Chris Stamp, the former manager of the Who, died Saturday following a battle with cancer. He was 70 years old.

Along with Kit Lambert, whom he met while working in the British film industry, Stamp met the members of the R&B band The High Numbers while planning to make a film about the rising British music scene; by 1964, they had convinced the band’s original manager to hand over management duties to the two of them, despite the fact that neither Stamp nor Lambert had been involved in music before. 

As managers of the band rechristened (at their insistence) The Who, Stamp and Lambert were instrumental in developing the band’s early Mod image, and both were big supporters of the ambitious Tommy. Roger Daltrey has since taken to referring to Stamp and Lambert as “the fifth and sixth members of The Who.” However, the rock & roll lifestyle got the better of the duo in the 70’s, and they were fired by The Who in 1975. Lambert died in 1981, but Stamp turned his life around by entering rehab and eventually becoming an addiction counselor.

The Who paid tribute to Stamp at their Saturday night show in Detroit. Daltrey told the audience that “without [Chris], we wouldn’t be the band that we are.” The band have promised to hold a tribute show to Stamp in the near future.