Pete Townshend Biography

He made his first, tentative solo album, ‘Who Came First’, in 1972. Townshend's first full-fledged solo effort was ‘Empty Glass’ in 1980, which sold a million copies, reached the Top Five and featured the Top Ten hit ‘Let My Love Open the Door’, as well as the minor hits ‘A Little Is Enough’ and ‘Rough Boys’.

Nevertheless, he felt he could no longer write for The Who, and at the end of the year, the group disbanded following a North American tour. In 1989, he released an album based on poet Ted Hughes' children's story, ‘The Iron Man’. The record featured guest vocals by John Lee Hooker and Nina Simone, as well as two tracks featuring the three surviving members of The Who. Simultaneous with the album's release, Townshend embarked on a reunion tour with The Who, an event that overshadowed ‘The Iron Man’, which enjoyed only modest sales.

In 1993, Townshend delivered ‘Psychoderelict’, another conceptual work, to mixed reviews and poor sales. By that time, however, he had successfully reinvented himself as a Broadway tunesmith - the theatrical production entitled ‘The Who's Tommy’ had become a runaway hit, earning him a Tony Award. In 2001, he was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Ivor Novello Awards in London.

However, in the beginning of 2003, Townshend's life was turned upside-down when he was arrested for allegedly viewing child pornography on the Internet. Townshend, who's married with three children, has been very outspoken in his support of child welfare groups and has spoken at length about the dangers of child pornography on the Internet. He claimed he was simply conducting research for an autobiography that will address his own abusive childhood (he says he was sexually abused by his mentally-ill grandmother from the age of 5 to 6½).

Police cleared Townshend of the charges in May of 2003, although he will have to remain on a national sex offender registry in the UK for five years.