For the phrase "eat humble pie" and its origin, see humble pie.
Humble Pie was a British rock music band, best known for its hard-rocking recordings and concert performances.
The band initially consisted of Steve Marriott (formerly of The Small Faces; lead vocals, guitar, keyboards), Peter Frampton (from Herd; lead guitar), Greg Ridley (from Spooky Tooth; bass) and Jerry Shirley (from Valkyrie; drums).
The joining of all these fairly known players resulted in Humble Pie being considered a bit of a “ supergroup”. Worried about great expectations, the group began working together in secret at Marriott's cottage in Moreton, Essex. Signed to Andrew Loog Oldham's Immediate Records, their debut single "Natural Born Boogie" was rushed out in 1969 and was a UK number five hit; it was quickly followed by the album As Safe As Yesterday Is, praised as a progressive album in the vein of The Small Faces. Their second album Town and Country was also released in 1969 and featured a more acoustic sound. Humble Pie concerts at this time featured an acoustic set followed by an electric set, an approach that would become popular decades later.
1970 saw the financial collapse of Immediate, a switch to A&M Records, and a change in band management. The albums Humble Pie and Rock On, both released that year, alternated between progressive rock and boogie rock excess. A concert at the Fillmore East was captured on Perfomance Rockin' The Fillmore (1971); it is considered one of the best live rock albums of its era, with Marriott, Frampton, and the rest of the group in fine form. The loud-quiet-loud epic "I Don't Need No Doctor" was an FM radio hit in the United States, propelling the album to the group's biggest commercial success yet.
