Behind Blue Eyes

Peter Townshend was born on May 19 1945 in Chiswick, London. He came from a musical family with his father Cliff Townshend being a professional saxophonist in The Squadronaires and his mother Betty a singer. Townshend exhibited a fascination with music at an early age. In the mid-1950s he was drawn to American rock and roll. When he was 12, his grandmother gave him his first guitar. Townshend's biggest guitar influences include Link Wray, John Lee Hooker, Bo Diddley and Hank Marvin of The Shadows. Townshend enrolled at Ealing Art College, with the intention to become a graphic artist and a year later, he and his school friend John Entwistle founded their first band, The Confederates, a Dixieland duet featuring Townshend on banjo and Entwistle on horns. From this beginning they moved on to The Detours, a skiffle/rock and roll band fronted by Roger Daltrey, another former schoolmate. With the encouragement and assistance of his old classmate Entwistle, Daltrey invited Townshend to join as well. In early 1964, because another band had the same name, The Detours renamed themselves The Who. Townshend is the primary songwriter for The Who, having written well over 100 songs for the band's 11 studio albums. He has also written over 100 songs that have appeared on his solo albums, as well as radio jingles and television theme songs. 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 Dave Marsh's list of Best Guitarists in The New Book of Rock Lists. His title Who I Am: A Memoir made The New York Times Best Seller List for 2012.

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