Peter Dennis Blandford Townshend is an English musician. He is the co-founder, guitarist, second lead vocalist and principal songwriter of the Who, one of the most influential rock bands of the 1960s and 1970s. His aggressive playing style and poetic songwriting techniques, with the Who and in other projects, have earned him critical acclaim.
Townshend has written more than 100 songs for 12 of the Who's studio albums. These include concept albums, the rock operas Tommy and Quadrophenia, plus popular rock radio staples such as Who's Next; as well as dozens more that appeared as non-album singles, bonus tracks on reissues, and tracks on rarities compilation albums such as Odds & Sods. He has also written more than 100 songs that have appeared on his solo albums, as well as radio jingles and television theme songs.
While known primarily as a guitarist, Townshend also plays keyboards, banjo, accordion, harmonica, ukulele, mandolin, violin, synthesiser, bass guitar, and drums; he is self-taught on all of these instruments and plays on his own solo albums, several Who albums, and as a guest contributor to an array of other artists' recordings.