 In 1969, Pete Townshend, The Who's guitarist, was the catalyst behind the formation of the band.The concept was to create a band to perform songs written by drummer and singer Speedy Keen, who had written "Armenia City in the Sky", the first track on "The Who Sell Out".Townshend recruited jazz pianist Andy "Thunderclap" Newman (a friend from art college), and 15-year-old Glaswegian guitarist Jimmy McCulloch, who subsequently played lead guitar in Paul McCartney's Wings from 1974 to 1977 and died of a heroin overdose in 1979 aged 26.