Christopher Stamp
Christopher Thomas Stamp, who discovered and co-managed the Who for 10 years, founded the independent Track Records label, and called East Hampton home for 23 years, died on Saturday at Mount Sinai Hospital in Manhattan. He was 70 and had cancer for the past year.
Mr. Stamp was born on July 7, 1942, in London to Thomas Stamp and the former Ethel Perrot. Thanks to his older brother, the actor Terence Stamp, he began a career in the theater as a prop man. Working on the original production of “West Side Story” was a life-changing event, crystallizing his desire to unify music, film, and theater, his family said. A meeting with Kit Lambert at Shepperton Film Studios was similarly pivotal: In 1963, they decided to direct a film about Britain’s exploding rock ’n’ roll scene.
Mr. Stamp and Mr. Lambert discovered the Who, then known as the High Numbers, performing at the Railway Hotel in London. “Our idea was to find a group that somehow represented the emerging ideas of our time. They would be rebellious, anarchistic and uniquely different from the established English pop scene,” according to “Anyway Anyhow Anywhere: The Complete Chronicle of the Who 1958-1978,” a book for which he wrote a foreword.
Mr. Stamp was the executive producer of the Who’s film “Tommy.” With the band’s enormous success, he and Mr. Lambert, who died in 1981, founded Track Records and released the second single and first album by Jimi Hendrix, “Purple Haze” and “Are You Experienced?” respectively. The label also scored hits with artists such as the Crazy World of Arthur Brown and Golden Earring.
Mr. Stamp moved to New York in 1976, where he and Mr. Lambert produced the soul group Labelle. He met and married his wife, Calixte, in 1979. In 1987, he sought treatment for addictions, launching a journey of transformation. Recovery, wrote his wife, “was the platform for an ongoing growing spiritual life in which he dedicated himself to helping others live a conscious life.” The couple worked as psychotherapists and healers, with practices in East Hampton and Manhattan.
In his 50s, he attended college for the first time, studying at the State University of New York’s Empire State College and Marymount Manhattan College. He became a New York State credentialed addiction counselor, a psychodramatist, a certified experiential therapist, a New York State licensed mental health practitioner, a reiki master, and a trauma specialist. He was also a non-denominational ordained reverend in the order of the Sanctuary of the Beloved, and attended annual silent retreats at the Insight Meditation Society in Barre, Mass.
In addition to his wife, Mr. Stamp is survived by two daughters from his first marriage to Sally Burgess, Rosie and Amie, both of London. Ms. Burgess died in 2010. Also surviving are his brothers Terence, John, and Richard, and his sister Lynette, all of London, six grandchildren, an aunt, an uncle, nieces, and a nephew.
“East Hampton was his home of heart,” said his wife. “Wiborg Beach was his favorite, and he had lots of connection with the A.A. community here. He helped a lot of people.”
A documentary film, “The Stamp and Lambert Story,” is nearing completion, his wife said, and Mr. Stamp’s autobiography will be published.
A celebration of Mr. Stamp’s life will take place on Tuesday at 2 p.m. at the Old Whalers Church in Sag Harbor. The Rev. Mark Phillips will officiate, along with Monty Farber of Springs, a close friend. He was cremated, said his wife, and his ashes will be dispersed at Wiborg Beach and in the Thames River in London.
The family suggests memorial donations to the Chris Stamp Memorial Fund to benefit the Wolf Mountain Sanctuary at P.O. Box 385 Lucerne Valley, Calif. 92356, or at wolfmountain. com.