Peter Frampton joked that he was a little flustered by losing his thick hair.
“I did everything to strengthen it on its way to leaving,” he told Page Six in a recent exclusive interview. “I was cataloging them.”
The musician’s impressive mane was on full display on the cover of his 1976 double live album Frampton Comes Alive!.
The Grammy winner said it was childhood friend David Bowie who first gave him the idea to cut it all off. Frampton joined Bowie on his 1987 “Glass Spider” tour, still sporting a magnificent mane.
“It was starting to end,” he said, “but I kept my hair long, and my long-time best friend and lifelong friend, David, said, ‘You should cut your hair for this tour.’
Ms. Frampton recalled thinking that was a terrible idea.
“So a guy who recreates himself every five seconds is telling me to cut my hair,” he explained, adding, “I should have done better then!”
But shortly after the tour ended, he said, he took out a pair of scissors and cut it off.
The “Show Me the Way” singer, 76, is currently promoting his documentary “Frampton,” which premiered at the Tribeca Festival on Thursday night. The film, directed by Frampton’s longtime bandleader Rob Arthur, features archival footage, interviews and thrilling concert moments.
He also opens up about being diagnosed with inclusion body myositis (IBM), a rare, progressive muscle disease that affects mobility and guitar playing.
“My view is, ‘That’s life,'” he told Page Six. “I’ve been very lucky. I’ve had a checkered career, but it all makes sense in the long run. Look at the last 60 years. Wow, I’m the luckiest man alive!”
Frampton has also released a new album, Carry the Light, which he co-wrote and produced with his son Julian, and features guest appearances by Sheryl Crow, HER, Tom Morello and Graham Nash.
