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Pete Townshend memoir finds publisher

In a statement released Tuesday, the legendary WHO guitarist called the book an "essential rite of passage," adding, "I am lucky to be alive and to have such a crazy story to tell, full of wild adventures and creative machinations."
/ Source: Reuters

Harper Collins has acquired legendary WHO guitarist Pete Townshend's memoir, to be titled "Pete Townshend: Who He?" for publication in Fall 2012.

In a statement released Tuesday, Townshend called the book an "essential rite of passage," adding, "I am lucky to be alive and to have such a crazy story to tell, full of wild adventures and creative machinations. I am happy that I am able to write my book myself, in my own 'voice' that many readers will be hearing for the first time."

The book will be edited by Harper Collins executive editor David Hirshey. Townshend's book agent is Ed Victor, who also repped Keith Richards' 2010 bestselling memoir "Life." Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Rock memoirs have been a hot category for publishers of late with both Sammy Hagar and Steven Tyler's tomes reaching the bestseller lists.

Rolling Stone reported that Townshend began work on the autobiography in the late 1990s and that he had posted a small segment online in 2008. In 2003, when rumors circulated that Townshend was involved in a police investigation into child pornography, the guitarist linked it to his work on the book.

In a statement, Townshend wrote, "I have been writing my childhood autobiography for the past seven years. I believe I was sexually abused between the age of five and six and a half when in the care of my maternal grandmother who was mentally ill at the time. I cannot remember clearly what happened, but my creative work tends to throw up nasty shadows — particularly in Tommy. Some of the things I have seen on the Internet have informed my book, which I hope will be published later this year, and which will make clear to the public that if I have any compulsions in this area, they are to face what is happening to young children in the world today and to try to deal openly with my anger and vengeance towards the mentally ill people who find paedophilic pornography attractive."