he established his "Clear Sounds" music studio. In 1967, after a dispute over unpaid royalties, relations between the Small Faces and Don Arden broke down and Arden sold them on to Andrew Loog Oldham, who owned the Immediate Records label. The band were much happier at Immediate, spending more time in the recording studio and far less time playing live, but they lost the dynamic live sound that had made them famous. After the success of the group's number one hit concept album Ogdens' Nut Gone Flake Marriott was keen for the group to evolve and wanted to bring in ex-Herd frontman Peter Frampton, but McLagan, Jones and Lane refused. Marriott started to feel the band had reached the end creatively and began to spend more time with Frampton and Greg Ridley. After rumours in the press about the band splitting up, which were always officially denied, Marriott quit the group, storming off stage during a disastrous live performance on New Year's Eve, 1968. In a 1984 interview with NME reporter Paolo Hewitt on the subject of leaving the band, Marriott said "You grow apart for Christsakes. You're talking about people living together from the ages of seventeen to twenty-two and that's a growing up part of your life and we got to hate each other, no doubt about it. We didn't speak to each other for fucking years. Maybe ten years. Frampton has said that after Marriott's departure from the Small Faces, the remaining members, Lane, McLagan and Jones, turned up at his home and offered him Marriott's role in the band: "The following day after the Alexandra Palace gig (where Steve walked off), I was back home and I got a call from Ronnie Lane who said, "Me, Kenney and Mac would like to come round and see you." I thought, 'Hello, what's all this about?' Anyway, they all came round to my horrible little flat in Earls Court and asked me to join the Small Faces. All I could say was it's a bit late now. Why couldn't you have asked me while we were in Paris? We'd all be in the same band together and Steve wouldn't have left." Ian McLagan vehemently denied this story. Death On Friday 19 April 1991, Marriott and Poulton flew home from the United States, where Marriott had recorded songs for a future album with Frampton. During the flight, according to