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| Pete Townshend | ||
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| Background information | ||
| Birth name | Peter Dennis Blandford Townshend | |
| Born | 19 May 1945 London, England |
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| Genre(s) | Pop-rock Rock Opera |
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| Occupation(s) | Musician | |
| Instrument(s) | Guitar, Piano, Synthesizer, Keyboards, Bass Guitar, Drums, Violin, Mandolin, Ukulele, Banjo | |
| Years active | 1960 – present | |
| Label(s) | Track Records Polydor Atlantic Records Atco Decca Rykodisc |
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| Associated acts |
The Who Deep End |
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| Website | http://www.petetownshend.co.uk | |
Peter Dennis Blandford Townshend (born May 19, 1945 in Chiswick, London), is an award-winning English rock guitarist, singer, songwriter, and composer.
Townshend made his name as the guitarist and principal songwriter for rock band The Who. His career with them spans more than 40 years, during which time the band grew to be considered one of the greatest and most influential rock bands of all time, in addition to being "possibly the greatest live band ever." Townshend is the primary songwriter for the group, writing over 100 songs on the band's eleven studio albums, including the rock operas Tommy and Quadrophenia, plus dozens of additional songs that appeared as non-album track singles, bonus tracks on reissues and tracks on rarities compilations such as Odds and Sods. Although known mainly for being a guitarist, he has also played many other instruments on his solo albums, and on some Who albums (such as bass guitar, drums and piano).
Townshend has been a follower of the Indian religious
guru Meher
Baba, whose teachings require abstinence from drug
use, something with which Townshend has had several public battles. His
solo career, while only sporadically active, gave him the chance to
play with one of his heroes,
In addition to Townshend's musical activities, he has written
newspaper and magazine articles, book reviews, essays, books, and
scripts. He has also been a long-standing supporter of various
charities and other philanthropic efforts. Suffering from hearing loss
as a result of extensive exposure to loud music through headphones and
in concerts, Townshend helped fund the formation of
Townshend met and married Karen Astley in 1968, but the couple separated in 1994 and Townshend announced they would divorce in 2000. In 1997 he met Rachel Fuller, his current partner.
In 2003, he was the subject of international headlines, when
he accepted a Police Caution for accessing a website alleged to
advertise child pornography. (Investigative
journalist
Contents
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Born into a musical family (his father Cliff
Townshend was a professional saxophonist in The
Squadronaires and his mother Betty a singer), Townshend exhibited a
fascination with music at an early age. He had early exposure to
American rock and roll (his mother recounts that he repeatedly saw the
1956 film
Townshend's biggest guitar influences include Link Wray,
In 1961 Townshend enrolled at Ealing Art College, and, a year later, he and his school friend from Acton County Grammar School John Entwistle founded their first band, The Confederates, a Dixieland duet featuring Townshend on banjo and Entwistle on horn. From this beginning they moved on to The Detours, a skiffle/rock and roll band fronted by then sheet-metal welder Roger Daltrey. In early 1964 The Detours renamed themselves The Who. Drummer Doug Sandom was replaced by Keith Moon not long afterwards. The band (now comprising Daltrey on vocals, Townshend on guitar, Entwistle on bass, and Moon on drums) were soon taken on by a mod publicist (named Peter Meaden) who convinced them to change their name to The High Numbers to give the band more of a mod feel. After bringing out one single ("Zoot Suit"), they dropped Meaden and were signed on by two new managers, Chris Stamp and Kit Lambert. They dropped The High Numbers name and reverted back to The Who.
After The High Numbers once again became The Who, Townshend
wrote several successful singles for the band, including "I Can't
Explain," "Pictures of Lily," "Substitute," and "
The Who thrived, and continue to thrive, despite the death 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 late 1960s to the early 1980s, 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 a highly regarded performance at the Live 8 music festival in July 2005.
Townshend remained the primary songwriter for the group, writing over 100 songs which appeared on the band's 11 studio albums. Among his most well-known accomplishments are the creation of Tommy, for which the term "rock opera" was coined, pioneering the use of feedback, and the introduction of the synthesizer as a rock instrument. Townshend revisited album-length storytelling techniques throughout his career and remains the musician most associated with the rock opera form. Townshend also demonstrated prodigious talent on the guitar and was influential as a player, developing a unique style which combined aspects of rhythm and lead guitar and a characteristic mix of abandon and subtlety. Many tracks also feature Townshend on piano or keyboards, though keyboard-heavy tracks usually featured guest artists such as Nicky Hopkins or Chris Stainton.
Townshend has been a follower of the Indian religious
guru Meher
Baba, who blended elements of Vedantic, Sufi, and Mystic schools. Baba's teachings were
a major source of inspiration for many of his works, including Tommy,
and the unfinished Who project Lifehouse.
The Who song "
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 Meher Baba, recorded a trio of
albums devoted to the yogi's teachings:
Townshend also got the chance to play with his hero Hank Marvin for Paul McCartney's Rockestra sessions, along with other respected rock musicians such as David Gilmour, John Bonham and Ronnie Lane.
Townshend has also recorded several live
albums, including one featuring a supergroup he assembled called Deep
End, who performed just two concerts and a TV show session for
A production described as a Townshend rock-opera and titled
Townshend suffers from partial deafness and tinnitus as a
result of extensive exposure to loud music through headphones
and in concert, including The Who concert at Charlton Athletic Football
Ground, London 1976-05-31, that was listed in the Guinness Book of
World Records, where the volume level was measured at 126 dB 32 m from the stage. A
big part of his condition can be attributed to an infamous 1967
appearance on the
Townshend met Karen Astley (daughter of composer Ted Astley) while in art school and married her in 1968. The couple separated in 1994 and Townshend announced they would divorce in 2000. They have 3 children, Emma (b. 1969), who is a singer/songwriter, Aminta (b. 1971), and Joseph (b. 1989). For many years Townshend refused to confirm or deny rumors that he was bisexual. In a 2002 interview with Rolling Stone magazine, however, he explained that, although he engaged in some brief same-sex experimentation in the 1960s, he is heterosexual. Townshend now lives with his long-time partner, musician Rachel Fuller. He currently lives in Richmond, England.
As part of the Operation Ore investigations,
Townshend was cautioned by the police in 2003 after
acknowledging a credit card access in 1999 to the Landslide website
alleged to advertise child pornography.
He claimed in the press and on his website to have been engaged in
research for A Different Bomb (a now-abandoned book
based on an anti-child pornography essay published on his website in
January 2002), his autobiography and as part of a campaign against
child pornography. The police searched his house and confiscated 14
computers and other materials and after a four-month forensic
investigation confirmed that they had found no evidence of child
abuse images. Consequently, the police offered a caution rather than
pressing charges, issuing a statement: "After 4 months of
investigation by officers from Scotland Yard's child protection group,
it was established that Mr Townshend was not in possession of any
downloaded child abuse images." In a statement issued by his solicitor
, Townshend said, "I accept that I was wrong to access this site, and
that by doing so, I broke the law, and I have accepted the caution that
the police have given me." As a statutory consequence of accepting the
caution, Townshend was entered on the
A later investigator stated that he was "falsely accused".
After obtaining copies of the Landslide hard drives and tracing
Townshend's actions, investigative journalist
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
Although best known for his musical compositions and musicianship, Pete Townshend has been extensively involved in the literary world for more than 3 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 installments of "The Pete Townshend Page", a monthly column written by Townshend for the British music paper Melody Maker. The column provided Townshend’s perspective on an array of subjects, such as the media and the state of U.S. 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 3 sizeable essays for Rolling Stone magazine, the first of which appeared in November 1970. "In Love With Meher Baba" 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 Eel Pie Publishing, which specialized 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 Richard Barnes about the writing of Townshend’s 1969 rock opera and the making of the 1975 Ken Russell-directed film, was published by Eel Pie the same year.
In July 1983, Townshend took a position as an acquisitions editor for London publisher Faber and Faber. Notable projects included editing Animals frontman Eric Burdon’s autobiography, Charles Shaar Murray’s award-winning Crosstown Traffic, Brian Eno and Russell Mills's More Dark Than Shark, and working with Prince Charles on a volume of his collected speeches. Pete commissioned Dave Rimmer’s Like Punk Never Happened, and was commissioning editor for radical playwright Steven Berkoff. Two years after joining Faber and Faber, Townshend decided to publish a book of his own. Horse’s Neck, 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 a friendship with the Nobel prize-winning author of Lord of the Flies, Sir William Golding, and became friends with British Poet Laureate Ted Hughes. His friendship with Hughes led to Townshend’s musical interpretation of Hughes's children's story, The Iron Man, six years later.
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 London Weekend Television, and in mid-1984 he wrote a script for White City 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 Psychoderelict.
In 1993, Townshend authored another book, The Who’s
Tommy, a chronicle of the development of the award-winning
The opening of his personal website and his commerce site Eelpie.com, 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 child pornography industry, the following year.
Townshend’s most recent literary contribution is
Townshend signed a deal with Little, Brown publishing in 1997 to write his autobiography. Reportedly half-complete and titled "Pete Townshend: Who He?" this is a work-in-progress. Townshend's creative vagaries and conceptual machinations have been chronicled by Larry David Smith in his book "The Minstrel's Dilemma" (Praeger 1999).
Throughout his solo career and his career with The Who, Townshend has played (and destroyed) a large variety of guitars.
In the early days with The Who, Townshend played 6-string and 12-string Rickenbacker semi-hollow electric guitars primarily (particularly the Rose-Morris UK-imported models with special f-holes). However, as instrument-smashing 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 Fender Stratocaster, Fender Telecaster and various Danelectro models. In the late 1960s, Townshend began playing Gibson SG models almost exclusively, specifically the Special models. He used this guitar at the Woodstock and Isle of Wight shows in 1969 and 1970.
By 1972,
During the 1980s, Townshend mainly used Rickenbackers
and Telecaster-style models built for him by Schecter and
various other luthiers.
Since the late-1980s, Townshend has used the
Townshend has used a number of other electric guitars,
including various Gretsch,
There are several
He also used the Gibson ES-335, one of which he donated to the Hard Rock Cafe. Townshend also used a Gibson EDS-1275 double neck very briefly around 1968, and a Fender XII Guitar for the studio sessions for Tommy for the 12 strings guitar parts.
Most recently in 2006, Townshend had a pedalboard designed by longtime gear guru Pete Cornish. The board apparently is composed with a compressor, an old Boss OD-1 overdrive pedal, as well as a T-Rex Replica delay pedal.
Over the years, Pete Townshend has used many types of
amplifiers, including
Townshend figured prominently in what is widely known in rock circles as the "Marshall Stack". It has been recounted by others during the start of popularity of Jim Marshall's guitar amplifiers, that Townshend became a user of these amps.
He also ordered several speaker cabinets that contained eight speakers in a houseing 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 4 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 has Hiwatt stacks.
From the The Who's emergence on the British musical landscape, Pete Townshend could always be counted upon for good copy. By early 1966 he had become the band's spokesman, interviewed separate from the band for the BBC television series A Whole Scene Going admitting that the band used drugs and that he considered The Beatles' backing tracks "flippin' lousy." Throughout the 1960s Townshend made regular appearances in the pages of British music magazines, but it was a very long interview he gave to Rolling Stone in 1968 that sealed his reputation as one of rock's leading intellectuals and theorists on rock music.
Townshend gave interview after interview to the newly risen underground
press, not only providing them with a star for their covers, but firmly
establishing his reputation as an honest and erudite commentator on the
rock 'n' roll scene. In addition, he wrote his own articles, starting a
regular monthly column in Melody Maker,
and contributing to Rolling Stone
with an article on his avatar Meher Baba and a review of The Who's
album
Townshend has withdrawn from the press on occasion. On his 30th birthday, Townshend discussed his feelings that The Who were failing to journalist Roy Carr, making acid comments on fellow Who member Roger Daltrey and other leading members of the British rock community. Carr printed his remarks in the NME causing strong friction within The Who and embarrassing Townshend. Feeling betrayed, he stopped interviews with the press for over two years.
Nevertheless, Townshend has maintained close relationships
with journalists, and sought them out in 1982 to describe his two-year
battle with cocaine and heroin. Some of those press members turned on
him in the 1980s as the punk rock revolution led to widespread
dismissal of the old guard of rock. Townshend attacked two of them, Julie
Burchill and
By the 1990s Pete was still a popular interview subject although his comments were sometimes given a scandalous spin. A 1990 book of interviews by Timothy White, Rock Lives, contained Townshend's thoughts on the meaning of his song "Rough Boys" that gave the mistaken impression that he was gay or bisexual. The information was picked up by the British tabloid press that spread this misinformation around the world. Townshend kept silent on the issue out of respect for his gay friends, until clarifying in a 1994 Playboy interview that he was neither gay nor bisexual.
Townshend still continues to write pieces on rock and his place in it, mostly for his website but he also remains a celebrity sought after by music magazines and newspapers to the present day.
On October 25, 2006, Townshend declined at the last minute to do a scheduled interview with Sirius Satellite Radio star Howard Stern after Stern's co-host Robin Quivers and sidekick Artie Lange made joking references to his 2003 arrest. Stern conducted an interview instead with Roger Daltrey and repeatedly expressed regret about the utterances of his on-air colleagues stating that they did not reflect his own feelings of respect for Townshend.
Later in 2006, Townshend appeared on the popular Living Legends radio show in an exclusive interview with Opal Bonfante. The live interview was broadcasted worldwide on Radio London, his first live interview for fifteen years. Townshend spoke with Opal about his forthcoming UK tour, his online novella and his memories of the old pirate radio stations.
Townshend showed no predilection for religious belief in the first years of The Who's career and few would have suspected that the violent guitar-smasher was even a closet acolyte. 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" (Odds and Sods LP). Later that same month during a tour of Australia and New Zealand, The Small Faces' member Ronnie Lane introduced Townshend to the writings of the Indian "perfect master" Meher Baba.
Townshend swiftly absorbed all the writings of Meher Baba he could find and by April 1968, announced himself a disciple of Baba. It was at that time that 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 Indian spiritualists that would ultimately become Tommy.
Tommy did
more than revitalize The Who's career (which was
moderately successful at this point but had plateaued), it also marked
a renewal of Townshend's songwriting and his spiritual studies infused
most of his work from Tommy forward. However, unlike other openly
spiritual rock stars whose music became dogmatic once they discovered
religion, Townshend generally soft-pedaled the religious nature of his
work. This may have been because 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 America to see The Who
noticed the religious message in the songs; that "Bargain"
and the middle section of "Behind Blue Eyes" from
In interviews Townshend was more open about his beliefs, penning an article on Baba for Rolling Stone and stating that following Baba's teachings, he was opposed to the use of all psychedelic drugs, making him one of the first rock stars with counterculture credibility to turn against their use.
His stardom quickly made him the world's most-notable follower of Meher Baba. Having just missed out on meeting his avatar with Baba's death January 31, 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 Meher Baba Spiritual Center in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. At home he recorded and released his most overtly spiritual songs on records assembled, pressed and sold by Baba organizations. When these records became widely bootlegged, Townshend put together a selection of the tracks for release as the solo album Who Came First. One of the songs from that album, "Parvardigar," a Baba prayer set to music by Townshend, would gradually be accepted as a hymn by the Baba movement. In 1976 he opened the Oceanic Centre in London, using it as a haven for English Baba followers and Americans making a pilgrimage to Baba's tomb as well as a place for small concerts (one such in 1979 was released on CD in 2001 as Pete Townshend & Raphael Rudd—The Oceanic Concerts) and a repository for films made of Baba.
Townshend became a lower-profile member after 1982 having felt that his just-ended two-year indulgence in cocaine and heroin had made him a poor candidate to be a spokesman. Nevertheless his discipleship remains an ever-present element of his career and a key to those looking for the meaning and background to his work.
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 organized to raise funds for the Camden Square Community Play Center.
The earliest public example of Townshend’s involvement with
charitable causes is the relationship he established with the
Richmond-based Meher Baba Association. In 1968,
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 center. “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 3 limited
releases on CD, Avatar, was released in 2000, with
all profits going to the
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 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 Baba 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 Tommy
took place at San Diego’s La Jolla Playhouse in July 1992. The show was
earmarked as a benefit for the London-based
Townshend has also advocated for drug rehabilitation. “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,” he said in a late 1985 radio interview. “...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 class A drug addicts – cocaine 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 pioneer
Further examples of Townshend’s anti-drug activism took place in the form of a 1984 benefit concert, an article he wrote a few days later for Britain’s Mail On Sunday urging better care for the nation’s growing number of drug addicts, and the formation of a charitable organization, ‘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 Bruce Springsteen concerts, and reportedly financed a trip for troubled former Clash drummer Topper Headon to undergo drug rehabilitation treatment. Townshend's 1985/86 band, 'Deep End', played two benefits at Brixton Academy in 1985 for 'Double-O Charities'.
In 1979, Townshend became the first major rock musician to
donate his services to the human rights organization Amnesty
International when he performed 3 songs for its benefit show
Highlights of Pete Townshend’s other public charitable efforts include the following:
Although Townshend has not at this date issued an album
entitled
In 1968 Townshend helped assemble a band called Thunderclap
Newman consisting of 3 musicians he knew. Pianist Andy Newman (an
old art school friend), drummer John "Speedy" Keen (who had
written "Armenia City in the Sky", covered by The Who on their 1967
album The Who Sell Out) and teenage
guitarist Jimmy McCullough (later to join
Wings). Townshend produced the band and played bass on their recordings
under the tongue-in-cheek pseudonym "Bijou Drains". Their first
recording was the single "
For albums Townshend composed as a member of The Who, see their entry. Not included are albums by other artists on which Townshend played as a session musician. Through much of 2005, Pete Townshend recorded and performed alongside his partner Rachel Fuller, a classically trained pianist and singer-songwriter.
In 2006, Townshend opened a website for implementation of The Lifehouse Method based on his 1971 Lifehouse concept. This website is in collaboration with composer Lawrence Ball and software developer David Snowden. Applicants at the website can input data to compose a musical 'portrait' which the musical team may then develop into larger compositions for a planned concert or series of concerts to be announced.
| The Who | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Personnel | |||
| Current
members: Roger Daltrey - Pete Townshend John Entwistle - Keith Moon - Kenney Jones |
|||
| Other
personnel: John "Rabbit" Bundrick - Pino
Palladino - Zak Starkey - Simon
Townshend Simon Phillips - Doug Sandom - Colin Dawson - |
|||
| Discography | |||
| Studio albums | My
Generation - A Quick
One - The
Who Sell Out - Tommy
- The Who by Numbers - Who Are You - Face Dances - |
||
| Live albums | Live
at Leeds - |
||
| Compilations | |||
| About The Who | Tommy
- Quadrophenia
- |
||
| Other appearances | Monterey
Pop - |
||
| Production | Peter
Meaden - Kit
Lambert - Chris
Stamp - Bob Pridden - Duncan Nimmo |
Other | |
| videos lyrics discography biography article music mp3 gallery pictures |