(hennemusic) Peter Frampton joined Howard Stern on his SiriusXM show on Wednesday to discuss his upcoming farewell tour and the degenerative health issue that made the rocker decide it was time to end his days as a traveling musician.
After a fall on stage about three and half years ago, the guitarist was diagnosed with inclusion body myositis, a rare and incurable inflammatory condition which causes muscles to weaken slowly.
Frampton said he first noticed signs of the disease eight or nine years ago but wasn't quite sure what was going on. "24,000 people are known to have it," Frampton explained, "but I believe there's a lot that don't know they have it. They just think, like I did, 'I'm getting old!', adding, "It's not noticeable to anyone but me, at the moment; I test it with my band because they know me inside and out and my playing, obviously."
The guitarist described the challenges he faces getting around - particularly with stairs - and will participate in an experimental drug treatment trial at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, MD in May before opening the 6-month series of North American concerts in Tulsa, OK on June 18.
"My job now is to be the face of I.B.M. That's what I want to become to raise awareness," said the guitarist, who recently teamed with Johns Hopkins to start the Peter Frampton Myositis Research Fund.
In the meantime, Frampton and his band have been working feverishly recording new music in his home studio while he's still physically capable of maintaining his high standard of musicianship.
"We're working on our fourth album, right now, since October," he revealed. Among the other topics Frampton discussed with Stern was the 2016 death of his childhood schoolmate pal David Bowie, and recording the 1970 album, "All Things Must Pass", with George Harrison. Watch the interview clips here.
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