All four band members grew up around London. Townshend, Daltrey, and Entwistle in the working-class Shepherd's Bush area. Townshend's parents were professional entertainers. He and Entwistle knew each other at school in the late '50s and played in a Dixieland band when they were in their early teens, with Townshend on banjo and Entwistle on trumpet. They played together in a Rock band, but Entwistle left in 1962 to join The Detours. That band included Daltrey, a sheet-metal worker. When The Detours needed to replace a rhythm guitarist, Entwistle suggested Townshend, and Daltrey switched from lead guitar to vocals when the original singer, Cob Dawson, left in 1963. Drummer Doug Sandom was soon replaced by Keith Moon, who left a surf band called The Beachcombers. By early 1964 the group had changed its name to The Who. Not long afterward, the excitement inspired by Townshend's bashing his guitar out of frustration during a show ensured it would become a part of the act.
Shortly thereafter, the band came under the wing of manager Pete Meaden, who renamed them The High Numbers and gave them a better-dressed Mod image. The High Numbers released an unsuccessful single, "I'm The Face", then changed managers to former small-time film directors Kit Lambert and Chris Stamp. By late 1964 the quartet had become The Who again, and with Lambert and Stamp's encouragement they became an even more Mod band, with violent stage shows and a repertoire including blues, James Brown, and Motown covers, solely because their Mod audiences loved that music.
Despite the billing, The Who's original songs were anything but classic R&B. The group's demo of "I Can't Explain", with pre-Led Zeppelin Jimmy Page adding guitar, brought them to producer Shel Talmy (who had also worked with the Kinks) and got them a record deal. When "I Can't Explain" came out in January 1965, it was ignored until the band appeared on the TV show Ready Steady Go!. Townshend smashed his guitar, Moon overturned his drums, and the song eventually reached #8 in Britain. "Anyway, Anyhow, Anywhere" also reached the British Top Ten, followed in November 1965 by "My Generation". It went to #2 in the U.K. but reached only #75 in the U.S. In Britain, The Who had established their sound and their persona. Townshend played guitar with full-circle windmilling motions, Daltrey strutted like a bantam fighter, Entwistle just stood there seemingly unmoved as Moon happily flailed all over his drum kit.
After the Who's fourth hit single, "Substitute" (#5 U.K., 1966), Lambert replaced Talmy as producer. Their second album, "A Quick One" (titled "Happy Jack" in the U.S.; #67, 1967), included a ten-minute mini-opera as the title track, shortly before The Beatles' concept album "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band". The Who also began to make inroads in the U.S. with "Happy Jack" (#24, 1967) and a tour that included the performance filmed at the Monterey Pop Festival in June.
"The Who Sell Out" (#48, 1967) featured mock-advertisement songs and genuine jingles from offshore British pirate radio stations. It also contained another mini-opera, "Rael", and a Top Ten hit in England and the U.S., "I Can See for Miles". In October 1968, the band released "Magic Bus" (#39, 1968), a compilation of singles and B-sides, while Townshend worked on his 90-minute rock opera, Tommy. The story of a deaf, dumb, and blind boy turned pinball champion/Pop idol turned autocratic messianic guru was variously considered both pretentious and profound. Most important however, Tommy was the first successful Rock Opera. The album hit #4 in the U.S., and its first single, "Pinball Wizard" went to #19.
The band would only perform Tommy a handful of times in its entirety, at London's Coliseum in 1969, at New York City's Metropolitan Opera House on June 6 and 7, 1970, and on some dates during their 1989 reunion tour. Excerpts, including "See Me, Feel Me", "Pinball Wizard" and the instrumental "Underture" were thereafter part of the live show. Troupes mounted productions of it around the world (the Who's performances had been concert versions), and Townshend oversaw a new recording of it in 1972, backed by the London Symphony and featuring Rod Stewart, Steve Winwood, Sandy Denny, Richard Harris, and others. In 1975 Ken Russell directed the controversial film version, which included Eric Clapton ("Eyesight to the Blind"), Tina Turner ("Acid Queen"), and Elton John ("Pinball Wizard"), as well as Ann-Margret, Oliver Reed, and Jack Nicholson. Moon (as the lecherous Uncle Ernie) and Daltrey (in the title role) also appeared in the film. Townshend collaborated with director Des McAnuff on a stage version of Tommy that arrived on Broadway in 1993. Bits of Tommy turned up on Live at Leeds (#4, 1970), a juggernaut live set, which was followed by "Who's Next" (#4, 1971), a staple of FM rock radio. It included Townshend's first experiments with synthesizers, "Baba O'Riley", "Bargain", and "Won't Get Fooled Again", three songs that Townshend originally conceived as part of another, unfinished Rock Opera entitled Lifehouse.
The compilation "Meaty, Beaty, Big and Bouncy" (#11, 1971) was followed two years later by the Who's second double-album Rock Opera, "Quadrophenia" (#2, 1973), a tribute to the tortured inner life of the Mods. It too was a hit and became a movie directed by Franc Roddam in 1979, with Sting of The Police in the role of the bellboy. While The Who were hugely popular, "Quadrophenia" signalled that Townshend was now a generation older than the fans he had initially spoken for. While he agonized over his role as an elder statesman of Rock, as he would do for years to come, The Who released "Odds and Sods" (#15, 1974), a compilation of the previous decade's out takes. "The Who By Numbers" (#8, 1975) was the result of Townshend's self-appraisal ("However Much I Booze"). It lacked The Who's usual vigour, but yielded a hit single in "Squeeze Box" (#16, 1975). The band could dependably pack arenas wherever it went, but it took some time off the road after "By Numbers".
The group members began pursuing individual projects. Moon released a novelty solo disc, "Two Sides of the Moon", which featured such guests as Ringo Starr, Harry Nilsson, Dick Dale, Joe Walsh, and Flo and Eddie. Entwistle recorded solo LPs with bands called Ox (with which he toured in 1975) and Rigor Mortis, and produced four tracks on the debut album by the semi-popular Fabulous Poodles. Meanwhile, Punk was burgeoning in Britain, and The Sex Pistols, among others, were brandishing The Who's old power chords and attitude. Townshend's continuing identity crisis showed up in the title of "Who Are You" (#2, 1978), but the title song became a hit single (#14) that Fall, and the album went double Platinum. It was the last and highest-charting album by the original band.
The next few years brought tragedy and turmoil, and what Townshend later described as the end of The Who in the death of Keith Moon. Moon always revealed in his reputation as the madman of Rock, and his outrageous stunts, on stage and off, were legend. His prodigious drinking and drug abuse had begun to diminish his playing ability. In 1975 he left England for Los Angeles where he continued to drink heavily. He returned to England and was trying to kick his alcoholism, but on September 7th, 1978, Moon died of an overdose of a sedative, Heminevrin, that had been prescribed to prevent seizures induced by alcohol withdrawal. Although the group continued for another three years, each of the three surviving original members has stated repeatedly that The Who was never the same again.
After fifteen years with Decca/MCA, The Who signed a contract with Warner Brothers, and Townshend got a solo deal with Atco. "His Empty Glass" (#5, 1980) included the U.S. Top Ten hit "Let My Love Open the Door" and "Rough Boys", a song long believed to have been an angry reply to a Punk musician who had insulted The Who during an interview. Much later, in a 1989 interview with writer Timothy White, Townshend denied that was the case, saying, "It's about homosexuality" and adding that his tune, "And I Moved", was as well. Townshend's admission of having "had a gay life" and his statement that "I know how it feels to be a woman because I am a woman" came as a surprise to many, including his band mates.
Amid all this, the revamped Who soldiered on. "Face Dances" (#4,1981) included the hit single "You Better You Bet" (#18, 1981) and "Don't Let Go the Coat". But Townshend later called the new line-up's debut album a disappointment. One month after "Face Dances" came out, The Who's former producer/manager, Kit Lambert, died after falling down a flight of stairs. He was 45. Townshend released the wordy "All The Best Cowboys Have Chinese Eyes" (#26, 1982), and soon followed it with the group's "It's Hard" (#8, 1982), an album Daltrey has since been quoted as saying should never have been released. It produced the group's last Top Thirty hit to date, "Athena" (#28). The Who then embarked on what they announced would be their last tour, ending with a concert in Toronto on December 17, 1982.
The farewell tour didn't turn out to be the final goodbye from the Who. While Entwistle and Daltrey slowly faded away, Townshend continued recording to relative success. However, The Who still haunted him. The group reunited to play Live Aid in 1985, and three years later they played a British music awards program. In 1989, Townshend agreed to reunite the band with session drummer Simon Phillips for a 25th anniversary tour of America. Whatever goodwill The Who had with many fans and critics was squandered on that tour, which was perceived as simply a way to make a lot of money. The Who reunited again in 1994 for two concerts to celebrate Roger Daltrey's 50th birthday. Following the success of his Broadway adaptation of Tommy, Townshend decided to revive Quadrophenia in 1996, reuniting The Who to perform the piece at the Prince's Trust concert in Hyde Park that Summer. The Who followed it with an American tour in the Fall, which proved to be a failure. The following Summer, The Who launched an oldies tour of America which was virtually ignored by the press.
On June 27th, 2002, while preparing to launch a Summer tour of the United States, bassist John Entwistle was found dead of an apparent heart attack in a Las Vegas hotel room. He was 57 years old. The Who continued the tour. Pete Townshend was again in the news in January of 2003 when he was arrested for viewing child pornography on the internet. He claimed he was doing research for a book he was writing. Following a four-month investigation, Townshend was cleared of child pornography charges. However, London's Metropolitan Police took the precaution of placing the rocker on a national register of sex offenders for paying to access a child pornography site. The process involved taking the guitarist's fingerprints, a DNA sample, and a photograph. In a press statement, Townshend said, "The police have unconditionally accepted that these were my motives in looking at this site and that there was no other nefarious purpose. I accept that I was wrong to access this site and that by doing so, I broke the law."
Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend were scheduled to head back into the studio in February, 2006, to continue recording the new "Who2", which has been in the works for nearly a decade. "I don't want to stop and I don't think Pete does," said Daltrey. "We're at the pinnacle of our decline." Roger went on to say about Pete, "He's fucking angry about what happened to him. Make no mistake about it, it will come out in his music." "Endless Wire", The Who's first full studio album of new material since 1982's "It's Hard", was released at the end of October, 2006. The long awaited LP debuted at #7 on Billboard and #9 in the UK Albums chart. On the eve of its release, The Who performed several songs from the new album live as the closing act of the BBC Electric Proms at the Roundhouse in London. In support of the LP, The Who set out on an '06 / '07 tour, highlighted by their appearance at the Glastonbury Festival on June 24th. In November, 2007, the documentary Amazing Journey: The Story of The Who was released. The film included the band's performances from throughout their career and was nominated for a 2008 Grammy.
The Who were honored at the July 12th, 2008 VH1 Rock Honors in Los Angeles. Just days later, a 12-song, best-of collection was released for the music video game Rock Band. The Who performed at the Rock Band party at the Orpheum Theater during the 2008 E3 Media and Business Summit. In October of '08, The Who set out on a brief tour of four Japanese cities and nine more in North American. In December, they were recognized at the Kennedy Center Honors. The finale of that show was a surprise chorus of police and first responders who had been touched by The Who's performance at The Concert for New York City after 9/ 11.
In early 2009, the band set out on a tour of Australia and New Zealand. At its conclusion, Townshend announced that he was working on a new musical called Floss, the story of an aging rocker known as Walter. On February 7th, 2010, The Who had the honor of performing at the halftime show of Super Bowl XLIV in Miami. On March 30th, they performed Quadrophenia at the Royal Albert Hall as part of the Teenage Cancer Trust series. Plans for a full tour that year were put on hold because of Townshend's continuing battle with tinnitus, a constant ringing in the ears. On November 15th, 2010, The Who released the Fortieth Anniversary Super-Deluxe Collectors' Edition of their "Live at Leeds" album, complete with bonus tracks. On January 13th, 2011, the band performed at a cancer benefit show along with Blondie's Debra Harry and their old friend, Jeff Beck.
For 2012, Roger Daltrey's plans included a solo tour of Japan, Italy, France and Australia, while Townshend continued to work on personal projects. In July, the pair announced that they would reunite for a 37-city North American tour based around their 1973 Rock Opera Quadrophenia, which would take them into 2013. August 12th saw the pair re-unite at the closing ceremony of the London Olympics where they thrilled the crowd with "Teenage Wasteland", "See Me, Feel Me" and "My Generation".
In October, 2013, Roger Daltrey told Rolling Stone that The Who were planning one final world tour for 2015. "The touring is incredibly grinding on the body and we have to draw a line in the sand somewhere. This will be the last old-fashioned, big tour." That series of shows kicked off during the last week of March, 2015 and were heavily punctuated with the hit singles the band has accumulated during their career. Unfortunately the Fall leg of the tour had to be canceled after Roger Daltrey had contracted viral meningitis. Plans were made to reschedule for the Spring of 2017 with five shows scheduled for March and April, followed by a half dozen shows at Caesars Palace starting on July 29th. Pete Townshend was then slated to perform The Who's famous 1973 double album "Quadrophenia" live with orchestral accompaniment at four concerts around America in September.
In October, 2017, Roger Daltrey announced that his long-awaited memoir will arrive in bookstores in the Fall of 2018. It's taken three years to unpack the events of my life, to remember who did what when and why, to separate the myths from the reality, to unravel what really happened at the Holiday Inn on Keith Moon's 21st birthday," said Daltrey. "I hope the result is more than just another autobiography. I've been lucky enough to live in interesting times. I've witnessed society, music and culture change beyond recognition. That I'm still here to tell my tale when so many others around me didn't make it is nothing short of a miracle."
Plans for 2018 included the April 20 release of "Live at the Fillmore East 1968", which documents the last show of a two-night stand at the New York venue. Also issued was Roger Daltrey's first solo album in twenty-six years, "As Long As I Have You", a mix of original material and carefully selected cover songs. Unfortunately there were no immediate plans for the singer to promote the effort with a tour. With Pete Townshend taking a year off from The Who, Daltrey and members of The Who's touring band were slated to hit the road for a series of "Tommy" concerts starting June 8th in Bethel, New York.
In January, 2019 Pete Townshend told Rolling Stone magazine that he had laid the groundwork for a new album by recording fifteen demos. He expected Roger Daltrey to add his vocals to the tracks and the complete effort would be released as a new LP by The Who later in the year. It would be the first new material from the surviving members of the band since 2006's "Endless Wire". To promote the new album, a tour of America and the UK were being planned, starting at New York's Madison Square Garden in April, a month after Daltrey turns 75.
February 27th, 2019 brought the news that the original drummer for The Who, Doug Sandom had died at the age of 89. Sandom was fired from the band in early 1964 and no recordings with him playing with the group were ever released. In a statement on The Who's official website, Pete Townshend said, "A bricklayer by trade, Doug was an excellent drummer, but was considered by our first record label to be too old for us. It was his age and his wisdom that made him important to me. If you have read my book Who I Am, you will know how kind Doug was to me, and how clumsily I dealt with his leaving the band. Doug took a while to forgive me, but did so in the end, and although I didn't see much of him, we remained friends."
Happier news came a week later when the band announced that they hoped to finish the recording of their next studio album by May, before they went on tour. Roger Daltrey couldn't hold back his excitement about the new LP, saying "I think we've made our best album since Quadrophenia." At the same time, Pete Townshend revealed a November 5th release date for his first full length novel, The Age of Anxiety. A spokesman for the publisher said of the London-set story, "The novel captures the craziness of the music business and displays Townshend's sly sense of humor and sharp ear for dialogue." As promised, The Who's first album in thirteen years was officially announced on September 12th by Daltry and Townshend. Simply titled "Who", the LP was slated to become available on November 22nd. The band was further honored when they became the first act to receive a paving stone on the Music Walk of Fame in London on November 19th. The group issued a statement to the press that read: "As Londoners, it's very surreal to be immortalized in stone on Camden High Street, and it's quite something to know that people can pop by and see us anytime, albeit virtually."
Like most other entertainers, The Who suffered a setback in March of 2020 when the COVID-19 virus forced them to postpone their tour of the UK and Ireland to March of 2021. Those plans were later canceled. To help satisfy their fans, the band announced in August of 2020 that they would launch a six-week series on YouTube that would showcase live and rarely seen footage, mini videos and special screen footage, culminating with a performance from a previously unreleased show. In an interview with Uncut magazine, Roger Daltry said that he doubted he and Pete Townshend would make another album because of the costs involved and tensions between the two. Instead, they revealed a deluxe re-issue of "The Who Sell Out", with 112 tracks, 46 of them unheard before, set for release on April 23rd, 2021. The collection also includes both the original mono and a stereo mix of the original album, studio out-takes and early takes, fourteen of Pete Townshend's original demos, two bonus singles, an 80-page hardback, full-color book and nine posters and inserts. Even better news for fans came in mid-May when Roger Daltrey revealed that he was planning on coming to America in late August for a rare solo tour. Those shows were eventually rescheduled to November an December due to COVID uncertainly. Later that same month, The Royal Mint honored The Who's legacy by issuing commemorative coins that feature a union flag, Mod logo and a speaker-smashing Rickenbacker guitar in the form of a pinball table. After attending The Mint to help strike the first coin, Roger Daltrey said, "It's an honor to have a coin produced to celebrate The Who's musical legacy." Pete Townshend added, "I am delighted that the band's work is being recognized by this fantastic range of coins from The Royal Mint."
In early February, 2022, Daltry and Townshend announced dates for a North American tour called The Who Hits Back!. They were scheduled to kick things off on April 22 at Hard Rock Live in Hollywood, Florida, and wrap up on May 28 at Bethel Woods Center of the Arts in Bethel, New York. 78-year-old Roger Daltry was then scheduled to play a twelve date solo tour across the UK in June and July. The Who would pick things up again in the fall for another 13-show run, starting off at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto on October 2nd and run through a November 4-5 stand at Dolby Live at Park MGM in Las Vegas. For 2023, the band planned a nine-date tour of the UK, starting in July, their first in their home country in six years. Among those dates was a performance with the Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra at the Royal Sandringham Estate in Norfolk on August 28.
As for new music, Roger Daltry seemed to dash any hope of that happening in March, 2023. "What's the point of records? We released an album four years ago, and it did nothing. It's a great album, too, but there isn't the interest out there for new music these days. People want to hear the old music. I don't know why, but that's the fact." As if in response to that, The Who announced a September 15th release date of a multi-format box set titled "Who's Next/Life House". The massive collection features 155 tracks, 89 of which were previously unreleased, and 57 new remixes. Two weeks after it was issued, the album returned to Billboard's Top Album Sales Chart at #8.
The Who played their first concert of 2024 on March 18th, a fund raiser for the Teenage Cancer Trust at London's Royal Albert Hall. After that, the future of the band was unclear, as Roger Daltry was scheduled to go back out on the road again as a solo act, playing nine shows in America in June. Meanwhile, a 14-CD box set titled "Pete Townshend / Live in Concert 1985 – 2001" became available on June 6th.
A unique honor came the band's way In October, 2024 when The Royal Mail announced a set of twelve stamps would be issued to celebrate their influential career. Eight of the stickers feature images of some of their most iconic album covers: "My Generation" (1965), "Tommy" (1969), "Who's Next" (1971), "Quadrophenia" (1973), "Who Are You" (1978), "Face Dances" (1981), "Endless Wire" (2006) and "WHO" (2019). The Who became the seventh musical act to be featured by the British mail service following The Beatles, (2007), Pink Floyd (2016), Queen (2020), The Rolling Stones (2022), Iron Maiden (2023) and The Spice Girls (2024).
Looking ahead to 2025, Roger Daltrey was slated to play a 9-date tour of the UK that would kick off on April 20th with a show at Brighton Dome and wrap up at Manchester Bridgewater Hall on May 4th. He was to be accompanied by his own nine-piece band.
For more, be sure to read Gary James' interview with John Entwistle.
