Early Who Manager Dies

The man behind The Who in their early days has passed away. Will the show go on? 

Chris Stamp managed The Who in their early days after meeting the band while filming a documentary with Kit Lambert about the British music scene, as he was a filmmaker first.

Chris and the group became fast friends and Chris soon took the band away from their then manager, Peter Meaden. Chris was the one that convinced The Who to change their name from The High Numbers to The Who after they would say that they were The High Numbers, no one had ever heard of them and would ask, "the who?" It was Chris and Kit that started Track Records in 1966 and soon began releasing some of the most iconic music of the time, including Jimi Hendrix's Are You Experienced? The label went under in 1978, but resumed operations in 1999 when Ian Grant took it over.

Chris was ultimately fired from managing The Who in the mid 1970's because the band felt that he and Kit weren't acting like managers, but instead were living "like rock stars, too." Pete Townshend stepped in and gave Chris the boot because the band needed management and leadership. Kit died in 1981, but Chris managed to turn his life around and rekindled his friendship with The Who in 1987.

Chris had been battling cancer for a while and he died Saturday at the age of 70. The show will go on for Minnesota Who fans. The band is set to play the Target Center in Minneapolis tomorrow night. The Who paid tribute to Chris at their show in Detroit Saturday night. No word on if a tribute is planned for tomorrow night in Minneapolis as well.