Roger Daltrey

Roger Daltrey CBE
Daltrey in 2008
Background information
Birth name	Roger Harry Daltrey
Born	(1944-03-01) 1 March 1944 Hammersmith, London, England
Genres	Rock, art rock, hard rock, power pop
Occupation(s)	Singer, film producer, actor, writer
Instrument(s)	Vocals, guitar, harmonica, percussion, ukulele, piano, trombone, keyboards
Years active	1959–present
Labels	Track, MCA, Polydor, Atlantic, WEA, Rhino, Sanctuary
Website	thewho.com

Roger Harry Daltrey, CBE (born 1 March 1944) is an English singer, songwriter and actor. In a career spanning more than 50 years, Daltrey came to prominence in the mid 1960s as the founder and lead singer of English rock band The Who, which released fourteen singles that entered the top ten charts in the United Kingdom during the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s, including I Can't Explain, My Generation, Substitute, I'm a Boy, Happy Jack, Pictures of Lily, Pinball Wizard, Won't Get Fooled Again, and You Better You Bet. Daltrey began his solo career in 1973, while still a member of the Who. Since then, he has released eight studio albums, five compilation albums, and one live album. His solo hits include Giving It All Away, Walking the Dog, Written on the Wind, Free Me, Without Your Love, Walking in My Sleep, After the Fire, and Under a Raging Moon. In 2010 he was ranked as number 61 on the Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 100 greatest singers of all time.

Daltrey has long been known as one of the most charismatic of rock's front-men and famed for his powerful voice and energetic stage presence. His persona has earned him a position as one of the "gods of rock and roll".

As a member of the Who, Daltrey received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the British Phonographic Industry in 1988, and from the Grammy Foundation in 2001. And was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1990. and the UK Music Hall of Fame in 2005. The Who are considered one of the most influential rock bands of the 20th century, selling over 100 million records worldwide.

Daltrey has also been an actor and film producer, with roles in films, theatre and television.

Early life

Daltrey was born in the Hammersmith area of London, one of three children born to parents Irene and Harry Daltrey. He was brought up in Acton, the same working class suburban district that produced fellow Who members Pete Townshend and John Entwistle.

Daltrey attended Victoria Primary School and then Acton County Grammar School for Boys and girls along with Townshend and Entwistle. He showed academic promise in the English state school system, ranking at the top of his class on the eleven plus examination that led to his enrolment at the Acton County Grammar School. His parents hoped he would eventually continue on to study at university, but Daltrey turned out to be a self-described "school rebel" and developed a dedicated interest in the emerging rock and roll music scene instead.

He made his first guitar from a block of wood, a cherry red Stratocaster copy, and joined a skiffle band called the Detours in need of a lead singer. They told him he had to bring a guitar, and within a few weeks he showed up with it, and he could play it too. When his father bought him an Epiphone guitar in 1959, he became the lead guitarist for the band and soon afterwards he was expelled from school for smoking. Describing the post-war times, Townshend wrote in his autobiography, "until he was expelled Roger had been a good pupil."

Daltrey became a sheet metal worker during the day, while practising and performing nights with the band at weddings, pubs and working men's clubs. He invited schoolmate Entwistle to play bass in the band, and on the advice of Entwistle, invited Townshend to play guitar. At that time, the band also had Doug Sandom on drums and Colin Dawson on lead vocals. After Dawson left the band, Daltrey switched to lead vocals and played harmonica as well, while Townshend became the lead guitarist. In 1964 drummer Sandom left the band, eventually being replaced by Keith Moon.

Early on, Daltrey was the band's leader, earning a reputation for using his fists to exercise control when needed, despite his small stature (his height is reportedly 1.65 metres (5 ft 5 in)). According to Townshend, Roger "ran things the way he wanted. If you argued with him, you usually got a bunch of fives" (slaps or punches). He generally selected the music they performed, including songs by the Beatles, various Motown artists, James Brown and rock standards.

In 1964 the group discovered another band working as the Detours and discussed changing their name. Townshend suggested "the Hair" and Townshend's roommate Richard Barnes suggested "the Who." The next morning, Daltrey made the decision for the band, saying "It's the Who, innit?"

During 1964, band manager Peter Meaden renamed the band to "the High Numbers" as part of a move to establish the band as Mod favourites. The name was a reference to the T-shirts with "numbers" that the Mods used at the time. Peter Meaden composed Mod songs for them (in fact, the songs were almost copies of Mod hits at the time, with changed lyrics) and they released one single, "I'm The Face/Zoot Suit", on Fontana Records. The single proved to be unsuccessful.

After Kit Lambert and Chris Stamp discovered the High Numbers at the Railway Hotel, the band changed their name back to The Who.

Career with The Who

With the band's first hit single ("I Can't Explain") and record deal in early 1965, Townshend began writing original material and Daltrey's dominance of the band began to decline.

The other members of The Who expelled Daltrey from the band in late 1965 after he beat up their drummer Keith Moon for supplying illegal drugs to Townshend and Entwistle, causing him to re-examine his methods of dealing with people. A week later, Daltrey was admitted back to the band, but was told he'd be on probation. He promised that there would be no more violent outbursts or assaults. Daltrey recalled, "I thought if I lost the band I was dead. If I didn't stick with the Who, I would be a sheet metal worker for the rest of my life."

The band's second single, "Anyway, Anyhow, Anywhere" was the only song on which Daltrey and Townshend collaborated, and Daltrey only wrote two other songs for the band during these years. As Townshend developed into one of rock's most accomplished composers, Daltrey's vocals became the vehicle through which Townshend's visions were expressed, and he gained an equally vaunted reputation as a powerful vocalist and riveting front-man. The Who's stage act was highly energetic, and Daltrey's habit of swinging the microphone around by its cord on stage became his signature move.

Daltrey, with a microphone, and Townshend, on stage

Daltrey's Townshend-inspired stuttering expression of youthful anger, frustration and arrogance in the band's breakthrough single, "My Generation", captured the revolutionary feeling of the 1960s for many young people around the world and became the band's trademark. Later, his scream near the end of "Won't Get Fooled Again" became a defining moment in rock and roll.

By 1973, Daltrey was experiencing considerable success with his solo projects and acting roles. While others of the band worked on recording the music for Quadrophenia, Daltrey used some of this time to check the Who's books. He found they had fallen into disarray under the management of Kit Lambert and Chris Stamp. Lambert was also Pete Townshend's artistic mentor and challenging him led to renewed tension within the band. During a filming session (in an incident that Daltrey claimed was overblown) Townshend and Daltrey argued over the schedule. Townshend whacked the singer over the head with his guitar and Daltrey responded by knocking Townshend unconscious, again with a single blow.

With each of the Who's milestone achievements, Tommy, Who's Next, and Quadrophenia, Daltrey was the face and voice of the band as they defined themselves as the ultimate rebels in a generation of change. When Ken Russell's adaptation of Tommy appeared as a feature film in 1975, Daltrey played the lead role, was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for "Best Acting Debut in a Motion Picture" and appeared on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine on 10 April 1975. Afterward, Daltrey worked with Russell again, starring as Franz Liszt in Lisztomania. He worked with Rick Wakeman on the soundtrack to this film, writing the lyrics to three songs and also performing these, as well as others.

Daltrey, right, with Pete Townshend

The Who went on after the premature death of their drummer, Keith Moon in 1978, but tension continued to rise as Daltrey felt that their new drummer Kenney Jones was the wrong choice for The Who. In 1980 Daltrey completed a dramatic film called McVicar about British bank robber John McVicar. Daltrey produced and starred in the film, and completed a soundtrack with other members of the band. This success, along with other stresses, contributed to a deterioration of relations with Townshend, and the Who retired from active touring in 1982 when Townshend felt he was no longer able to write for the band. The band continued to work together sporadically, reuniting for the Live Aid concert and recording songs for Daltrey's solo album Under a Raging Moon and Townshend's solo album Iron Man.

Daltrey turned to working as an actor, with roles in projects such as The Beggar's Opera and The Comedy of Errors for the BBC. He appeared in several film, television and stage productions during this period, including Mike Batt's The Hunting of the Snark (1987), The Little Match Girl (1987), Buddy's Song (1992), which he also produced, and Mack the Knife (1990). In 1991 he received a Grammy Award with the Chieftains for An Irish Evening: Live at the Grand Opera House, Belfast.

The Who returned in 1989 with their 25th Anniversary Tour, which was also the 20th anniversary of their rock opera Tommy. The tour featured a large backing band and guest appearances by Steve Winwood, Patti LaBelle, Phil Collins, Elton John and Billy Idol. In spite of an abdominal hemangioma (later removed by surgery), Daltrey managed to complete the tour. He continued to work on stage and screen, completing projects such as The Wizard of Oz in Concert: Dreams Come True (1995) appearing as the Tin Woodman alongside Nathan Lane, Joel Grey, Natalie Cole and Jewel Kilcher as Dorothy. During this time, he also began to appear in US television shows.

In 1994 Daltrey celebrated his 50th birthday by performing a two-night spectacular at Carnegie Hall titled A Celebration: The Music of Pete Townshend and The Who, which is popularly called Daltrey Sings Townshend. The Who's music was arranged for orchestra by Michael Kamen, who conducted the Juilliard Orchestra for the event. Bob Ezrin, who produced Pink Floyd's The Wall album, among other famous albums, produced the live album. Pete Townshend, John Entwistle, Eddie Vedder (who performed a special acoustic tribute), Sinéad O'Connor, Lou Reed, David Sanborn, Alice Cooper, Linda Perry, the Chieftains and others performed as special guests. Michael Lindsay-Hogg directed the telecast, which was aired on satellite TV. The concert, at the time, was the fastest sell-out in the famed venue's history. The event was followed by a major tour financed by Daltrey and including John Entwistle on bass, Zak Starkey on drums and Simon Townshend on guitar. Although the tour was considered an artistic success, it failed to make any profit due to the expense of providing extraordinary musicians and orchestras in every city to replicate the Carnegie Hall event. Significantly, the tour did attract attention to songs from the Who's rock opera Quadrophenia and gathered support for a staging and major tour of the rock opera in 1996–97.

In 1996 Pete Townshend was approached to produce Quadrophenia for the Prince's Trust concert at Hyde Park, London. He at first planned to perform the opera as a solo acoustic piece using parts of the film on the screens, but after receiving offers of financing decided on a full-out production. When he first contacted Daltrey to request a collaboration, Daltrey refused, but after some discussion, he agreed to help produce a one-off performance. The opera was performed with a large backing band, including John Entwistle on bass, Pete Townshend on acoustic guitar and vocals, Zak Starkey on drums, John "Rabbit" Bundrick and Jon Carin on keyboards, Simon Townshend on guitar and special guests including Dave Gilmour, Adrian Edmondson, Trevor McDonald and Gary Glitter. A horn section and backing vocalists were added, along with other actors. On the night before the show, Daltrey was struck in the face by a microphone stand swung by Gary Glitter. The accident fractured his eye socket and caused considerable concern that he might not be able to perform safely, but Daltrey donned an eye-patch to cover the bruises and completed the show as scheduled. Afterward, Townshend decided to take the production on tour in 1996–97 as the Who.

After their Quadrophenia tour was successful, the band returned as the Who in a stripped-down, five-piece line-up for tours in 1999–2000. The band continued to work together, making a major impact at the Concert for New York City. After Entwistle's death in June 2002, both Daltrey and Townshend decided to continue with an already planned tour as the Who. Bassist Pino Palladino was chosen to fill Entwistle's place. The band also completed a brief tour in 2004. In 2006, they released their first studio album of new material in twenty-four years, Endless Wire, leading some fans and critics to say that the highly acclaimed artistic tension within the Who lay between the two principals Daltrey and Townshend. The band completed a world tour in 2006–07 to support this album.

In February 2010, Townshend and Daltrey, headlining as the Who, performed the half-time show at Super Bowl XLIV in front of 105.97 million viewers across the globe. In March 2010, Townshend and Daltrey, along with an extensive backing band, performed Quadrophenia at the Royal Albert Hall in London as a tenth anniversary charity benefit for the Teenage Cancer Trust. Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam sang the part of the Godfather, and Tom Meighan of Kasabian sang the part of Aceface, and Tom Norris, London Symphony Orchestra Co-Principal Second Violin, played violin for the production.

Daltrey's songs for the Who

Daltrey contributed a handful of songs to the band's catalogue during their early career:

• "Anyway, Anyhow, Anywhere" (1965)-The Who's second single, co-written by Townshend.
• "See My Way" (1966)-Daltrey's contribution to A Quick One.
• "Early Morning Cold Taxi" (1968)-Outtake from The Who Sell Out (later appearing as a bonus track on deluxe editions), co-written with David "Cyrano" Langston.
• "Here for More" (1970)-B-side to "The Seeker".

Daltrey also wrote a song called "Crossroads Now" for the Who which grew out of an on-stage jam in 1999 after the song "My Generation." Another Daltrey song, entitled "Certified Rose," was rehearsed by the Who shortly before the death of John Entwistle. The band had planned on playing it (as well as Townshend's "Real Good Looking Boy") during their 2002 tour, but plans were halted after Entwistle's death. Although it was rumoured that a studio version was recorded during the Endless Wire sessions (and might feature Entwistle's bass-lines from 2002), Townshend later stated that no such recording was made.

"Early Morning Cold Taxi", is a song recorded during The Who Sell Out's recording sessions in 1967 and was released in 1994 on the Thirty Years of Maximum R&B boxset, which is credited to Roger Daltrey and Who roadie Dave "Cyrano" Langston. Some sources report that the song was solely written by Langston. At the time Daltrey and Langston were planning to form a writing-partnership, where all songs written by either of them would be credited as Daltrey/Langston. The partnership produced only one other song—an unreleased demo titled "Blue Caravan." Langston went on to play guitar on John Entwistle's first solo album, Smash Your Head Against the Wall, in 1971.

Solo career

Daltrey with The Who at the Manchester Arena in 2014.

Daltrey released eight solo albums. The first was the self-titled Daltrey in 1973, the album was recorded during a hiatus time in The Who's touring schedule. The top single off the album, "Giving it All Away", reached number five in the UK and the album, which introduced Leo Sayer as a songwriter, made the Top 50 in the United States. The inner sleeve photography shows a trompe-l'œil in reference to the Narcissus myth, as Daltrey's reflection in the water differs from his real appearance. He also released a single in 1973, "Thinking" with "There is Love" on the B-side. Bizarrely, the British release, with considerable airplay of "Giving it All Away" (first lines "I paid all my dues so I picked up my shoes, I got up and walked away") coincided with news reports of The Who being sued for unpaid damage to their hotel on a recent tour, including a TV set being thrown out of the window.

Daltrey's second solo album, Ride a Rock Horse, was released in 1975 and is his second most commercially successful solo album. Its cover was photographed by Daltrey's cousin Graham Hughes, which is remarkable for depicting the singer as a rampant centaur.

When Sayer launched his own career as an solo artist, Daltrey called on a widening group of friends to write for and perform on his albums. Paul McCartney contributed the new song "Giddy" to One of the Boys, where the band included Hank Marvin, Eric Clapton, Alvin Lee and Mick Ronson. On this cover, another visual trick is played with Daltrey's mirror image, with reference to Magritte's famous painting Reproduction Interdite.

McVicar was billed as a soundtrack album for the film of the same name, in which Daltrey starred and also co-produced. It featured all the other members of The Who at the time (Townshend, Entwistle and Kenney Jones). McVicar included two hit singles, "Free Me" and "Without Your Love", which is Daltrey's best-selling solo recording.

On release, Parting Should Be Painless received a mixed critical reception and it was Daltrey's poorest selling studio album up to that point. It featured one song contributed by Roxy Music's frontman, Bryan Ferry, and one song written by the Eurythmics.

The title track to Under a Raging Moon was a tribute to the former Who drummer Keith Moon, who died in 1978, at the premature age of 32. Each of the album's tracks, including "Let Me Down Easy" by Bryan Adams, expresses the frustration of growing older as only a man who sang "I Hope I die before I get old" can. On his next album Rocks in the Head, Daltrey's voice ranges from a powerful bluesy growl à la Howlin' Wolf to the tender vocals shared with his daughter Willow on the ballad "Everything A Heart Could Ever Want". This was his first major effort as a songwriter for his own solo career.

In 1992, Daltrey appeared in the Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert, singing the hard rock Queen song "I Want It All", to pay homage to his lifelong friend Freddie Mercury, who died the previous year one day after a public announcement that he suffered from AIDS.

Daltrey celebrated his fiftieth birthday in 1994 by performing at Carnegie Hall in two shows (23 and 24 February), later issued on CD and video called A Celebration: The Music of Pete Townshend and The Who, sometimes called Daltrey Sings Townshend, accompanied by the Juilliard Orchestra, Pete Townshend, John Entwistle, Irish dancers and other special guests. The success of these two shows led to a US tour by the same name, featuring Pete Townshend's brother Simon on lead guitar with Phil Spalding taking bass duties for the first half of each show and John Entwistle playing for the second half. An Australian leg was considered but eventually scrapped.

Daltrey took on a number of other solo projects, including a tour with the British Rock Symphony in 1998, and the Night of the Proms in 2005. Daltrey also worked with the Rock 'n Roll Fantasy Camp, raising money for many charities during the final concert. In 2005, Daltrey had a short weekly series on BBC Radio 2, presenting a personal choice of rock 'n' roll favourites.

Roger Daltrey embarked on a solo tour of the US and Canada on 10 October 2009, officially called the "Use It or Lose It" tour with a new touring band he called "No Plan B" on the Alan Titchmarsh Show. The band included Simon Townshend on rhythm guitar and backing vocals, Frank Simes on lead guitar, Jon Button on bass guitar, Loren Gold on keyboards and Scott Devours on drums. Eddie Vedder made a guest appearance at the Seattle, WA show on 12 October. In 2010, Daltrey and No Plan B appeared for several dates with Eric Clapton, including Summerfest at Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The band also scheduled additional dates in 2010 without Clapton.

In 2011 the band performed the rock opera Tommy and other songs at a warm-up show in Bournemouth at the O2 Academy 19 March in preparation for a show scheduled at the Royal Albert Hall to benefit the Teenage Cancer Trust on 24 March. Pete Townshend played and sang as a guest at the TCT show. Later in 2011, the band scheduled the "Tommy Reborn" tour of the UK and Europe, followed by a tour of the US and Canada. Additional dates were booked in Europe and Australia for 2012. Downloads from the tour were made available through the Internet.

As of 2013, Daltrey is talking about making a new solo album because "the Who don't do enough gigs for me. If I stop singing at the age I am now, my voice will be gone within two years. So I've got to keep it going. It's like a car engine you've got to keep running."

Non-Who songs written by Daltrey

After his first efforts at writing songs with the Who, Daltrey wrote songs almost entirely for his solo recordings or for other projects. Daltrey first co-wrote songs for his solo albums beginning with the 1977 One of the Boys, including "The Prisoner", "Satin and Lace" and "Doing it All Again." On his 1985 solo album he Under a Raging Moon, Daltrey is credited as co-writer on "Don't Talk to Strangers," "The Pride You Hide," "Move Better in the Night" and "It Don't Satisfy Me." On the 1987 solo album Can't Wait to See the Movie, Daltrey is credited as co-writer of the tracks "Balance on Wires" and "Take Me Home." On the 1992 Rocks in the Head, Daltrey is credited (along with Gerard McMahon) for co-writing seven of the eleven tracks, including: "Times Changed," "You Can't Call It Love," "Love Is," "Blues Man's Road," "Days of Light," "Everything A Heart Could Ever Want (Willow)" and "Unforgettable Opera." For his 2005 compilation album Moonlighting, Daltrey co-wrote the song "A Second Out" with Steve McEwan of the band UnAmerican. The recording features Daltrey's vocals backed by McEwan on acoustic guitar.

Daltrey's song-writing for other projects includes the 1975 soundtrack for Lisztomania, where he is credited with co-writing "Love's Dream", "Orpheus Song" and "Peace at Last." Daltrey also wrote "Child O Mine" with Gerard McMahon, featured on the soundtrack for The Banger Sisters and on the TV show Witchblade. In 2006, he wrote and performed a specially commissioned song, "Highbury Highs", for the Highbury Farewell ceremony following the final football match on 7 May at Highbury between Arsenal and Wigan Athletic, in which Arsenal celebrated the previous 93 years at Highbury, preparing for their move to the Emirates Stadium, Ashburton Grove, the following season.

Discography

Main article: Roger Daltrey discography

Solo

• Daltrey (1973)
• Ride a Rock Horse (1975)
• One of the Boys (1977)
• McVicar (1980)
• Parting Should Be Painless (1984)
• Under a Raging Moon (1985)
• Can't Wait to See the Movie (1987)
• Rocks in the Head (1992)

Collaborations with other artists

• Going Back Home (2014) (with Wilko Johnson from Dr Feelgood)

Other recordings

• Tommy (1972) (LSO version)
• Tommy (1975) (soundtrack)
• Lisztomania (1975) (soundtrack)

Collaborations

In 1984, Daltrey appeared on "Bad Attitude", the title track of an album by Meat Loaf, sharing the lead vocal. In the same year, Daltrey provided backup vocals on Barry Gibb's song "Fine Line" and again in 1984 he provided backup vocals for Band Aid's "Do They Know It's Christmas?". The following year, he appeared in Barbra Streisand's music video for her single "Emotion", playing Streisand's emotionally uninterested husband.

On April 20, 1992 Roger appeared as one of the featured guest singers at the Freddie Mercury Tribute at Wembley Stadium singing Queen's "I Want it All" with the opening of Pinball Wizard --- Also backing Queen on this track was Black Sabbath's lead guitarist Tony Iommi --- which made a historic Band that Included Queen/The Who/Sabbath for the first time ever.

In 1992, he appeared on the Chieftains' Grammy Award-winning album, An Irish Evening: Live at the Grand Opera House. He also released an album with the Boys Choir of Harlem in 1998 with selections from A Christmas Carol. Also in 1998, Daltrey performed two songs with the Jim Byrnes Blues Band at the Los Angeles Highlander Convention. He borrowed a guitar to play for the songs, after reassuring the owner that he would not break it. Daltrey taught thirteen-year-old Drake Bell how to play the guitar in 2001, after starring together in Chasing Destiny. Bell later starred in Drake and Josh and released three solo albums.

In 2001, Daltrey provided backing vocals for the title track of the Joe Strummer and the Mescaleros album Global a Go-Go. In 2003, he provided backing vocals for thrash-metal band Anthrax on the song "Taking the Music Back" from their ninth album We've Come for You All. The collaboration came about through Anthrax guitarist Scott Ian's girlfriend, Pearl Aday, daughter of Meat Loaf, whose mother was a friend of Daltrey and his wife. In 2005, Daltrey collaborated with the British pop band, McFly to sing his hit song "My Generation". On 14 and 15 December 2007, he appeared with the Trans-Siberian Orchestra at Nassau Coliseum in Uniondale, New York and Izod Arena in East Rutherford, New Jersey, performing "Behind Blue Eyes," "Pinball Wizard" and "See Me, Feel Me."

On 12 January 2009, Daltrey headlined a one-off concert along with Babyshambles at the O2 Academy Bristol for Teenage Cancer Trust. On 5 July 2009, he joined The Jam's lead vocalist, Paul Weller on stage at Hop Farm Festival in Kent for an encore of "Magic Bus". In 2011 Daltrey recorded a duet on the song "Ma seule amour" with French singer and composer Laurent Voulzy for his album Lys and Love.

In 2011, Daltrey, along with Steven Tyler and Roger Meddows Taylor, joined the advisory board of Edge Music Network. The company is innovative in their approach to connecting fans and their favourite bands.

In November 2014, while staying at the Mar Hall Hotel in Bishopton, Renfrewshire - ahead of The Who gig at Glasgow's Hydro - Daltrey joined the band Milestone for an impromptu rendition of "I Can't Explain". The band were playing at a wedding reception in the hotel.

Rock persona

Daltrey singing with the Who in Hamburg, August 1972

When Colin Dawson left the Detours, Roger Daltrey took over as their lead vocalist, giving up his guitar. The band as a whole acknowledged Moon and Entwistle's innovation and talent on their instruments, and Pete Townshend had begun writing their hit songs, but Daltrey struggled to find a voice to present their new music. His expression carried Townshend's material well enough in recordings, and at the time his live persona suited the small club scene where the Who made their beginnings. However, this presentation lacked the confidence of later years, and he was arguably still a singer seeking a voice.

The Who first toured North America in 1967, appearing at the Monterey Pop Festival, and Daltrey brought back new experiences in dealing with larger venues and stages. 1968 proved a pivotal year with Townshend's movement beyond the quick three-minute single towards his goal of writing a rock opera. Beginning with "A Quick One (While He's Away)", a nine-minute mini-opera, Daltrey's performance in the Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus showed him with a new confidence in dealing with Townshend's material. In 1969, the Who's first major rock opera Tommy was released, and Daltrey found a voice for the lead character that carried the Who to worldwide stardom at such music venues as Woodstock and the Isle of Wight Festival, and in opera houses around the world during the next two years. Townshend later remarked in the film Amazing Journey, that with Tommy, and with Daltrey's adaptation to portraying the character on-stage, the singer evolved from what was essentially a tight, tough guy to one who outstretched his arms, bared his body to the audiences, and began to truly engage them. "With this change, the band was at last complete," he summed up. "It was a marriage," Townshend emphasised, "but it was a good marriage. Those were glorious years". Daltrey confirmed this, saying, he felt at last accepted, displaying a newly energetic role and sound during live performances.

Daltrey has long been known as one of the most charismatic of rock's front-men. According to Pete Townshend, "He almost invented the pseudo-messianic role taken up later by Jim Morrison and Robert Plant." His persona has earned him a position as one of the "gods of rock and roll" He developed a trademark move of swinging and throwing his microphone through a complex sequence, matching these sequences with the tempo of the song that was being played at the moment, although Daltrey reduced the athleticism of his performances in later years.

Musical equipment

See also: The Who's musical equipment

Daltrey, exuberant and confident with his role on stage. October 1976

Roger Daltrey hand-built his first guitar from a piece of plywood, and also built guitars for the band in the early days when they had little money to buy equipment. As lead guitarist for the Detours, Daltrey played a 1961 Epiphone Wilshire solidbody electric guitar which he later sold to Pete Townshend on an easy payment plan. After he took over vocals for the band in the 1960s and during the 1970s, Daltrey rarely played guitar on stage; however, he played a Martin acoustic guitar for appearances to promote his solo album Daltrey. He began playing guitar with the Who again during the band's tours in the 1980s, and used a Fender Esquire to play a second guitar part for the song "Eminence Front" on the Who's 1982, 1989 and later tours. During the 1989 tour, he played a Gibson Chet Atkins SST guitar for the song "Hey Joe." During the Who's 1996–97 Quadrophenia tour, Daltrey played a Gibson J-200 acoustic guitar.

After 1999, it became more common for Daltrey to play guitar during both the Who and solo shows. He played a Versoul Buxom 6 handmade acoustic guitar on the Who's 2002 tour. Daltrey owns a Gibson Everly Brothers Flattop acoustic guitar which he played on the Who and solo tours in the late first decade of the 21st century. On his 2009 tour, Daltrey played Pete Townshend's "Blue, Red and Grey" on an Ashbury cutaway tenor EQ ukulele.

Daltrey is among those who brought the harmonica into popular music. Although the mouth harps that Daltrey uses have varied over the years, brands he has used include Hohner and Lee Oskar harmonicas. Daltrey plays using the blues harp (2nd position) or cross harp technique which originated in blues music.

Daltrey uses Shure microphones with cords that are taped to reinforce the connection and avoid cutting his hands when he swings and catches the microphone. He commonly uses a standard Shure SM58, but has also used Shure SM78 (in 1981), Shure model 565D Unisphere 1, and Shure model 548 Unidyne IV. Daltrey also uses a hybrid monitoring system with one in-ear monitor supplemented by floor wedges.

Acting career

Films

Daltrey in Boston's House of Blues in 2009

After the Who retired from active work in 1982, Daltrey developed his career in film and on the theatre stage. Daltrey's appearances in over 30 feature films include early starring roles in Tommy, as "deaf, dumb and blind boy" Tommy Walker in 1975; Lisztomania, as Hungarian composer Franz Liszt in 1975, and McVicar, as British armed-robber-turned-journalist John McVicar in 1980. Through the 1980s and 1990s, he appeared in various musicals and dramas, including The Beggar's Opera, The Comedy of Errors, The Little Match Girl, Mack the Knife and Buddy's Song.

In 1992 Daltrey appeared as the voice of Barnaby in The Real Story of Happy Birthday to You, a Canadian children's animation TV special along with American actor and voice actor Edward Asner. In 2001, he starred in the film Chasing Destiny, where he gave actor Drake Bell his initial guitar lessons. In 2003, he starred as the voice of Argon the Dragon Bus Driver in the award-winning children's DVD called The Wheels on the Bus: Mango and Papaya's Animal Adventure from Armstrong Moving Pictures. The DVD featured Daltrey as a costumed children's dragon, who drove a bus for two lost puppets trying to return to their home at the zoo. Daltrey provided vocals for children's classics, such as "The Wheels on the Bus Go Round and Round," in addition to songs written specifically for the home video. He later appeared in two other videos for this series.

In addition to his career as an actor, Daltrey has been producer on several films, including: Buddy's Song (1990), McVicar (1980), Quadrophenia (1979) and an untitled Keith Moon film project in development.

Television

Daltrey has played a number of television roles, including BBC Television Shakespeare as both Dromios in The Comedy of Errors, the police drama series The Bill, the science fiction series Sliders as Col. Angus Rickman, the VH1 series Strange Frequency 2, Witchblade as the devil, and was a recurring guest star in Highlander: The Series as Immortal Hugh Fitzcairn, one of the closest friends of lead character Duncan MacLeod. In 1983, he played Macheath, the outlaw hero of BBC TV's production of John Gay's 1728 ballad opera, The Beggar's Opera.

In 1986 Daltrey appeared in the TV series Buddy. In 1993, he guest-starred (along with Steve Buscemi) in an episode of Tales From The Crypt entitled "Forever Ambergris". Daltrey appeared as an alien assassin villain, Tez, in a 1996 episode of Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman. He also played Nobby Clegg, a character named after the band Nobby Clegg and the Civilians, in the Showtime series Rude Awakening.

Daltrey took part in an episode of the animated series The Simpsons, "A Tale of Two Springfields", providing the voice for himself, along with John Entwistle (Pete Townshend's voice was supplied by his brother Paul). In this episode, The Who helped Homer break down a wall he had built through the town of Springfield.

A self-described history buff, Daltrey often involves himself in history research related media including television documentaries. Pirate Tales from 1997, is a documentary/action show about the age of piracy in the 18th century, in which Daltrey impersonated English buccaneer William Dampier in a main role as the narrator throughout the series. In 2003 he hosted the History Channel's Extreme History with Roger Daltrey talking about historical events and explaining the survival techniques the civilisations treated had available. He also appeared in "That '70s Musical", the 100th episode of That '70s Show as Fez's musical director.

Daltrey guest starred in a 23 November 2006 episode of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation ("Living Legend") as Mickey Dunn, a prominent Las Vegas 1970s mob boss who returns to Las Vegas to avenge his attempted murder. The Who's music, and Daltrey's singing, provide the themes for all three of the series in the CSI franchise every week ("Who Are You" for the original show, "Won't Get Fooled Again" for CSI: Miami and "Baba O'Riley" for CSI: NY).

In 2005, Daltrey made a cameo appearance as himself in the episode "The Priest and the Beast" in Series 2 of The Mighty Boosh. He is found by the main characters vacuuming a desert, presumably as a "karmic" consequence of leaving Woodstock early and not helping to clean up. Also in 2005, he played the part of loblolly boy in the TV drama Trafalgar Surgeon.

Besides acting, Daltrey has performed on the soundtrack of a number of films and television shows, most notably CSI. He also appeared in the music video for "Emotion" by Barbra Streisand, although neither he nor the Who were the featured act.

Stage

Daltrey has appeared in stage in productions including Mike Batt's The Hunting of the Snark in 1987 as the Barrister, and also in Batt's Philharmania with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in 1998. He appeared in The Wizard of Oz in Concert: Dreams Come True in 1995 as the Tin Man. Also in 1995 he starred in a three part Bert Coules BBC radio dramatisation of the Mutiny on the Bounty novels of Charles Nordhoff and James Norman Hall, and in 1996 he starred in a BBC Radio 2 production of Jesus Christ Superstar as Judas. In 1998, Daltrey played the part of Scrooge in the Radio City Music Hall production of A Christmas Carol in New York City. In 2003, he starred as Alfred P. Doolittle in a production of My Fair Lady at the Hollywood Bowl alongside John Lithgow and Melissa Errico.

Filmography

Roger Daltrey has acted in advertisements, television and films, and maintains an extensive filmography. A sampling of his films and TV roles follows:

Daltrey in 2008 prior to a screening of The Who Live at Kilburn 1977 at the ArcLight Sherman Oaks 2008

List of acting performances in film and television

Title	Year	Role	Notes
Tommy	1975	Tommy Walker	film
Lisztomania	1975	Franz Liszt	film
The Legacy	1978	Clive	film
McVicar	1980	John McVicar	also producer
The Beggar's Opera	1983	Macheath	BBC musical production
The Comedy of Errors	1983	The Dromios	TV film
Bitter Cherry	1983		short
Murder: Ultimate Grounds for Divorce	1984	Roger Cunningham	film
Pop Pirates	1984	Producer	film
Buddy	1986	Terry Clark	TV series
The Hunting of the Snark	1987	The Barrister	concert appearance
The Little Match Girl	1987	Jeb Macklin	musical film
Crossbow	1987	Francois Arconciel/François Arconciel	TV series
Gentry	1987	Colin	TV series
How to Be Cool	1988	Himself	TV series
Mack the Knife	1990	Street singer	musical film
Forgotten Prisoners: The Amnesty Files	1990	Howard	TV film
Cold Justice	1989	Keith Gibson	film
Buddy's Song	1991	Terry Clark	film, also music score composer, producer
Midnight Caller	1991	Danny Bingham	TV series
If Looks Could Kill – Teen Agent	1991	Blade	film
The Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert	1992	Himself	concert performance
The Real Story of Happy Birthday to You	1992	Barnaby (voice)	short
Tales from the Crypt	1993	Dalton Scott	TV series
Highlander	1993–98	Hugh Fitzcairn	TV series
Lightning Jack	1994	John T. Coles	film
A Celebration: The Music of Pete Townshend and The Who	1994	Himself	concert performance
The Wizard of Oz in Concert: Dreams Come True	1995	Tin Man	concert performance
Bad English I: Tales of a Son of a Brit	1995		film
Vampirella	1996	Vlad	film
Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman	1996	Taz	TV series
Sliders	1997	Col. Angus Rickman	TV series
Pirate Tales	1997	William Dampier	TV mini-series
Like It Is	1998	Kelvin	film
The Magical Legend of the Leprechauns	1999	King Boric	TV film
Rude Awakening	1999–2000	Nobby Clegg	TV series
The Bill	1999	Larry Moore	TV series
Dark Prince: The True Story of Dracula	2000	King Janos	TV film
Best	2000	Rodney Marsh	film
The Young Messiah – Messiah XXI	2000	Himself	concert performance
The Simpsons (episode "A Tale of Two Springfields")	2000	Himself, as The Who	TV series
Strange Frequency 2	2001	Host/devil	TV series
Chasing Destiny	2001	Nehemiah Peoples	film
Witchblade	2001	Father Del Toro/Madame Sesostris	TV series
.com for Murder	2002	Ben	film
That '70s Show	2002	Mr. Wilkinson	TV series
The Wheels on the Bus	2003	Argon the dragon	children's DVD
Trafalgar Battle Surgeon	2005	Loblolly Boy	TV film
The Mighty Boosh	2005	Himself	TV series, Series 2 episode 2 'The Priest and the Beast'
Johnny Was	2006	Jimmy Nolan	film
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation	2006	Mickey Dunn	TV series
The Last Detective	2007	Mick Keating	TV series
Once Upon a Time	2012	Blue Caterpillar	TV series (uncredited)
Pawn Stars	2013	Himself	1 Episode
Once Upon a Time in Wonderland	2013	Blue Caterpillar	TV series

Literary work

Roger Daltrey contributed to a collection of childhood fishing stories published in 1996 entitled I Remember: Reflections on Fishing in Childhood. In 2009 he contributed a foreword to Anyway, Anyhow, Anywhere: The Complete Chronicle of The Who 1958–1978 by Andrew Neill and Matt Kent. In 2011, he wrote a tribute article in honour of the late Ken Russell which was published in Britain's Daily Express.

Other business ventures

In September 1981 Daltrey opened a fashion store called "Cheap and Cheerful" on Western Road in Brighton.

Daltrey designed and built Lakedown Trout Fishery near Burwash, documented in the film Underwater World of Trout, Vol. 1.

Honours and awards

In 1976 Roger Daltrey was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for "Best Acting Debut in a Motion Picture" for his starring role in the film version of the Who's rock opera Tommy. He also performed as a guest on the Chieftains' recording of Irish Evening: Live at the Grand Opera House which won a Grammy Award for Best Traditional Folk Album in 1993. With the Who, Daltrey received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2001 for outstanding artistic significance in music.

In 1990 Daltrey was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio as a member of the Who. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame also included three songs that Daltrey recorded with the Who on the list of 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll, including: "My Generation", "Go to the Mirror Boy", and "Baba O'Riley". In 2005 Daltrey received a British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors Gold Badge Award for special and lasting contributions to the British entertainment industry.

In 2003, Daltrey was honoured by Time magazine as a European Hero for his work with the Teenage Cancer Trust and other charities. In the New Year's Honours List published on 31 December 2004, he was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire for services to Music, the Entertainment Industry and Charity.

As a member of the Who, Daltrey was inducted in 2005 into the UK Music Hall of Fame. In December 2008, he and Pete Townshend were honoured with America's most prestigious cultural awards as recipients of the 31st annual Kennedy Center Honors in Washington, D.C. by then-President of the United States, George W. Bush. On 4 March 2009, three days after his 65th birthday, Daltrey accepted the James Joyce Award from the Literary and Historical Society of University College Dublin for outstanding success in the music field. On 12 March 2011, he received the Steiger Award (Germany) for excellence in music. Daltrey and Pete Townshend received the Classic Album Award for Quadrophenia from the Classic Rock Roll of Honour Awards at the Roundhouse, 9 November 2011, in London.

In July 2012, Daltrey received an honorary degree from Middlesex University in recognition of his contributions to music.

Charities

Daltrey at the Hyde Park Live 8 concert in 2005.

Roger Daltrey supports many charities both as a solo artist and jointly with other members of the Who. In 1976, he performed at the Celtic Football Ground in Glasgow. An audience of 35,000 attended and a sum of over £100,000 was donated to charity. He sang "Rock and Roll" on a charity single released as McEnroe & Cash with the Full Metal Rackets for Rock Aid Armenia in 1986, and performed with the Who at Concert for Kampuchea in 1979 and Live Aid in 1985.

Daltrey appeared in The Wizard of Oz in Concert: Dreams Come True in 1995 for the Children's Defense Fund, and at the Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert to benefit AIDS research in 1992. Roger Daltrey's 1994 Celebration raised funds to support Babies and Children's Hospital in New York City, as well.

With the Who, he performed for the Robin Hood Foundation at the Concert for New York City and other benefits in 2001; at Neil Young's Bridge School Benefit in 1999; and in the Quadrophenia Concert for the Prince's Trust in Hyde Park, 1996. In addition, Daltrey performed at benefits in Vail, Colorado, in 1999, and attended a PETA benefit with Sarah McLachlan and Chrissie Hynde in the same year.

All the Who's Encore Series profits go to young people's charities. Roger Daltrey was instrumental in starting the Teenage Cancer Trust concert series in 2000, with the Who actually playing in 2000, 2002, 2004, 2007 and 2010 and Daltrey playing solo in 2011. He has endorsed the Whodlums, a Who tribute band which raise money for the Trust. Daltrey played benefits with the RD Crusaders in 2003, 2004, 2006, 2008; performed with the Who at Live 8 in 2005, for the Nordoff-Robbins Silver Clef benefit in 2005, and for the Los Angeles area City of Hope benefit in 2001 and 2004. The Who played with special guest Michael J. Fox at the 2008 "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Cure Parkinson's" benefit.

Daltrey performed at the first ChildLine Rocks concert at London's IndigO2 on 13 March 2008. In 2009 Daltrey was a judge for the 8th annual Independent Music Awards to support independent artists. In the same year, he appeared again on stage with Michael J. Fox for the "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Cure Parkinson's" benefit. In April 2010, he headlined the Imagine A Cure II show honouring the legacy of John Lennon, which raised money for the Puget Sound Affiliate of Susan G. Komen for the Cure breast cancer charity. In 2011, Daltrey became a patron of the Children's Respite Trust for children with disabilities.

In 2011, Daltrey, Steven Tyler and Julie Andrews provided funding for Bob Langer's research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology into vocal chord repair for victims of cancer and other disorders. On 4 November 2011, Daltrey and Pete Townshend launched the Daltrey/Townshend Teen and Young Adult Cancer Programme at the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles, to be funded by the Who's charity Who Cares?. The launch, followed on 5 November by a fund-raising event, was also attended by Robert Plant and Dave Grohl. Daltrey also announced that a portion of ticket sales from his solo tours would go to fund the teen cancer centres. In 2012, he offered his support to a project helping unemployed young people in Heathfield, run by Tomorrow's People Trust.

Personal life

Daltrey has been married twice. In 1964 he married Jacqueline "Jackie" Rickman, and that year they welcomed their son Simon; they divorced in 1968. In 1967 another son, Mathias, arrived as the result of his affair with Swedish model Elisabeth Aronsson. In 1968 he met Heather Taylor, an American who is his current wife. They married in 1971 and had three children: Rosie Lea (born in 1972), Willow Amber (born in 1975) and Jamie (born in 1981).

In 1970, Daltrey publicly supported The National Campaign for Freedom of Information, saying "I come from a working-class background and I am proud of it and I intend to fight for the workers' right to know. We all need to know what goes on behind the scenes that is causing this country's economic mess. When we have a Freedom of Information Act in this country we shall have restored our Right to Know the Truth and that will bring sanity to our tax laws."

In 1971 Daltrey bought a farm at Holmshurst Manor, near Burwash, Sussex.

In 1978, during the recording of the Who's album Who Are You, Daltrey had throat surgery to remove nodules after an infection. During a solo tour in 2009 Daltrey began finding it harder to reach the high notes. In December 2010 he was diagnosed with vocal chord dysplasia and consulted Dr. Steven M. Zeitels, Director of the Massachusetts General Hospital Voice Center and professor at Harvard Medical School. Zeitels performed laser surgery to remove the possibly pre-cancerous growth. Both surgeries were considered successful. As dysplasia recurs Daltrey has regular checks to monitor his condition.

Daltrey bought a home in Los Angeles in the early 2000s. Daltrey also owns a house in Sturminster Newton, which appeared on Grand Designs.

Daltrey is a supporter of the football club Arsenal.

Daltrey has never tried hard drugs.

He opposed Britain joining the European Union.

Additional reading

• Geoffrey Giuliano (1996). Behind Blue Eyes: The Life of Pete Townshend. Penguin Books, Ltd. ISBN 0-8154-1070-0
• Steve Huey, Roger Daltrey – Biography, AllMusic.com
• David M. Barling, Biography of Roger Daltrey, [1]

External links

• Official website
• Roger Daltrey at AllMusic
• Roger Daltrey at IMDb