Pete Townshend (Peter Dennis Blandford Townshend) was born on May 19, 1945 in Chiswick, London, is an award-winning English rock guitarist, singer, songwriter, and composer.

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.

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: Happy Birthday, I Am, and With Love.

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 The Boy Who Heard Music as a serial on a blog beginning in September 2005.

In October of 2006 Pete and The Who released an album entitled Endless Wire. A full opera entitled The Boy Who Heard Music based on this concept also debuted at Vassar College in July 2007.
http://www.petetownshend.co.uk