Owen Frampton

Owen Frampton (6 April 1919 – 16 September 2005) was an English art teacher. He was the father of musician Peter Frampton, and a teacher of musician David Bowie and novelist Hanif Kureishi.

Early life Frampton was born in the Kennington district of London, England. His family later lived in other communities, including Sheerness and Beckenham. He also introduced him to the music of Django Reinhardt, which Peter Frampton later cited as being influential to his own musical style.

Teaching career In 1946, while taking classes at Beckenham School of Art, Frampton began teaching in the art department of Beckenham Technical School, and currently known as the Ravens Wood School. Besides teaching art, Frampton also taught boxing.

His students included David Jones (later David Bowie) and George Underwood, as well as his own sons Peter and Clive. Peter Frampton later reflected on his early interest in performing popular music:

"I asked my father, who was head of the art department at the school, who was into music... ...and he said well there's this David Jones character -- he seems to play guitar and sax. So it was the three of us [Jones, Underwood, and Peter Frampton] exchanging licks really -- they taught me Buddy Holly numbers and I showed them what I knew on guitar --so that's when our friendship started on those stone steps."

Another of his students, Aziz Cami, who would go on to co-found a design consulting firm, said of Frampton, "The school ‘losers’ – the art stream – weren't a lost cause for him... ...His ambition to have his secondary school course recognised as an accredited pre-Diploma year by art colleges was uniquely fulfilled in 1967. He achieved this by encouraging a passion for design which involved us designing book jackets, album covers, TV credits, posters, fabrics, ceramics and furniture at the age of 16."

Later years After his retirement from teaching at age 60, Owen and Peggy Frampton moved to New York, near Peter's home, but returned to live in England after several years. In the 1970s, Frampton wrote a still-unpublished memoir, Our Way: the Autobiography of a Teacher of Art & Design (The Frampton Papers).