Who I Am - Tapa blanda

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?

PETE TOWNSHEND, 66, is the legendary frontman for The Who, one of the most influential bands of all time. Townshend is responsible for having written over 100 songs and rock operas in the band's important catalogue. The Who's first album, in 1965, My Generation, went Gold in the UK, and eight more have gone gold and platinum on either side of the Atlantic. He is one of Rolling Stone magazine's 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1990. Away from music, he has also written essays for Rolling Stone, and in 2005 published a novella entitled The Boy Who Heard Music.