Settling on the Name
Before settling on “The Who,” the band went through several name changes. When they were first starting out back in 1961, they were a skiffle band known as The Detours. In 1963, the band started to change slightly; founding member Roger Daltrey took over vocals, and Pete Townshend got on the guitar. That’s when the band’s sound started to change into a mixture of R&B and rock ‘n’ roll.
Roger Daltrey, Keith Moon, and Pete Townshend with Russell Harty sitting on the set of the Russell Harty Plus show in 1973. Photo by ITV / Shutterstock
In 1964, Keith Moon joined the band as the drummer, and one of Townshend’s friends suggested the name The Who. Later that year, the band’s publicist turned them into a mod band and changed their name to The High Numbers. After their debut album didn’t make the charts, they became The Who but stuck to their mod music style.