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Pete Townshend has had an enormous impact on the world of music for over 50 years as a composer, guitarist, singer, pianist, producer, electronic music pioneer, author, and as the creative force behind legendary rock band The Who.
This fan website is dedicated to following Pete’s activities and providing news and in-depth articles on his current and past projects. Many thanks to everyone who has contributed content!
Check out our news archives, photo galleries, concert pages, and extensive articles on a wide range of topics including Pete's solo projects, electronic and orchestral music, musicals, Lifehouse Method, Meher Baba, ITA web series, books, charity work, and more!
Books
Pete Townshend’s talent as a writer extends far beyond the songs that he is famous for penning. His literary accomplishments span decades, and include writing a large variety of articles, poems, scripts, essays, blogs, forwards, and books. In 1977, he started his Eel Pie Publishing company and opened up the Magic Bus bookstore in Richmond. Pete set aside his work in music for a few years and began work in 1983 as an acquisitions editor at the esteemed book publisher Faber and Faber in London.
Pete published his first book Horses Neck with Faber and Faber in 1985, which featured a collection of short stories he had written between 1979 and 1984. In 1999, he published an original screenplay of Lifehouse that he co-wrote with playwright Jeff Young for a BBC radio play. Pete’s latest book is his epic autobiography, Who I Am, which was published in 2012.
Read all about Pete’s books by clicking on the book covers!
Horse's Neck
"I have never wanted simply to tell my own story. But I have tried here to attend to a wide range of feelings. Each story deals with one aspect of my struggle to discover what beauty really is."
- Pete Townshend.
Photo credit: Allan Olley/Sunday Mirror/Mirrorpix
Horse’s Neck is a collection 13 short stories in the form of prose and verse written by Pete Townshend between 1979 and 1984. The semi-autobiographical book was published in 1985 by London publisher Faber and Faber, where Pete had been working as an editor since 1983. The subject matter that Pete explores includes his family, Keith Moon and Kit Lambert, life on the road, infidelity, obsession, addiction, ambition, with a few allegorical references to horses sprinkled in for good measure. It is a fascinating read for those who want to see a glimpse into the soul of a great writer during a transitory time of his life.
Here is a video of Pete reading passages from the story "Pancho and the Baron" and discussing the book on the South Bank show in 1985.
Here are a few other versions of the book cover, including the German edition.
Who I Am autobiography
"I’ve been so used to telling stories and doing interviews in the context of having something I want to sell. What I’ve never really done is just my story from my point of view. I can remember conversations very clearly, and events and names and faces, and it’s great when I come back to do that, and a lot of it comes back. I can talk about the first moment that I thought about a song and what it was going through my head."
- Pete Townshend.
Pete Townshend released his autobiography Who I Am in October 2012 through book publisher HarperCollins. Pete began writing his memoirs in the 90’s, and tested early drafts of some of the chapters in his blog "Pete Townshend (Who He?)” in 2007, where he encouraged fans to provide feedback. The original manuscript that Pete gave to HarperCollins was around 1,000 pages long, which was heavily edited to just over 500 pages. The book was originally published in hardcover, and was later released in paperback editions. Pete also recorded an unabridged 15 CD audiobook in which he read the entire book. Who I Am entered the New York Times bestsellers list at No. 3.
To promote Who I Am, Pete went out on a book tour in October and November 2012, where he did Q&A sessions and performed a few songs, as well as signed books. View our comprehensive collection of articles, interviews, photos, videos and reviews of these book events on our Who I Am book events page.
Here is a photo and video of Pete at the Indigo bookstore in Toronto on November 22, 2012.
Photo by John Davisson
Here are the book covers from the UK paperback edition, Italy, and Spain.
Here is the promo video for Who I Am.
Lifehouse book
Original Lifehouse story by Pete Townshend
Adapted for radio by Jeff Young
Simon & Schuster Pocket Books. First Edition 1999
Softback - 146 pages
The book contains the unedited radio play script of Lifehouse as well as an introduction by Pete Townshend. The Lifehouse play was developed for radio by BBC Radio Drama in collaboration with Eel Pie. The first broadcast took place on December 5, 1999 on BBC Radio 3. The recorded version of the play was included in the 'Lifehouse Chronicles' boxset that was released on Pete’s Eel Pie online store.
Here is a synopsis of the story:
Lifehouse is an apocalyptic journey across the industrial wastes of Britain on the last day of the millennium. Disillusioned ex-TV executive Ray is on a desperate search for his daughter Mary, who has gone missing, presumed dead. He leaves his wife and rural hideaway and heads back to the city where he was born, magnetised by the voice of a pirate D.J. calling the like-minded and lost to the Lifehouse - a subversive musical event. The play explores the power of music to transform and the potential for digital networking to draw together the young, the marginalised and the spiritually hungry.
Who I Am book events
There was a whirlwind of press and media activity following the book launch of Pete's autobiography 'Who I Am' in early October, 2012.
Here is a comprehensive collection of articles, interviews, photos, videos and reviews.
Book events
October 8 - New York Public Library Interview and Q&A with Paul Holdengräber
Acoustic performance of I'm One and Drowned
NYPL
NYPL - full video
Jori Klein Photography - 75 images
Video of interview
Video of I'm One
Video of Drowned
Wall Street Journal
October 9 - Barnes and Noble - Union Square, NYC
Interview and Q&A with Jann Wenner
Acoustic performance of Drowned and Won't Get Fooled Again
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Yahoo
Juke Box Graduate
Video of Drowned
October 10 - Free Library of Philadelphia
Interview and Q&A with Wesley Stace
Acoustic performance of Drowned, I'm One, Acid Queen, Won't Get Fooled Again
Free Library of Philadelphia - audio podcast of event
Two One Five
Glamorosi
HarperCollins
Philadelphia Weekly
Video of interview and songs part 1, part 2, part 3
Video of Drowned
Video of I'm One
Video of Acid Queen
Video of Won't Get Fooled Again
Huffington Post Video Part 1
Huffington Post Video Part 2
Huffington Post Video Part 3
Huffington Post Video Part 4
October 11 - Bookends - New Jersey
Book signing
October 12 - Berklee Performance Center - Boston
Lecture and Q&A
Acoustic performance of new instrumental song, Drowned, Acid Queen, I'm One, Won't Get Fooled Again (w/ Let My Love Open The Door)
Boston Globe
Examiner
Examiner blog
Harvard Crimson
Video of instrumental
Video of instrumental and Drowned
October 17 - Boiler House, Old Truman Brewery, London
Interview and Q&A
The Times
Monkey Picks
Huffington Post
November 22 - Indigo, Toronto, Ontario
Interview and Q&A
November 26 - Old Orchard Barnes & Noble, Skokie, IL
Book signing
TV and radio appearances
Oct 7 - CBS Sunday Morning
Oct 8 - NBC Today
Oct 8 - ABC The View
Oct 8 - Comedy Central - The Daily Show
Oct 9 - BBC Radio 4 Front Row
Oct 9 - NBC Late Night with Jimmy Fallon
Oct 9 - Good Morning Arizona
Oct 9 - Good Morning Texas
Oct 9 - First Coast News
Oct 9 - Fox and Friends
Oct 14 - Andrew Marr
Oct 15 - MSNBC Morning Joe
Oct 21 - BBC Radio 6 Matt Everitt
Nov 12 - NPR Talk of the Nation
Nov 19 - Late Show with David Letterman
Nov 20 - 680 News Montreal
Nov 26 - John Debella Show 102.9 WMGK radio
Interviews
The Times
Sydney Morning Herald
The Guardian
The Sun
BBC
CBS
Wall Street Journal
NY Times
Japan Times
Globe and Mail
Reviews & Articles
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone -excerpts
The Guardian
The Guardian - audio podcast
New York Times
New Yorker
The Independent
STV TV
Columbus Dispatch
Spin
Los Angeles Times
Barnes and Noble
NME
3News
Daily Beast
digtriad
SFGate
TV3
Entertainment Weekly
Critics at Large
Daily Mail
Daily Mail
New York Times
Express
Pop Matters
Everyday E Book
Montreal Gazette
Washington Post
The Guardian
Breitbart.com
AV Club
Something Else!
stuff.co.nz
Community Voices
Winnipeg Free Press
cleveland.com
Irish Times
Jam Bands
WZLX
The Arts Desk
