Humble Pie were a rock, rhythm and blues band from England and were one of the first supergroups of the 1970s. The original band line-up featured Steve Marriott (former lead singer, songwriter and lead guitarist of Small Faces), Peter Frampton (former lead singer and guitarist of The Herd), Greg Ridley (former bass guitarist of Spooky Tooth) and seventeen-year-old drummer Jerry Shirley.

In late 1968, Frampton was eager to escape The Herd, as well as his teeny-bopper image. The young guitar prodigy played on a Small Faces recording session in France that year and had become close friends with Marriott, who himself was becoming frustrated with creative restrictions. The Small Faces' frontman suggested a drummer for Frampton — Shirley, whom he'd known for several years, most notably through his work with the mod band Apostolic Intervention.

Nothing really came of the project, though, until New Year's Eve 1968. Marriott walked offstage during a disastrous Small Faces gig, rang Frampton at his home later that night and asked if he and Ridley could join his new band. Humble Pie was born.

Because the members had all previously played in high-profile groups, many viewed Humble Pie as a "supergroup," although the band loathed the term and the expectations that came with it. They started secretly rehearsing at Marriott's home in Moreton, Essex (Beehive Cottage), in early 1969.

The objective was to hone the act away from media and public scrutiny. After signing with Andrew Loog Oldham's Immediate Records, the band had planned to launch its first single and album in the spring, but were delayed after an injunction was filed by The Herd's management.

Eventually, Humble Pie released their debut single, "Natural Born Bugie", in July 1969. It was a No. 4 hit in the UK Singles Chart, and was quickly followed by the album As Safe As Yesterday Is, which peaked at No. 16 on the UK album charts.

In the 2006 documentary Heavy: The Story of Metal, As Safe As Yesterday Is was recalled as the first album to have been described by the term "heavy metal". The mention occurred in a Rolling Stone magazine review written by journalist Mike Saunders.

Their second album, Town and Country, was hastily released in the UK in November 1969 while the band was away on its first US tour. A collective effort that featured a more acoustic sound and songs written by all four members, it did not sell as well as As Safe As Yesterday Is, and financially-strapped Immediate sank deeper into debt.

Recent tape archives show the band recorded around 30 songs in its first nine months of existence, many of which remained unreleased for decades — including a cover of Ray Charles' classic "Drown In My Own Tears." Humble Pie concerts at this time featured an acoustic set — with a radical re-working of Graham Gouldman's "For Your Love" as its centerpiece — followed by an electric set.

The winter of 1970 saw the collapse of Immediate, a switch to A&M Records, and a change in band management. Humble Pie now focused on the United States market. American Dee Anthony, the band's new manager, had the band scrap its 'unplugged' set and crank the volume up. He also pushed Marriott to take more of the on-stage spotlight, something Marriott had, up until then, been sharing with Frampton and Ridley.

While these moves would improve the band's commercial standing in the States, they were blows to Frampton, who had been building up confidence and material as a songwriter.

The group's first album for A&M, Humble Pie, released later that year, was heavier than the previous two, alternating between progressive rock and hard rock excess. An attendant single, the funky, Stax-flavored "Big Black Dog," failed to chart, but Anthony's strategy was starting to work. The band became known for putting on one of the most popular live rock shows in the U.S.

Humble Pie released its most successful record to date, Rock On, in early 1971. A concert supporting that record at the Fillmore East was captured on Performance Rockin' the Fillmore in 1971. The live album reached number 21 on the U.S. Billboard 200, and both Rock On and Performance were certified gold by the RIAA. The loud-quiet-loud epic "I Don't Need No Doctor" was an FM radio hit in the United States (peaking at No. 73 on the Billboard Hot 100), propelling the album up the charts.

Frampton left the band by the time the album was released and went on to enjoy massive popularity as a solo artist.

With Dave "Clem" Clempson replacing Frampton, Humble Pie moved towards an even harder sound emphasizing Marriott's blues and soul roots. Their first record with Clempson was Smokin' (1972), which featured minor hits in the songs "Hot 'n' Nasty" (No. 52 Hot 100) and "30 Days in the Hole."

It was the band's most commercially successful record and reached No. 6 on the US charts, helped by a busy touring schedule. After the success of Smokin', the band's record label, A&M, released Humble Pie's first two Immediate albums in one album, as Lost and Found. The marketing ploy was a success, and the album charted at No. 37 on the Billboard 200.

Looking for a more authentic R&B sound, Marriott hired three female backing singers, The Blackberries. The trio consisted of Venetta Fields, Clydie King and Sherlie Matthews (who was later replaced by Billie Barnum). They had performed with Tina Turner as the The Ikettes and with Ray Charles as The Raelettes. While the direction confused some of the Pie's hard-rock audience, it was a gambit that, like their 1969 acoustic sets, would prove popular with other rock bands many years down the road.

This newly augmented lineup(which also would include, briefly, Sidney George on sax) would record Eat It, a double album released in 1973. Side 1 was made up of Marriott originals; Side 2 consisted of classic R&B covers; Side 3 was a collection of acoustic Marriott songs; and Side 4 featured Humble Pie live in concert at Glasgow. While it just missed charting in the U.S. top 10 (it peaked at No. 13), the record did little to expand the group's audience. Instead of showcasing the band's range, it signaled the beginning of the end.

After the leaner, more focused Thunderbox (1974), and Street Rats (1975) — a patchwork of studio recordings that were, by and large, intended for a Marriott solo album — the group found themselves running out of steam creatively and bickering internally. Humble Pie, joined by keyboardist Tim Hinkley, staged the Goodbye Pie Tour in 1975 and broke up.