The Who Pictures, Biography, Profile, Facts, Discography, Filmography, more.

British rock band The Who were noted for the dynamism of their live performances and for their thoughtful music, including Tommy, one of the first rock operas. In the mid-sixties, The Who performed as a Rock power trio modified by the addition of Roger Daltrey as a lead singer who did not play an instrument other than the occasional use of a tambourine or harmonica.

Group Members:

Roger Daltrey: Vocals, Singer

John Entwistle: Guitarist (Bassist)

Keith Moon: Drummer

Pete Townshend: Lead guitarist for The Who

Roger Daltrey is the founder of the legendary rock band The Who. After leaving London's Acton County Grammar School in 1963, he formed a skiffle band called the Detours, and then displayed an early genius by putting together unusual elements into a world-class performing act. The unusual elements included Daltrey on vocals, John Entwistle on bass, and Pete Townshend on lead guitar. In 1965 they added drummer Keith Moon, and the fabulous line-up was complete. The band was quickly remarkable for the synthesis of personalities: Townshend's art school sensibilities, Daltrey's down-to-earth interpretation, and Entwistle and Moon's skill as performers.

The Who's first hit was the 1965 Kinks-like single "I Can't Explain", and they vaulted to fame with their My Generation album that same year. The album included such mod anthems as "The Kids are Alright" and the title track "My Generation", which contained the famous line, "Hope I die before I get old". Another early favorite, showing Townshend's way with words, was the 1966 single "Substitute", which included the line, "I was born with a plastic spoon in my mouth." The 1967 hit single "Pictures Of Lily", a tribute to masturbation, was possibly one of the most accomplished of all European contributions to psychedelic music.

A Quick One was followed by The Who Sell Out (1967), a concept album that played like an offshore radio station, complete with jingles and commercials. The Who Sell Out also included a track from a never-completed Rock opera. Those early efforts were followed by Tommy (1969). Townshend then attempted an even more ambitious concept album cum Performance Art project called Lifehouse. Although the intended album was not released until reconstructed as a radio play for the BBC in 2000, the Who included many of the project's best songs in Who's Next (1971).

Who's Next was followed by a second Rock opera called Quadrophenia (1973), The band's later albums contained songs of more personal content for Townshend, and he eventually transferred this personal style to his solo albums, as seen on the album Empty Glass. 1975's The Who By Numbers had several introspective songs in this vein, lightened by the crowd-pleasing "Squeeze Box," another hit single.

In 1978 the band released Who Are You, a move away from epic rock opera and towards a more radio-friendly sound, though it did contain one song from a never-completed Rock opera by John Entwistle. The release of the album was overshadowed by the accidental drug overdose death of Keith Moon shortly afterward. Kenny Jones, of The Small Faces and The Faces, joined the band as his replacement. The following year was also traumatic for the band: on December 3, 1979 in Cincinnati, Ohio, a stampede for seats at Riverfront Coliseum at the start of a Who concert killed eleven fans.

The Who released two more studio albums with Jones as their drummer, Face Dances (1981) and It's Hard (1982). In 1996 they staged successful multi-media performances of Quadrophenia featuring a narrator and guest singers. By this time Zak Starkey was their regular drummer.

in the summer of 2002, John Entwistle was found dead in his room at the Hard Rock Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada. A coroner's investigation revealed that while not technically an overdose, a modest amount of cocaine in his system was a contributing factor in a fatal heart attack, the result of years of heart trouble caused or aggravated by regular cocaine use. After a brief delay, the tour commenced with bassist Pino Palladino filling in for Entwistle.

In 2004 The Band released two new songs as part of a box set singles anthology.

Members:

Roger Daltrey:

Roger Daltrey is the founder and lead vocalist of the legendary rock band the Who. The possessor of rock music's most thunderous voice, Daltrey was born in London on March 1, 1944, and grew up in Shepherd's Bush, where he met future Who bandmates Pete Townshend and John Entwistle. Following grammar school, Daltrey formed a skiffle band called the Detours, drawing inventively on local talent to synthesize a unique approach to rhythm and blues. By 1965, the band's line-up included Daltrey on vocals, Entwistle on bass, and Townshend on lead guitar. The final addition of madman drummer Keith Moon completed the band that would go on to become rock music's most thrilling live act. In addition to supervising the band's stage productions, Daltrey would, over the course of the next decade, emerge as a singer of incredible power and creativity, emboldening Townsend's thoughtful lyrics with both epic scope and swaggering street credibility. His performances as the immortal voice of the titular character in the rock opera Tommy continue to enthrall worldwide audiences. On stage the singer's persona matches the power of his voice; the indelible image of Daltrey twirling his microphone like a lasso is a fixture in rock and roll history.

John Entwistle:

John Entwistle was the bass player for the Who, perhaps the most masterful of all rock bassists, as well as a gifted songwriter and backup singer. In contrast to live personas of his manic bandmates, Entwistle invariably remained still on stage, the rhythmic anchor of the anarchy that surrounded him. Born to musical parents in Chiswick, England in 1944, Entwistle was raised largely by his grandparents. As an infant, Entwistle sang Al Jolson standards for his grandfather's friends at local workingman clubs. Although trained in both the piano and the French horn, Entwistle was so drawn toward the sound of the bass guitar that he constructed one for himself by hand. Having joined Roger Daltrey's band, the Detours, Entwistle suggested they bring Pete Townshend on board as a guitarist. To compensate for the lack of a rhythm guitar, Entwistle developed a loud and melodic style, a deeper and more resonant version of a second guitar, to fill out the band's sound.

Keith Moon:

Keith Moon was the drummer for the Who, one of popular culture's all-time eccentrics, and his instrument's greatest rock and roll virtuoso. Moon's furious drumming propelled the band's glorious fusion of anarchy, chaos, and pop. His thunderously original percussion filled spaces heretofore reserved only for guitars, and his wickedly funny antics created new standards for pop showmanship. More than any other member of his era, he represented the youthful, zany, and self-destructive side of rock and roll. Never one to be outdone, "Moon the Loon" became just as notorious for demolishing his drum kits on stage as bandmate Pete Townshend was for smashing his guitars.

Pete Townshend:

Pete Townshend is the lead guitarist and principal songwriter for the Who. A visionary artist best known for his conceptual works, he composed both Tommy and Quadrophenia, as well as the bulk of the Who's other classic material. An electrifying stage presence, Townshend's legendary leaps, violent wind-mill strumming, and guitar and amp smashing encapsulate the glorious anarchy of a Who live performance.