Peter Frampton, the 1970’s phenomenon, was so popular that even he thought he was being played on the radio too often. When asked, he replied, “Well, you know you’re on the radio too much when even you change the channel!” After hits like “Baby I Love Your Way” and “Do You Feel Like We Do”, the guitarist enjoyed major success.
The grammy-winning hits, the music, and who he was as a musician, seemed to be wrapped up in that Les Paul. Right as his career started a downturn, he lost that guitar while it was in a cargo plane headed to a concert. The crash occurred in Caracas, Venzuela. He has gone on record stating that he thought he couldn’t play another guitar, and that after the crash and the loss he lost his mojo.
After losing the guitar in 1980, he’s tried on several different guitars to see if they would grow to be the same fit for the master guitarist. Then around two years ago, Frampton began to get pictures in his email of what appeared to be his guitar. Someone had saved the guitar from the burning mass of plane wreckage and sold it on the island of Curacao to a musician.
Two years of negotiations between a Curacao delegate and Mr. Frampton, and he was finally nearing completion of being reunited with his guitar. While skeptical if it was actually the Les Paul he lost, he was hopeful. After getting the guitar in a hotel suite in Nashville, Frampton was once again with his Gibson, 31 years after the plane crash took it from him.
Since the crash, Frampton had ebbed in his music career. He had a series of letdown performances and album releases. It has taken him until the past few years to get his groove back and start putting out the quality we’ve always expected from Peter Frampton. Now that it seems his career has righted itself, the guitar has returned. Asked about his career, he’s told CBS, “A pop star’s career lasts 18 months. A musician’s career lasts a lifetime. And that’s what I’ve learned.”
Source: CBS