Roger Daltrey
Roger Harry Daltrey
1 March 1944
East Acton, London, England
- Singer
- musician
- songwriter
- actor
- film producer
- Vocals
- guitar
- harmonica
1959–present
Daltrey's hit songs with the Who include "My Generation", "Pinball Wizard", "Won't Get Fooled Again", "Baba O'Riley" and "You Better You Bet". He began a solo career in 1973 while still a member of the Who, and has released ten solo 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" and "Under a Raging Moon".
The Who are considered one of the most influential rock bands of the 20th century and have sold over 100 million records worldwide. As a member of the band, Daltrey received a Lifetime achievement award from the British Phonographic Industry in 1988,[3] and from the Grammy Foundation in 2001.[4] He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1990, and the UK Music Hall of Fame in 2005.[5][6][7] He and Pete Townshend received Kennedy Center Honors in 2008, and The George and Ira Gershwin Award for Lifetime Musical Achievement at UCLA on 21 May 2016.[8]
He was ranked number 61 on Rolling Stone's list of the 100 greatest singers of all time in 2008;[9] Planet Rock listeners voted him rock's fifth-greatest voice in 2009.[10] Daltrey has also been an actor and film producer, with roles in films, theatre, and television.
The Who[edit]
Overview[edit]
Townshend began writing original material for the band, and after their first hit single ("I Can't Explain") and record deal in early 1965, Daltrey's dominance of the band diminished.[18] The other members of the Who fired him from the band in late 1965 after he beat up their drummer, Keith Moon, for supplying illegal drugs to Townshend and Entwistle, but he was re-admitted to the band a week later on probation after he promised not to do it again. He 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."[19]
The band's second single, "Anyway, Anyhow, Anywhere", was a collaboration between Daltrey and Townshend.[20] While Townshend was developing into an accomplished composer, Daltrey was gaining a reputation as a singer and front-man. The Who's stage act was energetic, and Daltrey's habit of swinging the microphone around by its cord on stage became a signature move. His 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 young people around the world and became a trademark sound. His scream near the end of "Won't Get Fooled Again" was a defining moment in rock and roll.[21]
Collaborations[edit]
In 1998, Daltrey performed two songs with the Jim Byrnes Blues Band at the Los Angeles Highlander Convention.[55]
On 12 January 2009, he headlined a one-off concert with Babyshambles at the O2 Academy Bristol for Teenage Cancer Trust. On 5 July 2009, he joined the Jam's lead singer, Paul Weller, on stage at Hop Farm Festival in Kent for an encore of "Magic Bus".[56] 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.[57]
In November 2014, while staying at the Mar Hall Hotel in Bishopton, Renfrewshire ahead of the Who's gig at the SSE Hydro, Daltrey joined local band Milestone for an impromptu rendition of "I Can't Explain". The band were playing at a wedding reception in the hotel.[58]
Literary work[edit]
Daltrey contributed to a collection of childhood fishing stories published in 1996 entitled I Remember: Reflections on Fishing in Childhood.[74] In 2009, he contributed a foreword to Anyway, Anyhow, Anywhere: The Complete Chronicle of The Who 1958–1978 by Andrew Neill and Matt Kent.[75] In 2011, he wrote a tribute article in honour of the late Ken Russell which was published in Britain's Daily Express.[76]
In October 2018, Daltrey published his memoir, Thanks a Lot Mr. Kibblewhite: My Story.[77] The title is a reference to the man who threw him out of grammar school, enabling him to go into a successful music career.[78]
Awards and achievements[edit]
In 1976, 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.[79]
In 1990, Daltrey was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio as a member of the Who.[80] 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!", and "Baba O'Riley".[81] 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.[82][83]
In 2003, Daltrey was honoured by Time magazine as a European Hero for his work with the Teenage Cancer Trust and other charities.[84] 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.[85][86]
As a member of the Who, Daltrey was inducted in 2005 into the UK Music Hall of Fame.[87] 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 the then-president of the United States, George W. Bush.[88] 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.[89]
On 12 March 2011, he received the Steiger Award (Germany) for excellence in music.[90] In November 2011, Daltrey and Pete Townshend received the Classic Album Award for Quadrophenia from the Classic Rock Roll of Honour Awards at the Roundhouse in London.[91]
In July 2012, Daltrey received an honorary degree from Middlesex University in recognition of his contributions to music.[92]
Daltrey has received numerous awards for his music, including Best Blues Album in the British Blues Awards 2015 alongside Wilko Johnson.[93]
In 2019, Daltrey was the recipient of the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement. He received his Golden Plate along with Pete Townshend and presented by Awards Council member Peter Gabriel.[94][95]
Political views[edit]
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."[105]
Daltrey was previously a supporter of the British Labour Party, but he withdrew his endorsement, citing his opposition to the "mass immigration" policies put in place under the Blair government.[106] In 2018, he criticised Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, describing him as a "communist".[107]
Daltrey supported Britain leaving the European Union.[108] He wrote in The Mirror: "Whatever happens, our country should never fear the consequences of leaving. We went into the Common Market in 1973. Do you know what was going on before we went in? It was the 1960s. The most exciting time ever – Britain was Swinging. Films, Theatre, Fashion, Art and Music... Britain was the centre of the world. You got that because Britain was doing its own thing. It was independent. Not sure we'll ever get that again when we're ruled by bureaucrats in the European Union."[109] He again criticised the EU in 2019, saying, "If you want to be signed up to be ruled by a fucking mafia, you do it. Like being governed by FIFA".[110]
In 2017, Daltrey opined that a "dead dog" could have defeated Hillary Clinton in the 2016 United States presidential election.[111] In 2018, he denounced the MeToo movement, saying: "I find this whole thing so obnoxious. It's always allegations and it's just salacious crap."[112]
In 2021, Daltrey criticised the rise of woke culture in an interview with Zane Lowe's Apple Music 1 podcast, arguing that younger generations are limiting themselves by stifling and undoing creative freedoms that had emerged through the artistic revolutions of the 1960s. He elaborated by saying "It's terrifying, the miserable world they're going to create for themselves. I mean, anyone who's lived a life and you see what they're doing, you just know that it's a route to nowhere."[113][114]
Personal life[edit]
Daltrey has been married twice. In 1964 he married Jacqueline "Jackie" Rickman, and later that year their son, Simon, was born. They divorced in 1968. In 1967, another son, Mathias, was born, the result of an affair with Swedish model Elisabeth Aronsson. In 1968 he met Heather Taylor, a UK-born model living with her grandmother at the time, who was the subject of the 1967 Jimi Hendrix song "Foxy Lady".[115] Daltrey and Taylor have been married since 1971, and have three children: daughters Rosie Lea (born 1972) and Willow Amber (born 1975),[116] and son Jamie (born 1981), who runs Daltrey's trout farm near Burwash Common.[117][118]
On 1 March 1994, his 50th birthday, Daltrey received a letter from a woman who claimed to be his daughter from a brief relationship in the interval between his marriages.[119] Daltrey later met two more daughters who were born during this period in the late 1960s.[119] All three had been adopted, and had grown to adulthood before meeting their biological father. Daltrey stated that Heather had joined him in welcoming them to their extended family.[115] As well as his eight children, Daltrey has fifteen grandchildren.[120]
In 1971, Daltrey bought a farm at Holmshurst Manor, near Burwash, Sussex.[105]
Daltrey announced onstage in 2018 that he had suffered hearing loss as a result of exposure to loud noise levels during performances and was now "very, very deaf". He urged audience members to use earplugs.
In 1978, during the recording of the Who's album Who Are You, Daltrey had throat surgery to remove nodules.[121] During a solo tour in 2009 he began finding it harder to reach the high notes. In December 2010 he was diagnosed with vocal cord dysplasia and consulted Steven M. Zeitels, director of the Massachusetts General Hospital Voice Center and professor at Harvard Medical School. Zeitels performed laser surgery to remove a possibly pre-cancerous growth.[122] Both surgeries were considered successful, and Daltrey has regular checks to monitor his condition.[123]
Daltrey has an allergy to cannabis that affects his singing voice. When second-hand marijuana smoke from an audience has affected his performance, he has occasionally interrupted the concert to request that people not smoke it.[124][125] Daltrey has stated that he has never taken hard drugs.[126][127]
Daltrey is a supporter of Arsenal F.C.[128]