Peter Frampton, who scored hits with Baby, I love your way and Show me the way , suffers from the incurable muscle disease inclusion body-myositis (IBM). The British singer is weakening more and more and that is why his upcoming tour will be his last.
In conversation with Rolling Stone , the 68-year-old singer tells that he first noticed symptoms of the disease eight years ago. People with this disease suffer from increasing muscle weakness. When standing up, Frampton was weak in his ankles, but he thought this was part of old age.
At a certain moment the weakness also continued in his legs. He noticed that four years ago during one of his concerts, when he tried to kick a kicked-up beach ball back to the audience. “I fell over, my legs just stopped, everyone joked about it, but I was ashamed.”
After the tour, Frampton made an appointment with a neurologist, who then diagnosed the inclusion body-myositis.
‘I might not be able to play in a year’
The singer and guitarist notices that the symptoms are still increasing, but it does not prevent his musical career so far. That is why he announces a farewell tour on Saturday. “I may not be able to play anymore in a year. (…) If I give a farewell tour, I want to do it right and do the same as last year and the year before.”
In addition, Frampton is currently also working on new music: a double album, a separate album and a project he does not want to say about.
Despite his illness, the singer continues to say positive. “A big door in my life closes, but there are many other doors that open now.”
For example, Frampton has set up its own fund that raises money for research into IBM, for which no specific treatment is yet available. “One dollar goes to the fund for each sold ticket for the tour.”
Frampton broke through at the age of sixteen as a member of the band The Herd, and grew into a teenage idol. In his twenties he started a solo career and in the eighties he joined as a singer and guitarist with the accompaniment of David Bowie, with whom he had been friends for a long time