PETE FRAME BIO

“He dresses like a country squire who’s having trouble meeting the servants’ wages bill and
talks like a village publican with a mouth full of rice pudding.”     Pete Silverton, Sounds

Pete Frame was born in Luton, Bedfordshire in 1942. He was on course to become a Chartered Surveyor but his career path was bent out of shape during the late 1960s when, as an emotional response to the heady times, he "dropped out to do his own thing", to write about rock music – a passion since his schooldays.
      During the 1970s, economic necessity forced him to endure spells with two record companies, Charisma and Stiff; to work in various clandestine operations involving the spotting, managing and publicising of talent; and to pay further dues in the employ of two local authorities, a building firm and a brewery. Since 1979, however, he has managed to scratch a living off his pen, contributing to NME, Melody Maker, Rolling Stone, Mojo, The Times and Zigzag - a pioneering rock magazine which he founded and edited for several years.
      He has researched and written many documentaries for BBC Radio, including 30 Years Of Rock, The Story Of Atlantic, The Paul Simon Songbook, Signs Of The Times and Mavericks. He and producer Kevin Howlett won Sony Awards for their Buddy Holly tribute Not Fade Away (1989) and their celebration of Leonard Cohen’s work Tower Of Song (1995). Further programmes on Elvis Presley and Frank Zappa took silver and bronze, respectively. He was awarded a Gold Badge of Merit by the British Academy of Songwriters Composers and Authors in October 1995 – an event which found him sharing the stage with the unlikely company of Rolf Harris, Albert Lee and Larry Adler.
      His handwritten Rock Family Trees, for which he is probably best known, have been used in the packaging of recordings by Jeff Beck, the Byrds, Eric Clapton, Crosby Stills & Nash, Fairport Convention, Iron Maiden, Talking Heads, Paul McCartney, Rod Stewart, and many more. Omnibus Press has published four anthologies of these genealogical charts, judged by Rolling Stone magazine to be “so elegantly organised as to defy description”. The originals have been exhibited in various art galleries and some are on permanent display at the Museum of Liverpool Life.
      BBC Television have broadcast two six-part television series based on Rock Family Trees, plus further programmes based on his Monty Python genealogy and his Manchester United family trees, The United Years, which were also published in book form by Andre Deutsch.
      In October 2007, Rogan House published The Restless Generation, his 500 page exploration of the rise of rock music in Britain during the 1950s. “The perfect mix of pop culture and social history, this is the Book Of The Year, no question,” concluded Record Collector magazine.
      He is currently living in the Highlands of Scotland, exploring new territory as ever.