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Chris Stamp, former manager of The Who and founder of Track Records, died from cancer on Saturday (Nov. 24) at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City. He was 70-years-old.

Stamp was born in the East-End of London on July 7, 1942. He was one of five siblings, including older brother Terence Stamp, who would become a highly successful actor.

The film world attracted Stamp from an early age and he was working at Shepperton as an assistant director while barely out of his teens. It was in this capacity that his association with The Who began as he and business partner Kit Lambert were making a documentary about the British rock scene in 1964. The group accepted Stamp and Lambert’s offer to co-manage them and the pair soon steered them to massive success. Stamp was more than just a money man though and his creative input was felt on some of The Who’s most significant recordings. He was the executive producer on “Tommy,” “Who’s Next,” “Quadrophenia” and the soundtrack for the “Tommy” movie.

Chris Stamp and Pete Townshend

Stamp and Lambert managed The Who until the mid-1970s, after which they moved to New York to continue the Track Records label that they had formed in 1966. The label’s debut release had been Jimi Hendrix’s “Are You Experienced?” in 1967, after which they worked with acts such as Fairport Convention, Arthur Brown, and Thunderclap Newman. There was limited success after the split with The Who and the label ceased operations in 1978.

After successfully facing his own addictions in the 1980s, Stamp became a psychodrama therapist in New York. He also reconnected with The Who and worked on several projects with them over the years.

Roger Daltrey paid tribute to Stamp during a performance at Detroit’s Joe Louis Arena on Saturday night, referring to his former manager as a man “without whom we wouldn’t be the band we were.” He added “Chris, we can never thank you enough – well, I can’t, for what you brought to my life”.

Stamp is survived by his wife, Calixte; his daughters, Rosie and Amie; his sons-in-law Edmund and Nicholas; several grandchildren; and his brother, Terence.