Doug Sandom, the drummer who preceded Keith Moon in The Who, has died at the age of 89.
Sandom played in the pre-Who band The Detours from 1962-64 with Roger Daltrey, Pete Townshend, and John Entwistle. In February 1964, the band discovered that there was another group called The Detours, and on Valentine's Day, changed their name to The Who.
Legend has it that Moon earned the gig by hopping onstage, claiming he could best Sandom, and then proceeding to trash Sandom's kit.
Doug being considerably old than the rest of the band was fired in favor of the teen-aged Moon soon after.
From Townsend's post at The Who's website.
"Just heard from his son that Doug, drummer with the early Who, passed away yesterday at the age of 89. If you have read my book Who I Am you will know how kind Doug was to me, and how clumsily I dealt with his leaving the band to be replaced eventually by Keith Moon. A bricklayer by trade, Doug was an excellent drummer but was considered by our first record label to be too old for us. It was his age and his wisdom that made him important to me. He never sneered at my aspirations the way some of my peers tended to do (I was a bit of an egoistic handful sometimes). He encouraged me – as did my best friend in those days Richard Barnes. Doug took a while to forgive me, but did so in the end, and although I didn’t see much of him we remained friends. He would almost certainly have tried to visit with Roger and me at Wembley Stadium this year, and we will both miss seeing him.
Pete,
28 February 2019"
Video below contains NSFW language.