Legendary British guitarist and The Who mainstay Pete Townshend is reportedly working on a memoir, which he hopes to have published early next year by Harper Collins.  The 65-year-old music legend has reportedly been working on the book since the 1990s.

Townshend, in a statement released through the book's publisher, explained that the memoir is "not a vanity for me. It is an essential rite of passage."  He added:  "Rock 'n' Roll is a tough career, however cynically or comically it is portrayed by its detractors," Townshend said in the statement. "I am lucky to be alive and to have such a crazy story to tell, full of wild adventures and creative machinations. I am happy that I am able to write my book myself, in my own 'voice'."