Chris Stamp wasn’t just a good looking boy. He was tough, kind, creative and fun to be around. I can’t think of anyone with whom it was better to brainstorm. For me, our best idea will always be THE WHO SELL OUT. We got so excited when we figured we could sell advertising space between tracks on our records. Why leave that income to radio stations and pop magazines? We weren’t prepared for how irritated those guys would be with the idea. Chris was also very spiritually open, and later in his life focussed on the questions of the purpose of the soul. That said, he was never pious or pompous, never preachy. In his last days, despite terrible pain, we who were lucky enough to spend time with him, felt the presence of angels (or something like that) around him. There was a different kind of light in the room when he was fighting back at his cancer.

He had a wonderful life in his early and later years. The middle years, very much like my own, were tough partly because of his massive success. Track Records – which Chris ran for many years – had The Who, Jimi Hendrix, Marc Bolan and a dozen other big hit single successes. The Who’s success in the USA brought us all great notoriety, and Chris was as hard living as the rest of us. But he found recovery many, many years before it came into vogue to do so in the music business, and as a result became like a kind of recovery guru in the New York area, loved and respected by hundreds of people he met in his work as a counsellor.

Roger became especially close to Chris in recent years, all past arguments and complaints forgotten. Love prevailed between them. I never lost touch with Chris because together we continued to be partners in Fabulous Music who published all the early Who music in the UK and Europe.

I will miss him, but remember him with real gratitude and pleasure – always.

Pete Townshend

November 28th, 2012