Pete Townshend

Peter Dennis Blandford Townshend (born May 19, 1945 in Ealing, London) is an influential rock guitarist and songwriter best known for his work with The Who.

Born into a musical famil

Peter Dennis Blandford Townshend (born May 19, 1945 in Ealing, London) is an influential rock guitarist and songwriter best known for his work with The Who.

Born into a musical family (his father Cliff was a professional saxophonist and his mother Betty a singer), Townshend exhibited a fascination with music at an early age. He had early exposure to American rock and roll (his mother recounts that he repeatedly saw the 1956 film Rock Around the Clock) and obtained his first guitar from his grandmother at age 12, which he described as a "Cheap Spanish thing."