Left to right: drummer Keith Moon, guitarist/main lyricist/vocalist Pete Townshend, main vocalist Roger Daltrey, bassist/lyricist/vocalist John Entwistle.
The Who:
The Who is an English rock band formed in 1964. Their most famous lineup was composed of songwriter/guitarist Pete Townshend, singer Roger Daltrey, bassist/songwriter John Entwistle, and drummer Keith Moon. The Who first came to prominence in the 1960s and 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."
Keith Moon died in 1978, after which the band released two more studio albums, Face Dances and It's Hard, with drummer Kenney Jones, before officially disbanding in 1983. They reformed on several occasions to perform, mostly without Kenney Jones, but recorded little new studio material. In 2000, the three remaining members began to discuss the possibility of recording an album of new material, but Entwistle died in 2002, which temporarily dogged any plans to record. The two remaining members, Townshend and Daltrey, continue to perform as The Who. Their most recent studio album, Endless Wire, was released in 2006.
Pete Townshend:
Peter Dennis Blandford ('Pete') Townshend (born May 19, 1945 in Chiswick, London), is an English rock guitarist, singer, songwriter, and composer who is best known as the guitarist and principal songwriter for the rock band The Who.
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.
Roger Daltrey
Roger Harry Daltrey, CBE (born 1 March 1944) is a rock vocalist, songwriter, and actor, best known as the founder and lead singer of The Who, an English rock band. He has also acted in a large number of film, theatre and television roles. Daltrey and his second wife, former model Devon, have two daughters, Rosie and Willow, and a son, Jamie who is a legendary photographer himself. He also has a son, Simon, with his first wife, Jacqueline
He made his first guitar from a block of wood and formed a band, The Detours. When his father bought him an Epiphone guitar in 1959, he became the lead guitarist for the band. Soon after, interested in nothing but rock and roll, he was expelled from school. He became a sheet metal worker during the day, while practicing and performing nights with the band at weddings, pubs and men's clubs. At the time, the band included Daltrey on lead guitar, Pete Townshend on rhythm guitar, John Entwistle on bass, Doug Sandom on drums and Colin Dawson on lead vocals. After Colin Dawson left the band, Daltrey switched to vocals and Townshend to lead guitar.
John Entwistle
John Alec Entwistle (October 9, 1944 – June 27, 2002) was the bass guitar player for The Who, as well as secondary songwriter, singer, and horn player. He is regarded as one of the greatest and most influential rock bassists of all time, creating an aggressive lead sound that helped influence contemporary and later bassists such as Noel Redding, Chris Squire, Les Claypool, Geddy Lee, Markus Grosskopf, Steve Harris, Mike Watt and Billy Sheehan.
Entwistle helped uncover the potential of the bass guitar as a lead instrument, using aggressive pentatonic lead lines, and a trebly sound virtually unheard of in the early 1960s. He pioneered the use of roundwound steel bass strings, developed for him by the Rotosound company. Indeed, his search for a sound to cut through The Who's sonic onslaught led him to experiment with more and different basses, leading him to amass a collection of over 200 instruments by the time of his death. His search for the perfect sound led him to experiment most notably with Alembic's basses in the 1970s, Warwick in the 1980s, and Status all-graphite basses in the 1990s.
Keith Moon
Keith John Moon (August 23, 1946 – September 7, 197 cool was the drummer of the rock group The Who. As a drummer, Moon became known for his chaotic but brilliant style of drumming and gained notoriety for his destructive lifestyle. He is regarded as "One of the greatest of all rock and roll drummers."
He lived in Alperton as a boy and was extremely hyperactive and had a restless imagination as a child. As a youth, the only thing that could hold his attention was music. A report from his Secondary Modern school is not encouraging – his art teacher, for example, commented: 'Retarded artistically. Idiotic in other respects.'
Even at an early age, his teachers praised his music skills and acknowledged his chaotic style, even if one school report noted "he has great ability, but must guard against a tendency to show off". Moon failed his eleven-plus and left school in 1961.
