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Peter Dennis Blandford "Pete" Townshend (born 19 May 1945) is an English musician, singer-songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist, known principally as the guitarist and songwriter for the rock group . His career with the Who spans 50 years, during which time the band grew to be considered one of the most influential bands of the 1960s and 1970s.
Townshend is the primary songwriter for the Who, having written well over 100 songs for the band's 11 studio albums, including
and , plus popular
radio staples such as , and dozens more that appeared as non-album singles, bonus tracks on reissues, and tracks on rarities compilations such as . He has also written over 100 songs that have appeared on his solo albums, as well as
and . Although known primarily as a guitarist, he also plays other instruments such as keyboards, , , harmonica, , , violin, synthesiser, bass guitar and drums, on his own solo albums, several Who albums, and as a guest contributor to a wide array of other artists' recordings. He is self-taught on all of the instruments he plays and has never had any formal training.
Townshend has also been a contributor and author of newspaper and magazine articles, book reviews, essays, books, and scripts, as well as collaborating as a lyricist (and composer) for many other musical acts. Townshend was ranked No. 3 in 's list of Best Guitarists in The New Book of Rock Lists, No. 10 's list of the top 50 guitarists, and No. 10 again in
magazine's updated 2011 list of the 100 greatest guitarists of all time. Townshend was inducted into the
as a member of the Who in 1990.
Peter Dennis Blandford Townshend was born on 19 May 1945 at
Hospital, West London, ten days after Nazi Germany surrendered in the . He came from a musical family: his father
was a professional alto saxophonist in the 's dance band
and his mother Betty (née Dennis) was a singer with the Sydney Torch and Les Douglass Orchestras. The Townshends had a volatile marriage, as both drank heavily and possessed fiery tempers. Cliff Townshend was often away from his family touring with his band away while Betty carried on affairs with other men. The two split when Pete was a toddler and he was sent to live with his maternal grandmother Emma Dennis, whom Pete later described as "clinically insane". The two-year separation ended when Cliff and Betty purchased a house together on Woodgrange Avenue in middle-class , and the young Pete was happily reunited with his parents.
Townshend did not have many friends growing up, so he spent much of his boyhood reading adventure novels like
and . He enjoyed his family's frequent excursions to the English sea coast and the . It was on one of these trips in the summer of 1956 that he repeatedly watched the 1956 film , sparking his fascination with American . Not long thereafter, he went to see
perform in London, Townshend's first concert. At the time, he did not see himself pursuing a career as a p instead, he wanted to become a journalist.
Upon passing the , Townshend was enrolled at . At Acton County, he was frequently bullied because he had a large nose, an experience that profoundly affected him. His grandmother Emma purchased his first guitar for Christmas in 1956, an inexpensive Spanish model. Though his father taught him a couple of chords, Townshend was largely self-taught on the instrument and never learned to read music. Townshend and school friend
formed a short-lived
group, the Confederates, featuring Townshend on banjo and Entwistle on horns. The Confederates played gigs at the Congo Club, a youth club run by the Acton Congregational Church, and covered , , and . However, both became influenced by the increasing popularity of , with Townshend particularly admiring 's debut single, "". Townshend left the Confederates after getting into a fight with the group's drummer, Chris Sherwin, and purchased a "reasonably good Czechoslovakian guitar" at his mother's antique shop.
Townshend's brothers Paul and
were born in 1957 and 1960, respectively. Lacking the requisite test scores to attend university, Pete was faced with the decision of art school, music school, or getting a job. He ultimately chose to study
at , enrolling in 1961. At Ealing, Townshend studied alongside future
and future
singer . Notable artists and designers gave lectures at the college like
pioneer . Townshend's roommate at Ealing, Tom Wright, had a large record collection, and Townshend listened to and became influenced by R&B artists like , , , , , and . Townshend dropped out in 1964 to focus on music full-time.
In late 1961, Entwistle joined The Detours, a / band, led by Roger Daltrey. The new bass player then suggested Townshend to join as an additional guitarist. In the early days of the Detours, the band's repertoire consisted of instrumentals by
and , as well as pop and trad jazz covers. Their line-up coalesced around
on lead guitar, Townshend on rhythm guitar, Entwistle on bass,
on drums and Colin Dawson as vocalist. Daltrey was considered the leader of the group and, according to Townshend, "ran things the way he wanted them." Dawson quit in 1962 after arguing too much with Daltrey, who subsequently moved to lead vocalist. As a result, Townshend, with Entwistle's encouragement, became the sole guitarist. Through Townshend's mother, the group obtained a management contract with local promoter Robert Druce, who started booking the band as a support act for bands like ,
and the Rebel Rousers,
and the Fentones, and
and the Pirates. In 1963, Townshend's father arranged an amateur recording of "It Was You", the first song his son ever wrote. The Detours became aware of a group of the same name in February 1964, forcing them to change their name. Townshend's room-mate Richard Barnes came up with "The Who", and Daltrey decided it was the best choice.
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Townshend (with Moon, rear right) backstage before a gig in Ludwigshafen, Germany in 1967
Not long after the name change, drummer
was replaced by , who had been drumming semi-professionally with the Beachcombers for several years. The band was soon taken on by a
publicist named
who convinced them to change their name to The High Numbers to give the band more of a mod feel. After bringing out one failed single ("I'm the Face/Zoot Suit"), they dropped Meaden and were signed on by two new managers,
and , who had paired up with the intention of finding new talent and creating a documentary about them. The band anguished over a name that all felt represented the band best, and dropped The High Numbers name, reverting to the Who. In June 1964, during a performance at the Railway Tavern, Townshend accidentally broke the top of his guitar on the low ceiling and proceeded to destroy the entire instrument. The on-stage destruction of instruments soon became a regular part of The Who's live shows.
With the assistance of Lambert, the Who caught the ear of American record producer , who had the band signed to a record contract. Townshend wrote a song, "", as a deliberate sound-alike of , another group Talmy produced. Released as a single in January 1965, "I Can't Explain" was the Who's first hit, reaching number eight on the British charts. A follow-up single (""), credited to both Townshend and Daltrey, also reached the top 10 in the UK. However, it was the release of the Who's third single, "", in November that, according to Who biographer Mark Wilkerson, "cemented their reputation as a hard-nosed band who reflected the feelings of thousands of pissed-off adolescents at the time. The Townshend-penned single reached number two on the UK charts, becoming the Who's biggest hit. The song and its famous line – "I hope I die before I get old" – was "very much about trying to find a place in society," Townshend stated in an interview with .
To capitalise of their recent single success, the Who's debut album
(The Who Sings My Generation in the US) was released in late 1965, containing original material written by Townshend and several
covers that Daltrey favoured. Townshend continued to write several successful singles for the band, including "", "", "", and "". Lambert encouraged Townshend to write longer pieces of music for the next album, which became the "". The album was subsequently titled
and reached number 4 in the charts upon its release in December 1966. In their stage shows, Townshend developed a
in which he would swing his right arm against the guitar strings in a style reminiscent of the vanes of a windmill. He developed this style after watching
guitarist, , warm up before a show.
Townshend's "windmill" technique
The Who commenced their first US tour on 22 March 1967. It did not start well, as Townshend and Daltrey were briefly jailed for assaulting a police officer they mistook for a heckler. Townshend took to trashing his hotel suites, though not to the extent of his bandmate Moon. He also began experimenting with , though stopped taking the drug after receiving a potent hit after the
on 18 June. Released in December, their next album was —a
based on pirate radio, which had been instrumental in raising the Who's popularity. It included several humorous jingles and mock commercials between songs, and the Who's biggest US single, "". Despite the success of "", which reached number 9 on the American charts, Townshend was surprised it was not a smash hit, as he considered it the best song he'd written up to that point.
By 1968, Townshend became interested in the teachings of . He began to develop a musical piece about a deaf, dumb, and blind boy who would experience sensations musically. The piece would explore the tenets of Baba's philosophy. The result was the
, released on 23 May 1969 to critical and commercial success.
praised the album, saying its "sheer power, invention and brilliance of performance outstrips anything which has ever come out of a recording studio." In support of Tommy, the Who launched a tour that included a memorable appearance at the
on 17 August. While the Who were playing,
jumped the stage to complain about the arrest of . Townshend promptly knocked him offstage with his guitar, shouting "Fuck off my fucking stage!"
In 1970, the Who released , which several music critics cite as the best live album of all time. Townshend began writing material for another rock opera. Dubbed , it was designed to be a multi-media project that symbolised the relationship between a musician and his audience. The rest of the band were confused by its convoluted plot and simply wanted another album. Townshend began to feel alienated, and the project was abandoned after he suffered a nervous breakdown. Much of the material for Lifehouse was released as a traditional studio album, . It became a commercial smash, reaching number one in the UK, and spawned two successful hit singles, "" and "", that featured pioneering use of the synthesizer. "Baba O'Riley" in particular was written as Townshend's ode to his two heroes at the time, Meher Baba and composer .
Pete Townshend performing in Hamburg, Germany in August 1972
Townshend began writing songs for another rock opera in 1973. He decided it would explore the mod subculture and its clashes with
in the early 1960s in the UK. Entitled , it was the only Who album written entirely by Townshend, and he produced the album as well due to the souring of relations with Lambert. It was released in November, and became their highest charting cross-Atlantic success, reaching number two in the UK and US. NME reviewer Charles Shaar Murray called it "prime cut Who" and "the most rewarding musical experience of the year." On tour, the band played the album along to pre-recorded backing tapes, causing much friction. The tapes malfunctioned during a performance in Newcastle, prompting Townshend to drag soundman
onstage, scream at him, kick over all the amplifiers and partially destroyed the malfunctioning tapes. On 14 April 1974, Townshend played his first solo concert, a benefit to raise funds for a London community center.
A , starring , , , and , premiered on 18 March 1975. Townshend was nominated for an Academy Award for scoring and adapting the music in the film.
came out in November of that year and peaked at number seven in the UK and eight in the US. It featured introspective songs, often with a negative slant. The album spawned one hit single, "", that was written after Townshend learned how to play the accordion. After a 1976 tour, Townshend took a year-long break from the band to focus on spending time with his family.
The Who thrived, and continue to thrive, despite the deaths of two of the original members. They are regarded by many rock critics as one of the best live bands from a period of time that stretched from the mid-1960s to the 2000s, the result of a unique combination of high volume, showmanship, a wide variety of rock beats, and a high-energy sound that alternated between tight and free-form. The Who continue to perform critically acclaimed sets in the 21st century, including highly regarded performances at
in 2001, the 2004 ,
in 2005 and the 2007 .
Townshend remained the primary songwriter and leader of the group, writing over one hundred songs which appeared on the band's eleven studio albums. Among his most well-known accomplishments are the creation of a second pioneering rock opera, ; his dr his use of guitar feedbac and the introduction of the synthesiser as a rock instrument. Townshend revisited album-length storytelling throughout his career and remains the musician most associated with the rock opera form. Many studio recordings also feature Townshend on piano or keyboards, though keyboard-heavy tracks increasingly featured guest artists in the studio, such as ,
Townshend is one of the key figures in the development of feedback in rock guitar. When asked who first used feedback,
said, "Pete Townshend was definitely the first. But not being that good a guitarist, he used to just sort of crash chords and let the guitar feedback. He didn't get into twiddling with the dials on the amplifier until much later. He's overrated in England, but at the same time you find a lot of people like
getting credit for things he started. Townshend was the first to break his guitar, and he was the first to do a lot of things. He's very good at his chord scene, too." Similarly, when
was asked about the development of guitar feedback, he said, "I don't know who reall it just sort of happened. I don't think anybody consciously nicked it from anybody else. It was just going on. But Pete Townshend obviously was the one, through the music of his group, who made the use of feedback more his style, and so it's related to him. Whereas the other players like Jeff Beck and myself were playing more single note things than chords."
Many rock guitarists have cited Townshend as an influence, among them ,
In addition to his work with the Who, Townshend has been sporadically active as a solo recording artist. Between 1969 and 1971 Townshend, along with other devotees to , recorded a trio of albums devoted to his teachings: , , and . In response to bootlegging of these, he compiled his personal highlights (and "Evolution", a collaboration with ), and released his first major-label solo title, 1972's . It was a moderate success and featured demos of Who songs as well as a showcase of his acoustic guitar talents. He collaborated with ' bassist and fellow Meher Baba devotee
on a duet album (1977's ). Townshend's solo breakthrough, following the death of Who drummer , was the 1980 release , which included a top-10 single, "" and "". This release was followed in 1982 by , which included the popular radio track "". While not a huge commercial success, noted music critic Timothy Duggan listed it as "Townshend's most honest and introspective work since Quadrophenia." Through the rest of the 1980s and early 1990s Townshend would again experiment with the
and related formats, releasing several story-based albums including
(1989), and
(1993). Townshend also got the chance to play with his hero
for 's "" sessions, along with other respected rock musicians such as ,
Townshend has also recorded several concert albums, including one featuring a
he assembled called , who performed just three concerts and a television show session for , to raise money for a charity supporting drug addicts. In 1993 he and
wrote and directed the Broadway adaptation of the Who album , as well as a less successful stage musical based on his solo album The Iron Man, based upon the book by . McAnuff and Townshend later co-produced the animated film , also based on the Hughes story.
A production described as a Townshend rock-opera and titled
debuted as part of 's Powerhouse Summer Theater program in July 2007.
Pete Townshend in concert, 2008.
From the mid-1990s through the present, Townshend has participated in a series of tours with the surviving members of the Who, including a 2002 tour that continued despite Entwistle's death.
In February 2006, a major world tour by the Who was announced to promote their first new album since 1982. Townshend published a semi-autobiographical story
as a serial on a blog beginning in September 2005. The blog closed in October 2006, as noted on Townshend's website. It is now owned by a different user and does not relate to Townshend's work in any way. On 25 February 2006, he announced the issue of a mini-opera inspired by the novella for June 2006. In October 2006 the Who released their first album in 26 years, .
The Who performed at the
half-time show on 7 February 2010, playing a medley of songs that included "Pinball Wizard", "Who Are You", "Baba O'Riley", "See Me Feel Me" and "Won't Get Fooled Again". In 2012, the Who announced they would tour the rock opera Quadrophenia.
The Who were the final performers at the
in London, performing a medley of "Baba O'Riley", "See Me, Feel Me" and "My Generation".
Townshend leaping into air in concert
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Throughout his solo career and his career with the Who, Townshend has played (and destroyed) a large variety of guitars – mostly various
models. He has also used ,
models, with the J-200 providing his signature recorded acoustic sound in such songs as "".
In the early days with the Who, Townshend played an Emile Grimshaw SS De Luxe and 6-string and 12-string
semi-hollow electric guitars primarily (particularly the Rose-Morris UK-imported models with special f-holes). However, as
became increasingly integrated into the Who's concert sets, he switched to more durable and resilient (and sometimes cheaper) guitars for smashing, such as the ,
and various
models. On the Who's famous
appearance in 1967, Townshend used a
Cheetah guitar, which he only used
and the guitar was smashed to smithereens by Townshend and Moon's drum explosion. In the late 1960s, Townshend began playing
models almost exclusively, specifically the Special models. He used this guitar at the
shows in 1969 and 1970, as well as the
performance in 1970.
changed the design of the SG Special which Townshend had been using previously, and thus he began using other guitars. For much of the 1970s, he used a , some with only two mini- pick-ups and others modified with a third pick-up in the "middle position" (a
Superdistortion / Dual Sound). He can be seen using several of these guitars in the documentary The Kids Are Alright, although in the studio he often played a '59
guitar (given to him by ), most notably on the albums
During the 1980s, Townshend mainly used Fenders, Rickenbackers and Telecaster-style models built for him by
and various other . Since the late-1980s, Townshend has used the , with
pick-ups, both in the studio and on tour. Some of his Stratocaster guitars feature a Fishman PowerBridge piezo pick-up system to simulate acoustic guitar tones. This piezo system is controlled by an extra volume control behind the guitar's bridge.
During the Who's 1989 Tour Townshend played a Rickenbacker guitar that was ironically smashed accidentally when he tripped over it. Instead of throwing the smashed parts away, Townshend reassembled the pieces as a sculpture. The sculpture was featured at the Rock Stars, Cars And Guitars 2 exhibit during the summer of 2009 at
Townshend playing a Fender .
There are several
Pete Townshend signature guitars, such as the Pete Townshend SG, the Pete Townshend J-200, and three different Pete Townshend Les Paul Deluxes. The SG was clearly marked as a Pete Townshend limited edition model and came with a special case and certificate of authenticity, signed by Townshend himself. There has also been a Pete Townshend signature
limited edition guitar of the model 1998, which was his main 6-string guitar in the Who's early days. The run featured 250 guitars which were made between July 1987 – March 1988, and according to Rickenbacker CEO John Hall, the entire run sold out before serious advertising could be done.
He also used the , one of which he donated to the Hard Rock Cafe. Townshend also used a
double neck very briefly circa late 1967, and both a
Sovereign H1270 and a
for the studio sessions for
for the 12-string guitar parts. He also occasionally used Fender Jazzmasters on stage in 1967 and 1968 and in the studio for Tommy.
In 2006, Townshend had a pedal board designed by long-time gear guru . The board apparently is composed with a compressor, an old Boss OD-1 overdrive pedal, as well as a
Replica delay pedal.
Over the years, Pete Townshend has used many types of amplifiers, including , , ,
etc., sticking to using Hiwatt amps for most of four decades. Around the time of , he used a tweed
amp, which he also used for
and . While recording
and the collaborative album , Townshend made use of a
amplifier in the studio. Since 1989, his rig consisted of four Fender Vibro-King stacks and a Hiwatt head driving two custom made 2x12" Hiwatt/Mesa Boogie speaker cabinets. However, since 2006, he has only three Vibro-King stacks, one of which is a backup.
Townshend figured prominently in the development of what is widely known in rock circles as the "". It has been recounted by others during the start of popularity of 's guitar amplifiers, that Townshend became a user of these amps.
He also ordered several speaker cabinets that contained eight speakers in a housing standing nearly six feet in height with the top half of the cabinet slanted slightly upward. These became hard to move and were incredibly heavy.
Jim Marshall then cut the massive speaker cabinet into two separate speaker cabinets, at the suggestion of Townshend, with each cabinet containing four 12-inch speakers. One of the cabinets had half of the speaker baffle slanted upwards and Marshall made these two cabinets stackable. The Marshall stack was born, and Townshend used these as well as Hiwatt stacks.
He has always regarded his instruments as being merely tools of the trade and has, in latter years, determinedly kept his most prized instruments well away from the concert stage. These instruments include a few vintage and reissue Rickenbackers, the Gretsch 6120, an original 1952 , Gibson Custom Shop's artist limited edition reissues of Townshend's Les Paul DeLuxe models 1, 3 and 9 as well his signature SG Special reissue.
Townshend played keyboards on several Who songs. On Who's Next, he began to work with , using the
model that he first encountered at . He had this to say about the instrument: "I like synthesizers because they bring into my hands things that aren't in my hands: the sound of an orchestra, French horns, strings. There are gadgets on synthesizers that enable one to become a virtuoso on the keyboard. You can play something slowly and you press a switch and it plays it back at double speed. Whereas on the guitar you're stuck with as fast as you can play and I don't play fast, I just play hard. So when it goes to playing something fast I go to the synth."
These include the EMS , the
, some of which modified a . Current photos of his home studio also show an . Townshend was featured in ARP promotional materials in the early 1970s.
Since the late 1980s Townshend has predominantly used
Digital Audio systems for keyboard composition, particularly solo albums and projects. He currently owns three systems, one large Synclavier 9600 Tapeless Studio system, originally installed in his riverside Oceanic Studio, later transferred to a seagoing barge moored alongside the studio on the River Thames, and currently based in his home studio. He also uses a special adapted smaller Synclavier 3200 system which can be transported, enabling him to carry on working away from his main studio. This 3200 system was modified to be of similar specification to the 9600, including the addition internally of FM voices, stereo Poly voices and with the large VPK keyboard. This is the only Synclavier 3200 system of this specification in existence, custom designed and built for Townshend by Steve Hills. The third system Townshend owns is one of the first Synclavier II systems ever built. The ORK (original smaller) keyboard of which is on display in his company's head office alongside a pink
Although known for his musical compositions and musicianship, Pete Townshend has been extensively involved in the literary world for more than three decades, writing newspaper and magazine articles, book reviews, essays, books, and scripts.
An early example of Townshend's writing came in August 1970 with the first of nine instalments of "The Pete Townshend Page", a monthly column written by Townshend for the British music paper . The column provided Townshend's perspective on an array of subjects, such as the media and the state of US concert halls and public address systems, as well as providing valuable insight into Townshend's mindset during the evolution of his Lifehouse project.
Townshend also wrote three sizeable essays for Rolling Stone magazine, the first of which appeared in November 1970.
described Townshend's spiritual leanings. "Meaty, Beaty, Big and Bouncy", a blow-by-blow account of the Who compilation album of the same name, followed in December 1971. The third article, "The Punk Meets the Godmother", appeared in November 1977.
Also in 1977, Townshend founded , which specialised in children's titles, music books, and several Meher Baba-related publications. A bookstore named Magic Bus (after the popular Who song) was opened in London. The Story of Tommy, a book written by Townshend and his art school friend
(now the Who's official biographer) about the writing of Townshend's 1969 rock opera and the making of the 1975 -directed film, was published by Eel Pie the same year.
In July 1983, Townshend took a position as an
for London publisher . Notable projects included editing
frontman 's autobiography, 's award-winning Crosstown Traffic: Jimi Hendrix and Post-War Pop,
and 's , and working with
on a volume of his collected speeches. Townshend commissioned 's , and was
for radical playwright .
Two years after joining Faber and Faber, Townshend decided to publish a book of his own. , published in May 1985, was a collection of short stories he'd written between 1979 and 1984, tackling subjects such as childhood, stardom and spirituality. As a result of his position with Faber and Faber, Townshend developed friendships with both Nobel prize-winning author of , Sir , and British
. His friendship with Hughes led to Townshend's musical interpretation of Hughes's children's story The Iron Man, six years later, as , released in 1989.
Townshend has written several scripts spanning the breadth of his career, including numerous drafts of his elusive Lifehouse project, the last of which, co-written with radio playwright Jeff Young, was published in 1999. In 1978, Townshend wrote a script for Fish Shop, a play commissioned but not completed by , and in mid-1984 he wrote a script for
which led to a short film.
In 1989, Townshend began work on a novel entitled Ray High & The Glass Household, a draft of which was later submitted to his editor. While the original novel remains unpublished, elements from this story were used in Townshend's 1993 solo album . In 1993, Townshend authored another book, , a chronicle of the development of the award-winning
version of his rock opera.
The opening of his personal website and his commerce site , both in 2000, gave Townshend another outlet for literary work. Several of Townshend's essays have been posted online, including "Meher Baba—The Silent Master: My Own Silence" in 2001, and "A Different Bomb", an indictment of the
industry, the following year.
In September 2005, Townshend began posting a novella online entitled
as background for a musical of the same name. He posted a chapter each week until it was completed, and novella was available to read at his website for several months. Like Psychoderelict, it was yet another extrapolation of Lifehouse and Ray High & The Glass Household.
In 1997 Townshend signed a deal with
publishing to write his autobiography, reportedly titled Pete Townshend: Who He? Townshend's creative vagaries and conceptual machinations have been chronicled by Larry David Smith in his book The Minstrel's Dilemma ( 1999). After a lengthy delay, Townshend's autobiography, now titled , was released 8 October 2012. The book ranked in the top 5 of the
best seller list in October 2012.
Townshend showed no predilection for religious belief in the first years of the Who's career. By the beginning of 1968, however, Townshend had begun to explore spiritual ideas. In January 1968, The Who recorded his song "Faith in Something Bigger" (). Townshend's art school friend Mike McInnerney gave him a copy of 's book The God-Man, introducing him to the writings of the Indian "perfect master" , who blended elements of , , and
Townshend swiftly absorbed all of Baba's writing by April 1968, he announced himself Baba's disciple. At about this time, Townshend, who had been searching the past two years for a basis for a rock opera, created a story inspired by the teachings of Baba and other writings and expressing the enlightenment he believed that he had received from them, which ultimately became . Tommy did more than revitalise the Who's career (which was moderately successful at this point but had reached a plateau); it also marked a renewal of Townshend's songwriting and his spiritual studies infused most of his work from Tommy forward, including the unfinished Who project . The Who song "", written for Lifehouse and eventually appearing on the album , was named for Meher Baba and
composer . His newfound passion was not shared by his bandmates, whose attitude was tolerant, but who were unwilling to become the spokesmen for a particular religion. Few of the thousands of fans who packed stadiums across Europe and the US to see the Who noticed the religious message in the songs: that "" and the middle section of "" from
and "Listening To You" from Tommy were all originally written as prayers, that "Drowned" from
and "" from
were based on Baba's sayings, that the "who are you, who, who, who, who" chorus from the song "Who Are You" was based on , or that "Let My Love Open The Door" was not a message from a lover but from God.
In interviews Townshend was more open about his beliefs, penning an article on Baba for Rolling Stone in 1970 and stating that following Baba's teachings, he was opposed to the use of all , making him one of the first rock stars with
credibility to turn against their use.
His stardom quickly made him the world's most notable follower of Baba. Having missed out on meeting his guru with Baba's death 31 January 1969 (work on Tommy kept him from making the pilgrimage), Townshend made several trips to visit Baba's tomb in India as well as becoming a frequent visitor to the
in . At home he recorded and released his most overtly spiritual songs on records assembled, pressed and sold by Baba organisations. When these records became widely bootlegged, Townshend put together a selection of the tracks for release as the solo album . In 1976 he opened the
in London, using it as a haven for English Baba followers and Americans making a pilgrimage to Baba's tomb in , India as well as a place for small concerts (one such in 1979 was released on CD in 2001 as ) and a repository for films made of Baba.
Townshend became a lower-profile follower after 1982, having felt that his former addictions to cocaine and heroin made him a poor candidate for spokesman. Nevertheless, his discipleship continues to the current day.
Townshend met Karen Astley, daughter of film composer , while in art school. They married on 20 May 1968, and moved into a three-bedroom townhouse in
that overlooked the . They have three children:
(born 1969), who is a gardening columnist, Aminta (born 1971), and Joseph (born 1990). The couple separated in 1994 and divorced in 2009. Townshend currently lives with his long-time girlfriend, musician , in , , England. He also owns a house in Churt, Surrey, England, and in 2010 purchased a lease on the historic
in Oxfordshire. According to
his assets were worth ?40 million as of 2009.
In a 1989 interview with radio host , Townshend apparently acknowledged his , referencing the song "Rough Boys" on his 1980 album, . He called the song a "coming out, an acknowledgment of the fact that I'd had a
life, and that I understood what gay sex was about." However, in a 1994 interview for , he said, "I did an interview about it, saying that "Rough Boys" was about being gay, and in the interview I also talked about my "gay life," which—I meant—was actually about the friends I've had who are gay. So the interviewer kind of dotted the t's and crossed the i's and assumed that this was a coming out, which it wasn't at all." Townshend later wrote in his 2012 autobiography
that he at one point felt as if he was "probably bisexual". Townshend also stated jokingly that he once felt sexually attracted to
frontman, .
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Besides his arrest for assaulting a police officer in 1967 and issues with destruction of property, Townshend was
as part of , a major investigation on
conducted in . Townshend was placed on the sex offenders register for five years in 2003 after admitting he had used his credit card to access a website bearing the message "click here for child porn" four years earlier. Later investigation showed that he had visited an ordinary porn site, and not one containing child porn.
Townshend suffers from partial
believed to be the result of
from his extensive exposure to loud music. Some such incidents include a Who concert at the , London, on 31 May 1976 that was listed as the "Loudest Concert Ever" by the , where the volume level was measured at 126
32 metres from the stage. Townshend has also attributed the start of his hearing loss to Keith Moon's famous exploding drum set during the Who's 1967 appearance on .
What I want to do is sophisticate our sound a little. One of the troubles is Moon. He's so deafening.
—Pete Townshend,
– April 1970
In 1989, Townshend gave the initial funding to allow the formation of the non-profit hearing advocacy group
(Hearing Education and Awareness for Rockers). After the Who performed at half-time at the , Townshend stated that he is concerned that his tinnitus has grown to such a point that he might be forced to discontinue performing with the band altogether. He told Rolling Stone, "If my hearing is going to be a problem, we're not delaying shows. We're finished. I can't really see any way around the issue."
introduced him to an
who suggested he use an , and although they cancelled their spring 2010 touring schedule, Townshend used the device at their one remaining London concert on 30 March 2010, to ascertain the feasibility of Townshend continuing to perform with the Who.
In March 2011, Roger Daltrey said in an interview with the BBC that Townshend had recently experienced gradual but severe
and was now trying to save what remained of his hearing.
"Pete's having terrible trouble with his hearing. He's got really, really bad problems with it...not , it's deterioration and he's seriously now worried about actually losing his hearing."
Referring to that, in July 2011, Townshend wrote at his blog: "My hearing is actually better than ever because after a feedback scare at the
in December 2008 I am taking good care of it. I have computer systems in my studio that have helped me do my engineering work on the forthcoming Quadrophenia release. I have had assistance from younger forensic engineers and mastering engineers to help me clean up the high frequencies that are out of my range. The same computer systems work wonderfully well on stage, proving to be perfect for me when the Who performed at the Super Bowl and doing Quadrophenia for TCT at the Royal Albert Hall in 2010. I'm 66, I don't have perfect hearing, and if I listen to loud music or go to gigs I do tend to get tinnitus."
In 1998, Townshend was named in a list of the biggest private financial donors to the . He refused to let
use "" in , saying that he watched
and was not convinced. In 1961 while in art school, Townshend joined the
and was a prominent figure in their 1966 "Trend" recruitment campaign. In a 1974
interview he stated that in practice he was a capitalist rewarded well for his work but his ideals were communist. On several other occasions he identified himself to the press as a communist.
Performing in Austin, Texas as a supporting guest of friend and former / musician, Ian McLagan in 2007
Pete Townshend has woven a long history of involvement with various charities and other philanthropic efforts throughout his career, both as a solo artist and with the Who. His first solo concert, for example, was a 1974 benefit show which was organised to raise funds for the Camden Square Community Play Centre.
The earliest public example of Townshend's involvement with charitable causes was in 1968, when Townshend donated the use of his former Wardour Street apartment to the Meher Baba Association. The following year, the association was moved to another Townshend-owned apartment, the Eccleston Square former residence of wife Karen. Townshend sat on a committee which oversaw the operation and finances of the centre. "The committee sees to it that it is open a couple of days a week, and keeps the bills paid and the library full", he wrote in a 1970 Rolling Stone article.
In 1969 and 1972 Townshend produced two limited-release albums, Happy Birthday and I Am, for the London-based Baba association. This led to 1972's Who Came First, a more widespread release, 15 percent of the revenue of which went to the Baba association. A further limited release, With Love, was released in 1976. A limited-edition boxed set of all three limited releases on CD, Avatar, was released in 2000, with all profits going to the
in India, which provided funds to a dispensary, school, hospital and pilgrimage centre.
In July 1976, Townshend opened Meher Baba Oceanic, a London activity centre for Baba followers which featured film dubbing and editing facilities, a cinema and a recording studio. In addition, the centre served as a regular meeting place for Baba followers. Townshend offered very economical (reportedly ?1 per night) lodging for American followers who needed an overnight stay on their pilgrimages to India. "For a few years, I had toyed with the idea of opening a London house dedicated to Meher Baba", he wrote in a 1977 Rolling Stone article. "In the eight years I had followed him, I had donated only coppers to foundations set up around the world to carry out the Master's wishes and decided it was about time I put myself on the line. The Who had set up a strong charitable trust of its own which appeased, to an extent, the feeling I had that Meher Baba would rather have seen me give to the poor than to the establishment of yet another so-called 'spiritual center'." Townshend also embarked on a project dedicated to the collection, restoration and maintenance of Meher Baba-related films. The project was known as MEFA, or Meher Baba European Film Archive.
Townshend has been an active champion of children's charities. The debut of Pete Townshend's stage version of
took place at San Diego's La Jolla Playhouse in July 1992. The show was earmarked as a benefit for the London-based
Music Therapy Foundation, an organisation which helps children with
Townshend performed at a 1995 benefit organised by
at 's Paramount Theatre, for The Children's Health Fund. The following year, Townshend performed at a benefit for the annual , a California facility for children with severe speech and physical impairments with concerts organised by
and . In 1997, Townshend established a relationship with , a Chicago area children's charity. Between 1997 and 2002, Townshend played five benefit shows for Maryville Academy, raising at least $1,600,000. His 1998 album
was made to support their activities and proceeds from the sales of his release were donated to them.
As a member of , Pete Townshend has also performed a series of concerts, beginning in 2000, benefiting the
in the UK, raising several million pounds. In 2005, Townshend performed at New York's
for Samsung's Four Seasons of Hope, an annual children's charity fundraiser, and donated a smashed guitar to the Pediatric Epilepsy Project.
On 4 November 2011, Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend launched the Daltrey/Townshend Teen and Young Adult Cancer Program at the
in Los Angeles, to be funded by the Who's charity Who Cares. The launch, followed on 5 November by a fund-raising event, was also attended by
Townshend has also advocated for . In a 1985 radio interview, he said:
What I'm most active in doing is raising money to provide beds in clinics to help people that have become victims of drug abuse. In Britain, the facilities are very, very, very lean indeed ... although we have a national health service, a free medical system, it does nothing particularly for
drug addicts –
abusers, heroin abusers ... we're making a lot of progress ... the British government embarked on an anti-heroin campaign with advertising, and I was co-opted by them as a kind of figurehead, and then the various other people co-opted me into their own campaigns, but my main work is raising money to try and open a large clinic.
The "large clinic" Townshend was referring to was a plan he and drug rehabilitation experimenter Meg Patterson had devised to open a drug treatment facility in L however, the plan failed to come to fruition. Two early 1979 concerts by the Who raised ?20,000 for Patterson's Pharmakon Clinic in .
Further examples of Townshend's drug rehabilitation activism took place in the form of a 1984
(incidentally the first live performance of Manchester band, ), an article he wrote a few days later for Britain's
urging better care for the nation's growing number of drug addicts, and the formation of a charitable organisation, Double-O Charities, to raise funds for the causes he'd recently championed. Townshend also personally sold fund-raising anti-heroin T-shirts at a series of UK
concerts, and reportedly financed a trip for former
to undergo drug rehabilitation treatment. Townshend's 1985–86 band, Deep End, played two benefits at
in 1985 for Double-O Charities.
In 1979, Townshend donated his services to the human rights organisation
when he performed three songs for its benefit show
– performances that were released on record and seen in the film of the show. Townshend's acoustic performances of three of his songs ("", "Drowned", and "") were subsequently cited as having been the forerunner and inspiration for the "" phenomenon in the 1990s. Townshend had been invited to perform for Amnesty by , the producer of
who stated later that Townshend's participation had been the key to his securing the subsequent participation for Amnesty (in the 1981 sequel show) of , , ,
and . Other performers inspired to support Amnesty International in future
shows and other benefits because of Townshend's early commitment to the organisation include , ,
who in 1986 told Rolling Stone magazine: "I saw The Secret Policeman's Ball and it became a part of me. It sowed a seed...."
Main article:
(1977) (with Ronnie Lane)
Townshend also released several albums dedicated to his spiritual mentor , listed on the discography page.
In 1968 Townshend helped assemble a band called
consisting of three musicians he knew. Pianist Andy Newman (an old art school friend), drummer
(who had written "Armenia City in the Sky" for the Who to record for their 1967 album ) and teenage guitarist
(later to join ). Townshend produced the band and played bass on their recordings under the tongue-in-cheek pseudonym "Bijou Drains". Their first recording was the single "", which became a number one hit in the UK and a substantial hit elsewhere in the world. This was the only number one hit in the UK that Townshend performed on. (The Who had none.) Following this success, Townshend produced their sole album, Hollywood Dream.
Townshend also produced "Fire" by The Crazy World of Arthur Brown in 1968 that was No. 1 in the UK and No. 2 in the US.
In 1971, Townshend, along with
and , backed
(of the ) on one song "Warm Heart Pastry" from Heron's first solo LP, . On the album notes, they are listed as "Tommy and the Bijoux". Also present on the track was
In 1984, Townshend contributed lyrics to the track "I'm the Answer" on his brother 's debut solo album
which was released as a single and features Townshend and Simon on an interview that wrongly names that the track was by "Peter Townshend".
In 1984, Townshend contributed lyrics to two songs ("Love on The Air" and "All Lovers are Deranged") on 's solo album .
Through much of 2005, Pete Townshend recorded and performed alongside his girlfriend , a classically trained pianist and singer-songwriter.
In 2006, Townshend opened a website for implementation of
based on his 1971
concept. This website was in collaboration with composer
and software developer David Snowden, with instrumentation by Steve Hills. Applicants at the website could input data to compose a musical "portrait" which the musical team could then develop into larger compositions for a planned concert or series of concerts.
Other appearances include:
Acoustic guitar on "" with
Backing vocals on "I'm the Answer" with
"Lonely at the Top" and "Hard Women" with
Guitar on "" with
Acoustic guitar with
on "Hey Manhattan!" on
"Joy" and "Gun" with
"Angry" and "Move Over Busker" on 's
The Story of Tommy (1977, ) – with
Horse's Neck (1985, ) – short story collection
The Who's Tommy (1993, )
The Who: Maximum R&B (2004, ) – with Richard Barnes
(2012, ) – autobiography
1983 – Life Achievement Award
(music & lyrics) –
1994 – Best Musical Show Album (as composer and lyricist of )
2001 – Lifetime Achievement Award
2001 – Lifetime Achievement Award
Honorary doctorate from , 2010
Classic Album Award for Quadrophenia from the
at , 9 November 2011, London, England
1991 - Man Of Rock
2007 - Lifetime Achievement Award
2013 - Les Paul Award
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