John Entwistle
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[Bio by John Entwistle.] John Entwistle was born a long time ago. He spent his early childhood dodging dinosaurs and searching for a cave with just the right amount of echo.
Forced by his mother to play the piano at the age of six, he learned to read music almost before he could read words. He is still confused between the two. By the age of eleven, he decided to follow the footsteps of Bix Beiderbecke to play the horn and die young. Unfortunately, the school orchestra already overloaded with suicidal trumpet players, gave him a French horn instead. So John was doomed to play the French horn and die a slow death.
John chose to play a louder instrument. He chose the bass because it was longer than the guitar a much larger phallic symbol. Ed note: it is a widely unknown fact that John both played and arranged all brass on The Who’s recorded material. (It was cheaper that way!)
After meeting Pete Townshend and Roger Daltrey at school, they formed the embryo of The Who, which at the time they named "The Detours". After a few "detours", they found a new drummer in Keith Moon. After a string of Top Ten singles in England, they decided to conquer America. This meant either defecting to Russia or touring the US. They chose the latter. After seven long profitless American tours, they were $500,000 in debt with a truckload of trashed equipment.
Then along came "Tommy", a Rock Opera with a plot the world is still trying to work out. "Live at Leeds" followed – fans are still trying to find out which part of Leeds The Who lived in.
"Who’s Next", "Quadrophenia", and a whole string of compilation albums were massive successes. Films of their concept albums were made – "Tommy" directed by Ken Russell, "Quadrophenia" directed by Frank Roddam and "The Kids Are Alright" directed by a guide dog.
John’s "other career" as an Artist was also taking off. Starting with the release of a Limited Edition serigraph of his, "Who by Numbers" cover, closely followed by updated color editions of The Who – namely "Spirit of ‘76" and "Generations". Originals of his other cartoons of famous "Rock Stars" went on sale to the Art loving public and he still had plenty of "victims" to draw yet!
Whenever he has the spare time (in his sleep) he scribbles down another chapter in the first of a trilogy of novels recounting his humorous adventures with The Who. (At the current rate "The End" will have to be engraved on his Tombstone!") At the same time his new Original and limited edition prints of "Guitar Gods" (Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Page, Eric Clapton and Pete Townshend) had to be drawn to coincide with the new Who tour of America.
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