Songwriter, composer, lead guitarist and creative powerhouse behind the legendary Who – at their peak the most exciting live rock band in the world – Pete Townshend is a pre-eminent influence on rock. Spearheading Sixties rock, smashing guitars in auto-destructive performances and writing songs that challenged the function of popular music, Townshend created the power chord and broke the three-minute mould of the pop-song in Tommy, Quadrophenia and later works, developing rock’s structure and potential as an art form.

Yet Townshend was uncomfortable at being labelled as the windmilling guitar hero who had the crowd in the palm of his hand during a 5am Woodstock set in 1969. His intelligence, imagination and restless mind would lead him into unchartered areas for a rock star, as writer, poet, playwright and publisher. And he continues to explore, both with The Who and in solo work, music’s utopian and dystopian possibilities, and to inspire countless younger musicians.

Now, for the first time, Townshend tells his own story, giving an intensely moving account of his difficult childhood, its repercussions in later life, and his quest to understand his own past while keeping faith with his audience. As a chronicle of ambition, controversy, relentless perfectionism, rock’n’roll excess, emotional and spiritual turmoil, and ultimate redemption, this is not just a genuine rock classic but a testament to the integrity and stature of a true artist of our times.

OFFICIAL BOOK WEBSITE: www.petetownshend.com

Smashed Guitars and Other Damage - full NYT's review of the book

"“Who I Am” is an earnest, tortured, searching book — by turns eloquent and long-winded, revealing and oddly elliptical. In it Mr. Townshend, the guitarist and songwriter for the Who, gives an account of his life 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."

DAILY SHOW - watch here "Pete Townshend remembers a less crowded, pre-Internet musical environment big enough for the Rolling Stones, the Beatles, the Kinks, and the Who."

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