Who I Am: A Memoir - Couverture souple

From a legend of Rock & Roll comes a memoir that traces at once the author's own struggles with drugs, sex, and the ghosts of his tumultuous upbringing; and an extremely intimate portrait of an all-time great band as it rocketed to international fame and fortune: THE WHO.

This is the book that Pete Townshend--guitarist, songwriter, singer, and founding member of the The Who--has been writing for over a decade. Ruthlessly considered, and written with all his heart, this autobriography spans the life of one of history's most talented musicians.

Raised by an eccentric grandmother in West London, while his parents lived the early rock and roll, post-war lifestyle, Townshend describes a frenetic childhood of displacement and abuse (at the hands of his mentally-disabled grandmother Denny)...until meeting Roger Daltrey in high school. Together, they form the first incarnation of a band that will travel the world and bring the two of them into the inner sanctums of Eric Clapton's drug-ridden hotel rooms, and at the feet of Jimi Hendrix and his electric kool-aid guitar. The book describes his most intimate memories and thoughts--everything from the first trial performance of TOMMY, in a London bar, to his infamous arrest (and acquittal) on charges of child pornography.

With his trademark eloquence, fierce intelligence, and brutal honesty, Pete Townshend brings us a genuine work of literature that just so happens to also stand as a primary source for popular music's greatest epoch. Readers will be confronted by a man laying bare WHO he is, and an artist that has asked for nearly sixty years: WHO are you?

“Intensely intimate...candid to the point of self-laceration...[Townshend’s] tone is less lofty than anyone would have expected, just as this book is more honest than any fan would have hoped.” (Rolling Stone (Four 1/2 Stars!))

“Mr. Townshend’s self-portrait is raw and unsparing...as intimate and as painful as a therapy session, while chronicling the history of the band as it took shape in the Mod scene in 1960s London and became the very embodiment of adolescent rebellion and loud, anarchic rock ‘n’ roll.” (Michiko Kakutani, New York Times)

“Unusually frank and moving...[Who I Am] isn’t one of those rock memoirs that puts the what before the why. His past is a puzzle Mr. Townshend is sweating to decipher.” (The Guardian (UK))