Entwistle makes Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
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Entwistle, John Alec (1944-2002), songwriter and guitarist
by Patrick Humphries
Entwistle, John Alec (1944-2002), songwriter and guitarist, was born on 9
October 1944 at Queen Charlotte's Hospital, Hammersmith, London, the son of
Herbert Entwistle, an engineer then serving in the Royal Navy, and his wife,
(Queenie) Maud, née Lee, both of 81A Southfield Road, Chiswick, London. He
attended Acton county grammar school, west London, where he met his future
colleagues in the Who, Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend. While at school he
took trumpet lessons and learned the French horn-an instrument which later
played an incongruous yet integral part in the sound of the Who. He was soon
playing trumpet in the school band and, after switching to the French horn,
with the Middlesex youth orchestra. As a young teenager he became infatuated
with the sound of 1950s rock and roll. Inspired by the instrumental hits of
Duane Eddy, he soon began playing electric bass, using an instrument he
constructed himself on his grandparents' dining table. By the age of fifteen
he had begun playing bass alongside his school friends in groups such as the
Confederates, the Aristocrats, and the Scorpions.
On leaving school Entwistle joined the Inland Revenue as a clerk. But
gradually during 1962 and 1963 his evening work-playing a ferociously loud
bass with the Detours, an early incarnation of the Who-began to consume more
and more of his energy. In 1964 the ebullient drummer Keith Moon joined
Entwistle, Townshend, and Daltrey, and the classic Who line-up was
established. In the summer of that year, briefly named the High Numbers, the
group released their first single, 'Zoot suit' / 'I'm the face', which
helped establish them as the house band of London's burgeoning 'mod'
movement.
In November 1964 the Who-as the band was now finally called-began their
weekly residency at Soho's legendary Marquee Club. The group was already
becoming known for Townshend's violent guitar-smashing, Daltrey's flamboyant
microphone swirling, and Moon's manic drumming; but throughout the Who's
live career, and despite the others' extravagant on-stage antics, it was
Entwistle who remained the rock-solid centre of the band's activities. From
1964 until Moon's death in 1978 Entwistle would stand virtually immobile,
stage-left, underpinning the Who's live sound with his thundering bass, soft
drink containers complete with straws strategically placed either side of
his vocal microphone. His nickname, the Ox-taken from an early Who song and
later used as the name of his own band-spoke eloquently of Entwistle's
strong and steady influence on the Who, both on and off the stage. Once they
had landed a record contract, Pete Townshend increasingly dominated the
Who's output, but their managers had negotiated a publishing deal which gave
each member of the group a £500 advance, and this encouraged Entwistle to
write his own songs. Over the years he contributed a handful of quirky and
much-loved numbers, including 'Boris the spider'-the first song he wrote for
the Who and one that stayed in the band's repertory for the remainder of
their performing career.
On 23 June 1967 Entwistle married Alison Margery Wise, a 21-year-old
secretary, and daughter of George Wise, company director, at the
Congregational church in Acton. They had one child, Christopher (b. 1972).
1967 was also the year of the Who's American début-and following the Beatles
and Rolling Stones, the Who soon established themselves in the vanguard of
the 'British invasion'. As a writer, Entwistle continued to supply material
for the band, including 'I've been away', 'Doctor doctor', and 'Someone's
coming', which appeared as the B-sides, respectively, of the hits 'Happy
Jack', 'Pictures of Lily', and 'I can see for miles'. The band spent the
next couple of years establishing their reputation as the greatest live
attraction in rock and roll, and consequently recording took a back seat.
But in 1969, with the release of the double LP Tommy-soon acknowledged as
the first 'rock opera'-the Who were propelled into the pop pantheon.
Entwistle's horn playing was notable on Tommy, as were his two compositions,
'Cousin Kevin' and 'Fiddle about'. Tommy later took on a life of its own,
with a star-studded cast (including Peter Sellers and Rod Stewart)
performing in a stage version in London in 1972; a film directed by Ken
Russell in 1975; and a Broadway musical in 1993. This ensured regular
royalty payments for Entwistle, who had enthusiastically taken up the life
of a rock-star squire at Quarwood, a 42 acre estate in the Cotswolds that he
purchased in 1975. Following the Who's triumphant appearance at the
Woodstock festival in 1969 and the critical acclaim that greeted Tommy, the
band's next LP was eagerly anticipated. The high expectations had put them
under great pressure, but the new album did not disappoint. Who's Next
(1971) was rated by many as their finest studio album, and it included one
of Entwistle's best-remembered compositions, 'My wife'.
Although he relished being a member of the Who and enjoyed a particularly
close relationship with Keith Moon, Entwistle chafed at the inevitable
delays of recording and came to resent the band's onerous touring
commitments. In 1971 he became the first member of the Who to release a solo
album, Smash Your Head Against the Wall. Four further solo albums followed
over the next ten years, but none of them was particularly successful.
Besides playing bass for the band, Entwistle compiled their archive release
Odds and Sods (1974); drew the cover for The Who by Numbers (1975); and
acted as musical director of the film Quadrophenia (1979), based on the
band's double LP of 1973. But despite his other activities it was as the
Who's bass player that he was most notable. On stage, Pete Townshend's
flailing windmill style of guitar playing drew most attention, but when it
came to contributing to the band's sound the fluency and reliability of
Entwistle's playing were unmistakable-and irreplaceable. He was widely
regarded as one of the most talented and influential bass guitarists of his
generation, alongside Paul McCartney of the Beatles, Bill Wyman of the
Rolling Stones, and Led Zeppelin's John Paul Jones.
Following Moon's death the Who reconvened with the drummer Kenney Jones, but
many felt that the spark had gone out of the band, and the group broke up in
1982. Years of playing live at a dangerously loud volume had left Entwistle
partially deaf, and he was happy to spend more time at his Gloucestershire
country home, drawing, painting, and working in the recording studio he had
built there. However, he released no further solo album, only a compilation,
Thunderfingers, in 1997. There were sporadic Who reunions, most notably at
Live Aid in 1985, but also in 1989, 1996, and 2000; in 1995 Entwistle toured
with Ringo Starr's All Starr Band. His first marriage having ended in
divorce, he married, on 11 September 1991, an American waitress called
Maxine; they were divorced in 1997. On 27 June 2002, the day before he was
due to embark on a twenty-date reunion tour of the USA with the Who,
Entwistle died from a heart attack at the Hard Rock Hotel in Las Vegas. He
was survived by his son, Christopher, and his partner Lisa
Pritchard-Johnson. He left an estate valued at just under £5 million. In
June 2004 Then and Now, a collection of the Who's greatest hits, was
released. The package also included two new songs, the band's first original
material in twenty years: 'Real good looking boy' and 'Old red wine', the
latter a eulogy for Entwistle, touching on the bassist's fondness for
claret.
Patrick Humphries
Sources C. Charlesworth, The complete guide to the music of the Who (1995)
· J. McMichael and J. Lyons, The Who concert file (1997) · The Times (29
June 2002) · Daily Telegraph (29 June 2002) · The Guardian (29 June 2002) ·
The Independent (29 June 2002) · The Scotsman (29 June 2002) · b. cert. · m.
cert.
Archives
FILM BFI NFTVA, performance footage
SOUND BL NSA, performance recordings
Likenesses C. Jones, group portrait, iris print, 1966 (The Who), NPG · D.
Wedgbury, group portraits, photographs, 1965 (The Who), NPG · C. Barker,
pastel portraits, 1981; Sothebys, 5 Aug 1987, lot 133 · photographs,
1966-2000, Getty Images, London · photographs, Rex Features, London ·
photographs, 1988-2000, Empics, London · photograph, 1988, Empics, London
[see illus.] · photographs, Camera Press, London · photographs, Redferns
Music Picture Library, London · self-portrait, pen and ink drawing;
Christies East (New York), 5 Dec 2000, lot 40 · obituary photographs
Wealth at death £4,923,969: probate, 9 Oct 2003, CGPLA Eng. & Wales
--
-Brian in Atlanta
The Who This Month!
http://www.thewhothismonth.com
Ted Maloney, P.E.
I can't believe that's all the Ox was worth at the time of his death.
Brodieman
> Wealth at death £4,923,969 ($8,000,000)
>
> I can't believe that's all the Ox was worth at the time of his death.
I bet that figure doesnt include all his assets though.
DGDevin
message news:bKzvf.126$Xo5.55@trnddc02...
> Wealth at death £4,923,969 ($8,000,000)
>
> I can't believe that's all the Ox was worth at the time of his death.
He lived a lifestyle that wasn't exactly low-budget, he would even pay the
bills for money-losing solo tours, and lacking Townshend's songwriting
royalties it isn't hard to believe he wasn't even worth ten million bucks.