or Aretha.

Bobby Gillespie, Primal Scream

One of the greats.

Paul Weller

He had everything it took.

Nik Cohn

There have been a number of books written about my old friend and brother in arms Steve Marriott. Some have been well researched and some have not been researched at all; they have been based on hearsay or untruths that have pervaded Steves life since he passed away, almost thirty years ago, in such dreadful circumstances on 20 April 1991.

I agreed to partake in Simon Spences book All Or Nothing so that the truth, whether it be good or bad, could be told. Steves family have all contributed for the same reason. We have all stayed close ever since he left us, and we have all watched as people who claimed to be close to Steve, but never knew him, have profited from his awful death.

When I first met Steve, he was a very kind man who did everything he could to help me improve as a drummer. He taught me more about music than anyone else. He had the best record collection I have ever seen. He also introduced me to another up-and-coming young musician who was looking to form a band of his own: Peter Frampton.

We went on to play together in Humble Pie, now considered one of the best live bands from the early to mid-1970s. I continued to work with Steve on and off up until five years before he died. No musician, dead or alive, worked with him more than me. We spent many years together, through the best of times and through some of his worst.

This book covers both sides of Steves life and career. Everyone who was an important part of Steves life has had their say in this book. His son and rightful heir to his musical legacy Toby Marriott said it best: If you were a genuinely close friend you would inevitably have fallen out with him at some point. Steve was hard wired to be confrontational with anyone who disagreed with him, but, having said that, he always respected those who did stand up to him. He hated yes men, arse-lickers or sycophants.

What I will say is this: Steve was the greatest white blues singer this country has ever produced, and he was one of the finest songwriters (especially in partnership with Ronnie Lane). At their best, the Marriott/Lane partnership could easily be compared to Lennon/McCartney or Jagger/Richards, they were that good. Ogdens Nut Gone Flake by the Small Faces is the only British concept album, from the 1960s, to come close to Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band.

So what went wrong? I had a front row seat to it all. As a drummer I saw him at his best from my drum stool, which literally was The Best Seat in the House. In my humble opinion, he was the victim of the two-pronged evil twins of cocaine psychosis and untreated alcoholism.

Had he taken the path of so many of his contemporaries and got clean and sober, I truly believe he would still be with us today, making great music and being happy in his own skin. Sadly, his party lifestyle continued. To quote a simple line from Danny DeVito, The choices we make dictate the life we lead. Steve chose the wrong path and look what happened.

The truth is in this book. As they say, sometimes the truth hurts, but it is here for all to see, and nothing in these pages stops me, and all of us, from loving him in spite of himself. He was a one off, the like of which we shall never see again. His influence on the generations that followed him was momentous. They made some great music from Oasis to the Black Crowes, from Paul Weller to Bryan Adams but there will only ever be one Steve Marriott.

Jerry Shirley
2020

This book has the authorisation of Steve Marriotts family his sister, his first two wives and his children the backing of his bandmates in the Small Faces and Humble Pie and a contribution from the manager of Marriotts estate (whose sole beneficiary is Marriotts third and final wife), a rare triumvirate, unique in print. It is not, however, a hagiography, far from it. As well as his successes, Steve Marriotts many failings are dealt with in coruscating detail. It is a messy work, a mass of recollections, incomplete in many ways, but it is as close to the truth as you will ever read. The format of oral biography does away with author subjectivity and makes for an honest, often brutal form of storytelling, especially when dealing with the shadier side of Marriotts life; the gangsters, addictions, immorality and those long-held suspicions over his untimely death.

All Or Nothing