22. Steve Marriott (1/30/47-4/20/91) "Black Coffee" (Humble Pie) for my new gallery "Telling
Stories from the Grave", the November Song Titles/One Artist Challenge and SP Friday.

"Black coffee is my name
Black coffee is not a thing
Black coffee, freshly ground and fully packed
Hot black coffee, boys, mmm that's where it's at, mean it."



Marriott was a talented musician with a powerful singing voice which belied his
small stature. I've heard that early on David Bowie approached him with the idea
of forming a group called David and Goliath just before Steve formed the mod rock
bands Small Faces (1965–1969) & Humble Pie (1969–1975 and 1980–1981) built
around his aggressive approach as a guitarist & pitch perfect bluesy vocals.

At approximately 6:30 am on 4/20/91, a passing motorist saw the roof of Marriott's
cottage ablaze and called the fire brigade. It was reported that four fire engines
were needed to put out the fire. It is believed that the most likely cause of the
fire was that soon after arriving home, jet-lagged and tired, in the early hours,
Marriott had lit a cigarette while in bed and almost immediately fallen into a deep
sleep. Since Marriott was found lying on the floor between the bed and wall,
investigators concluded he may have tried unsuccessfully to escape after being
awakened by the blaze. Disoriented and confused after inhaling large amounts of thick
smoke, Marriott had turned left instead of right towards the bedroom door and safety.
He had been unable to rectify his mistake before being overcome with smoke.