Peter Frampton

Though forever enshrined as the fair-haired boy of 1976’s Frampton Comes Alive!, English singer/guitarist Peter Frampton (born in Kent in 1950) had, by that point, already spent a decade putting in work.

He started as a member of psychedelic journeymen The Herd at age 16, joined blues-rockers Humble Pie by 18, and played on sessions with the likes of George Harrison and Harry Nilsson.

So maybe it shouldn't surprise anyone that Frampton Comes Alive! was the biggest-selling album ever at that time: Anchored by “Show Me the Way,” “Baby, I Love Your Way,” and “Do You Feel Like We Do” (featuring his memorable talk-box guitar solo), it's at once virtuosic and casual, exploratory and lived-in—a perfect synthesis of rock, pop, and technological innovation that also anthologizes his best songs.