Richard Barnes

Richard Alan Barnes (born 3 October 1944) is an English author, best known for his association with the mod subculture and the rock group The Who, including his book on the group Maximum R&B. He gave The Who their name when he was roommates with Pete Townshend, after the group had originally been called The Detours. The Who Barnes started a course at Ealing Art College at the same time as Townshend and the two of them shared a flat together, bonding over their mutual love for old R&B and soul records. Townshend subsequently said that Barnes was "very important to The Who's thinking process in the early days. He and I used to sit around and talk about The Who as an installation, we wrote a manifesto for the group together." When Townshend's group, The Detours, needed a new name, the pair sat up all night suggesting joke names, until Barnes came up with The Who. The group's singer, Roger Daltrey endorsed the new name the next day. In early 1964, Barnes was working as a promoter for the Railway Hotel, Wealdstone. He removed all the lights in the pub apart from two pink ones, and turned up the heating to create a sweaty atmosphere. He managed to achieve average audience attendances of between 500 - 1000, including a weekly residency by The Who every Tuesday. Barnes believed The Who should have split up around the mid-1970s, and believes the only reason they stayed together was for the money.