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Townshend, Pete
Category: Musician or composer
"Pete" Townshend (born 19 May 1945) is an English rock musician, composer, multi-instrumentalist, vocalist, songwriter and author, known principally as the guitarist and songwriter for the rock group The Who. His career with The Who spans more than 40 years.
Townshend is the primary songwriter for The Who, having written well over 100 songs for the band's 11 studio albums, including concept albums and the rock operas Tommy and Quadrophenia, plus popular rock and roll radio staples such as Who's Next. Although known primarily as a guitarist, he also plays other instruments such as keyboards, banjo, accordion, harmonica, ukulele, mandolin, violin, synthesiser, bass guitar and drums
This is a direct quote from Amazon,
"Pete Townshend's musical knowledge and writing ability was and is unparalleled, and his taste for rebellion renowned. The destruction of the very guitars that resounded with the legendary tracks My Generation and I Can’t Explain brought him acclaim and notoriety in equal measure, but his pure passion and talent has guaranteed his status as an icon and authority on rock ‘n’ roll for decades.
Pete has widely been cited as an inspiration to countless musicians, celebrated in their own right, and continues to perform to sell-out audiences across the globe with his fellow band members.
Pete is widely regarded as one of the greatest musical talents Britain has ever produced. But even as the principle songwriter and lead guitarist for The Who, it would be unjust to define Pete Townshend’s life simply through his achievements with bandmates Daltrey, Moon and Entwistle.
Noting that he has sold over 100 million records over a fifty-year period goes some way to quantifying his accomplishments, but numbers only scratch the surface of his contribution to popular culture.
An avid student of his profession, during his career he has been credited with the creation of the concept album, worked as a literary editor, developed scripts for television and the stage, and written songs that have defined a generation. The thinking man’s rock star with a dedication to his craft unlike any other in the business, he continues to inspire new generations of performers and writers with a continuing commitment to his art."
And
“As I listened to the 'Live at Leeds' album (still, in my opinion, the finest live album ever recorded) when I was 17 I used to imagine that I was Pete Townshend, a guitar god up on the stage, capable of summoning great waves of exuberance from a simple instrument. I longed to be able to express myself with such power, to conjure up emotional depths and link them to a tsunami of sound lifting a pleb like myself up and away from the turgid and mundane world.”
References
His biography is called
Pete Townshend: Who I am
Observations
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