- 6 minutes ago
Roger Daltrey has spent more than six decades as one of rock’s most unmistakable voices, but these days he’s thinking about what comes next. In a new conversation on Joann Butler in Studio With..., while on his current tour, A Great Night Out!, the 82-year-old frontman says this solo run could possibly be his last, as he looks forward to a more ordinary life and continued charity work. That doesn’t necessarily mean The Who are done. Daltrey reveals that he and Pete Townshend recently rehearsed with longtime drummer Zak Starkey to see whether the band could possibly play shows next year. He also recounts the early days of how the band came together and the moment Keith Moon joined the group and instantly changed everything. Daltrey also revisits the famous stutter in “My Generation,” explaining how an accidental vocal moment became part of one of The Who’s most iconic songs. He gets candid about AI too, particularly the unsettling reality that technology can now replicate his voice. The conversation isn’t all rock history. Daltrey also confirms the wild story connecting Jimi Hendrix to his wife Heather, reflects on their 55-year relationship, and shares the simple philosophy that still drives him: music should move people. This is a LifeMinute with Roger Daltrey.
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00:01Did you know right away that this was really something special?
00:04Yeah, it was like someone had put the key in the starter motor of the jet engine.
00:08Off it went.
00:09We did a rehearsal recently and Zach was the drummer.
00:12Is there going to be a reunion there?
00:14We did the rehearsal to see if we can still hit the notes, still get the drive.
00:20Who music demands an incredible amount of drive.
00:23How'd you come up with throwing your mic up like that in the air?
00:26I had to do something. I got very good.
00:28But the trouble is today, I twirl it out and I can't see where it's gone.
00:33I was the worst pinball player in the world.
00:35It used to go up and come down straight down the hole.
00:38The long hole.
00:39This is possibly my last ever tour at this age.
00:43I want to enjoy a bit of ordinary life.
00:47Hi, this is Roger Daltrey and you're watching In Studio with Joanne Butler.
00:53I'm so happy to talk to you. Such an honor. You look amazing.
00:57How are you doing?
00:58I'm still standing.
01:01I'm having a great time.
01:03Playing some different songs and different music.
01:05I can experiment with a different soundscape of nine musicians.
01:12Nine musicians.
01:13We're having lots of laughs, lots of fun.
01:15It looks it.
01:16The clips I'm seeing, everybody's loving it.
01:19How did you decide what songs to do?
01:21What made the cut?
01:23We change them all the time.
01:25We try and add one or two every night.
01:28But every time we add one, we have to take one out.
01:30So it's a bit of a juggling match.
01:32But I try to find songs that I've loved over the years.
01:35And I try to find songs that have kind of caught up with themselves in what they've written about.
01:41I mean, I'm doing a Neil Young song, Rocking in the Free World.
01:47Oh, cool.
01:47Because that was written, you know, 40 years ago.
01:51And it probably means more today than it did at the time it was written.
01:56I mean, well, let's put it this way.
01:58I think there's more to be got out of the song in the top line of the melody.
02:03It's a bit, for me, it's a bit late.
02:06It's a bit Neil Young laid back when it should be an angry rock song, you know.
02:11Right.
02:11Because times are enough to make you angry, aren't they?
02:16Yes.
02:17What's different about walking on stage solo, sort of, versus on stage as part of the Who?
02:24Well, obviously, people's expectations are far lower.
02:27And keeping up the expectations that people have about the Who, you know, singing Love Rain or Me and those
02:34kinds of songs at this age and hitting the notes.
02:37And then have them say, I think it was all recorded.
02:41And they finally go, it's deflating, you know.
02:44And you've kind of sung your heart out for three months.
02:48Have they said that?
02:49Well, I've heard rumors, yeah, that people think it's recorded.
02:52It's not.
02:53It's me.
02:54I don't know how.
02:56It's up there, you know.
02:57It's way up there.
02:59Right.
02:59You can hear it's you.
03:01I don't know what they're talking about.
03:03You can hear it's you.
03:04Yeah, exactly.
03:04It's there, you know.
03:05Especially when you tell the audience to do the scream for you.
03:10Now, yes, I let them go in with the sore throats.
03:14That's funny.
03:14I've had enough of it.
03:17How do you do it?
03:18Your voice, it still sounds beautiful, Roger.
03:20I've been given a gift.
03:22I've been given a gift.
03:23And I realized it was a gift.
03:25And I'm determined to use it as long as it's still there.
03:28But if it does start to go, it went on me in the early 2000s.
03:34I had a pre-cancer thing growing on my vocal cord.
03:38Wow.
03:38But I solved that problem.
03:40I was really unhappy.
03:41I was coming off stage very unhappy because I couldn't do.
03:44I couldn't hit the notes I wanted to.
03:46And I felt like I was cheating the audience.
03:49If that ever happens again, I retire.
03:52It's as simple as that.
03:54Right.
03:54Makes sense.
03:55It seems like you've always respected it, though, over the years, you know.
03:59What did you do to, you know, hone it?
04:03Well, I stayed physically in good shape.
04:07You know, the vocal cords are only a muscle.
04:10You have to respect yourself as an athlete.
04:13Yes.
04:13You do.
04:14And it's as simple as that.
04:16Yeah.
04:16Unless you're a sloppy kind of, you know, country singer.
04:20Or whatever.
04:21Or you just sing in one key all the time.
04:23Yeah.
04:23And there's quite a few that do that.
04:25And they get away with it.
04:26It's good luck to them.
04:27I would never get away with that.
04:29Right now.
04:30I like to change key after every song.
04:32Right.
04:34And you say this is possibly your last solo tour.
04:37And it comes right after, of course.
04:38I think it's possibly my last ever tour.
04:41Yeah.
04:41I mean, it's as simple as that at this age.
04:43I want to enjoy a bit of ordinary life.
04:47I do a lot of work with the charities I work for,
04:52which are to do with adolescent and young adult cancer.
04:56Yes.
04:57And we're doing great work there.
04:59And so it's not like I'll be doing nothing.
05:04Yeah.
05:04I should be very busy but doing other things.
05:07What is one of your favourite songs to sing?
05:10Well, in this show, I love giving it all away, which was my first hit single as a solo artist.
05:16And at the time, it was all by accident.
05:20I had no intention of having a solo career.
05:23Yeah.
05:24I just made a record because I heard a songwriter who was writing incredible songs.
05:29His name was Leo Sayer.
05:31Yeah.
05:32And he was looking for a record deal.
05:33Mm-hmm.
05:34So I said, well, write me a song and I'll record it and see if it gets any interest.
05:37Who wrote it?
05:38And of course, Leo Sayer's career went.
05:42And what a great singer he is.
05:46So giving it all away is possibly my favourite.
05:49There's something about that song.
05:51I don't know whether it's the top line of the melody or the words that connect with people.
05:59Every time I play it, the room kind of goes silent.
06:03It's very weird.
06:04You can almost hear a pin drop.
06:06It's very strange.
06:07Wow.
06:08That's so cool.
06:09What was the process like for you back in the day?
06:12Did you ever think of yourself as an actor kind of playing a role each time you were singing those
06:16songs?
06:17Yeah, I do try and I can't sing a song from the head.
06:21I could never have an autocue on stage because, one, I couldn't bloody see it now.
06:28But for me, I can't read a song and sing it.
06:32Never could.
06:33I couldn't.
06:34I could never do guide vocals in the studio because I couldn't read the lyrics.
06:39It doesn't come from that part of me.
06:41It has to come from my heart.
06:43It has to come out of the brain into somewhere else.
06:48But if you're reading, it can only be in the brain and only ever stays in the brain.
06:52I haven't got that ability to transpose that immediately.
06:56What about my generation, the stutter?
06:58What's the truth behind the stutter?
06:59Where did it come from?
07:00I did used to stutter quite badly.
07:03And we used to take amphetamine at the time sometimes to stay up because we'd been doing two shows in
07:09the night time.
07:10And then in the studio all day.
07:13So the hours of the day were short.
07:16So we made the most of them.
07:19And amphetamines used to make my stutter worse.
07:22So the first time it came in, I came in wrong.
07:27I got it right on the second people.
07:34And we left it in.
07:35And our producer at the time, who's our manager, Kit Lambert said, oh, you've got to kick that in.
07:43And that's going to sell the record.
07:44And it did.
07:45Amazing.
07:46And you founded The Who.
07:47What drew you to the guys?
07:49What drew them to me?
07:51Yeah.
07:51I didn't get drawn to them.
07:53What drew them to you?
07:55Exactly.
07:55What drew them to you?
07:56Pete and John, both Pete and John were in the same school as me.
08:00But I got kicked out of school at the age of 15.
08:04And of course, they stayed on to 16, 17.
08:09But I still used to see them on the street because you couldn't hide them.
08:14They were very individual characters.
08:15And I met John walking along the road one day and he had over his shoulder, he had a homemade
08:22bass.
08:23Very funny looking bass, but he made it himself.
08:28And I said, do you want to come and come and play with my band to see what, see if
08:32you enjoy it?
08:34And he came along and he was, he's obviously a musical genius.
08:40He had a quality about him.
08:42And so I thought, well, I found my bass player.
08:45And then after about six weeks with John and me and the band, I was a sheet metal worker, which
08:51is not very conducive to guitar playing.
08:55You come home and your hands are all shredded and you've got to put these strings on your fingers.
09:00You go, oh, maybe not.
09:02So John said, well, I know a really good guitarist.
09:05Should I bring him along?
09:07And sure enough, he brings Pete Townsend along.
09:10Again, I recognized from school because you could never hide Pete Townsend in the crowd.
09:16He was like a nose on a stick, you know.
09:20And Pete came along and he'd been playing banjo in a traditional trad band, you know, jazz band.
09:29And he played guitar like no one else I'd ever heard.
09:33And I thought, I've got this individual bass player and now I've got this individual guitarist.
09:38We're on the way to something special here.
09:41Even though we were copying what was in the hit parade at the time, I thought this is, this is
09:47on the way to something special, but we couldn't find a drummer.
09:51And we didn't find a drummer for probably 18 months, tried different drummers out, had to get rid of the
09:58original drummer we had.
10:00And every time you get rid of someone that you've been in a band with, it's painful, you know, it's
10:06never easy.
10:06And we were still all good friends, but it's painful at the time, but you have to do it to
10:12move on.
10:14And then one day, we were still looking for drummers and it was in, I think it was either late
10:211963 or very early 1964.
10:25And this little kid turned up and asked to play drums with us and he had great big round moon
10:30shaped eyes.
10:32And he got on the drums and that was Keith Moon and everything gelled together.
10:37It was an extraordinary moment.
10:39Did you know right away that this was really something special?
10:42Yeah, it was like someone had put the key in the style of the motor of the jet engine.
10:48Off it went.
10:50Amazing.
10:50And he broke the drum kit that he borrowed because he had to sit in on someone else's drum kit
10:58and he broke their drum pedal.
11:00Oh, no.
11:03When I interview drummers, I always ask who their favorite drummer was.
11:07And Keith Moon, boy, comes up a lot, of course.
11:10Well, he was so original.
11:11I mean, he's unlike any other drummer out there and far from being sloppy.
11:15Yes.
11:16He was ultra, ultra slick, but he just played different.
11:20Wow.
11:22I don't know.
11:23He was like a pair of knitting needles, knitting with about 10 balls of wool and making music, you know.
11:31It was extraordinary.
11:32You all are.
11:33You all are.
11:34But you all seem so different, different personalities.
11:38Yeah, we were.
11:40And Keith and I, initially in the beginning, we didn't used to get on at all because in
11:46Keith's mind, the drums should be on the front of the stage.
11:50So I used to tell him to F off and put up with drumsticks being thrown at me for the
11:58first
11:58two years.
11:58What do you think kept it intact for so long when so many bands imploded?
12:04Well, one, it pays the rent.
12:07It's never been the same since Keith died.
12:10I can't pretend it has.
12:12We were firing on all cylinders.
12:14We could throw anything out there and make something of it.
12:18That kind of disappeared when Keith died.
12:21But we found Zach Starkey.
12:23Yes.
12:24We tried Kenny Jones, who is a great drummer, but the straight drummer just does not work
12:29with the Who.
12:30Yeah.
12:30It just does not work.
12:32What's going on with Starkey?
12:34Zach Starkey, he's not Keith Moon, but he comes very close.
12:38Is there going to be a reunion there?
12:40I don't know.
12:40I don't know whether we'll, we did a rehearsal recently and Zach was the drummer.
12:46We love Zach.
12:47We do love Zach.
12:48Sometimes the road doesn't love Zach.
12:51The road?
12:52It gets on top of him.
12:54So it becomes difficult, but we love him.
12:56And he was drumming at the rehearsal and we did the rehearsal to see if we can possibly
13:02do shows next year, still hit the notes, still get the drive.
13:07Who music demands an incredible amount of drive.
13:11And without that, it would be, you know, Herman's Hermits without Herman.
13:17Good analogy.
13:19You guys, well, not you, more Keith and Pete, legendary for destroying instruments.
13:24What did you think of that?
13:26At the time, it was like a kid writing, spraying his name in graffiti on a wall.
13:32Yeah.
13:33I'm here.
13:34I'm here.
13:34And that's what it did.
13:36You know, it made people sit up and notice.
13:39It became very expensive and we didn't make any money for a very, very long time.
13:46I mean, years.
13:48And the first guitar that was broken, that was for me as someone who used to make the
13:54first guitars that the band used to play.
13:56Did you?
13:57Yes.
13:59Well, we were post-war England.
14:01You know, you can't remember, this wasn't America.
14:05We couldn't go and just go out and buy a guitar.
14:08You could buy a house for the same amount of money.
14:13So, to see that first guitar smash was extremely painful to me.
14:18But it did pay the rent in the end.
14:20It sure did.
14:22Wow.
14:23When you look back on your long career, what are some of your favorite memories?
14:27Going home.
14:29No, no.
14:30Did you always know you wanted to sing?
14:33All I ever wanted to be was a good singer.
14:35I used to sing in a church choir and I could have been an opera singer, but I didn't.
14:41I like opera.
14:42I like listening to the melodies and the orchestras, the orchestral parts.
14:48And I like the singing.
14:50But then I've been to a lot of grand operas and I've looked at the lyrics.
14:54And they are, they leave a lot to be desired.
14:58Yeah, you had the best.
15:00You're spoiled now.
15:01Did you have any formal training?
15:03No, no, no, no.
15:04Oh, my God.
15:05No, I think you have to be, I think, I don't know.
15:08I know it's an opera thing and they love it.
15:11But I've heard really good singers go into the meat grinder and the formality kind of knocks
15:20out their characters.
15:22I don't know.
15:23That's what happens to my, that's how it sounds to my ears.
15:26Yeah.
15:26That makes sense.
15:28Who were your influences growing up?
15:30Oh, you name it.
15:32Mm-hmm.
15:32Right from Hank Williams onwards.
15:34You know, he was the first guy I heard.
15:37My uncle used to play Hank Williams records and I said, this is good.
15:41This is good.
15:42And then obviously it was Little Richard and Elvis and Chuck Berry and then the blues.
15:48Del Shan and all those people.
15:50We were expected to play all those hit songs that those guys had in the clubs and the pubs
15:58every time we played.
15:59So you learned a lot.
16:02And what about Tommy?
16:03I have to ask you about that.
16:04What's a favorite memory you have of working on that movie?
16:07Anne Margaret, Elton John.
16:09Anne Margaret was very difficult.
16:11It was very difficult to pretend that Anne, beautiful Anne, was my mother.
16:17That was a bit of a stretch.
16:18Right.
16:23But that was great fun to make and working with Ken Russell was a dream.
16:28Yes.
16:28It was so inventive.
16:30Anne Elton was so gracious on that film.
16:33What a star he is.
16:35Yeah.
16:35Oh, so many legends, including yourself.
16:38I still watch it sometimes and I get goosebumps watching that movie.
16:41It's a mad film.
16:43It was.
16:44It was.
16:44I mean, we used to start the day and think, what are we going to do today?
16:47And we just had to make it up as we went along.
16:49It was good.
16:51Like the piece where, what is it?
16:52It comes to this house.
16:54And we turn up outside this house.
16:57It's a very normal looking house.
16:59And Ken would say, what can we do different?
17:02He said, do you think you can go and sit up on the chimney?
17:06Oh, jeez.
17:07Oh, jeez.
17:08Oh, jeez.
17:08And I used to climb up the drain pipe and get on the roof and climb on the chimney.
17:13Oh, my God.
17:14What about pinball?
17:16Did you know how to play?
17:17No, I was the worst pinball player in the world.
17:20I mean, really, it used to go up and come down and straight down the hole.
17:25The wrong hole.
17:28did you ever learn how to play no no no i'm seriously the worst pinball player
17:34i don't know the pinball as soon as i get on it it's almost like it freezes
17:44well you're a good actor
17:49what's something your current self would tell your younger self
17:52oh i don't know never give advice
17:58you're always going to be wrong and i have to ask is it true that jimmy hendrix wrote foxy lady
18:04about
18:04your wife heather yes jimmy was trying to take heather home the same night as i took heather
18:10home so she became foxy because he didn't get her i love that and i've been with her
18:1855 years now and i i'm starting to like her you know i'm starting to i love it what do
18:24you
18:24attribute it to what's your secret for sustaining that long i don't know with the rock star life
18:30well she must well no we we're soulmates she's an amazing woman she's an amazing woman
18:37and we've got a wonderful family and i've been very lucky i you know we've had our ups and downs
18:43like
18:43everybody else has in in life but you know you have to work out what's really important in the end
18:50and when you're really in love and you really connect you know it's there you can't cheat it
18:56that's not to say other things don't pop up that you know make it difficult at times but you get
19:04you
19:04work through them and you hang on to what you know is valuable what does music do for people
19:10it's one of the last great freedoms we have now being taken over by ai which is kind of scary
19:17i know it's really but there again it it also leaves the opportunity for non-ai music to be even
19:28more popular than it than it has been how so how do we fight it i don't think you can
19:33fight it you
19:34just have to just have to you have to make sure it's copyrighted properly yes copyright is a big
19:40issue yes because you know my voice is a copyright to me the fact that they can now copy my
19:46voice and
19:46make it say anything they like it's kind of scary it sure is understatement i don't know if they could
19:53ever copy yours so we don't have to worry about that nobody well they can i mean i'm sorry but
19:58they
19:58can you know that's trouble do you have any favorite singers of today that you like
20:03most of them are old singers from the past me too i mean lose losing dolly was losing an
20:10extraordinary voice her voice was just something else wasn't it yes there was so much joy in her
20:16voice yes even when she sang the saddest song there was a kind of i don't know something special going
20:22on there yeah yeah like yours i mean i don't hear it but um i try to touch people with
20:30the words
20:30make the words move people that's all i care about music should move people otherwise it's soulless
20:37and that's what i'm trying to do with um rocking in the free world when you hear the way i
20:42sing it's
20:42so different the way than the way neil sings it but i think now it's a rock song does he
20:49know you're
20:49doing it i don't know i don't don't care it's cool how'd you come up with throwing your mic up
20:56like that in the air from being bored and everybody else jumping around and doing something i felt like
21:01a spare prick at a wedding sorry excuse me um you're good so i had to do something so i
21:11started something you know twirling it and the twirls got bigger and i got very good but the trouble is
21:18today i i twirl it out and i can't see where it's gone so it could lead to some funny
21:25moments
21:26and it can be very dangerous and uh simon pete townsend's brother simon's on guitar with you
21:34yep yeah he's been my right hand man for for many many years wow that's cool yeah you can't get
21:41enough of those townsend's no he's been my right hand man for 40 years wow that's cool what is your
21:49best life advice my best life advice i don't think about things like that i mean live every day as
21:58though it's your last it's a good one because one day it will be yeah that's right what's the first
22:04record you ever bought first record i ever bought actually paid for was a howling wolf record oh cool
22:12i love it i had a lot given to me but that was the first one what's your favorite comfort
22:17food
22:18comfort food i'm not a foodie no no it's one of those things that has to be done a bit
22:24like going to
22:25the bathroom that's how you maintain your shape what's something you want to do you haven't done
22:32yet i would like to go to antarctica but i don't think i'll ever make it um i'm not a
22:39good sailor
22:41and i've i've heard that they can get some rather rather rough weather down there and the cruises that
22:47go there yeah i'm very big and i i don't i'm not very good with seasickness yes but i would
22:55i would
22:55just love to see i love looking at landscape i'd love to go i'd like to go to patagonia and
23:01i might
23:01do that one oh it sounds good what's the best thing you've seen so far in your travels your favorite
23:06place my favorite place i still love the deserts i love the canyons i love the andes when i first
23:13saw
23:14the andes uh in chile like i said i'd like to go further down to patagonia but we didn't have
23:20time
23:20when we went but i i might go down there later on this year i don't know oh i love
23:26it i hope you make
23:27it you're such a beautiful person thank you so much for your many many gifts roger no well thank you
23:35for your support now you know you've got to remember this none of us do anything without the support of
23:39our fans and i've always been eternally grateful for the support that the who fans have given us
23:46it's been amazing really has been incredible well you've given us so many gifts so thank you all the
23:53best thank you so much roger all right all the rest of your tour
23:58you
23:58you
23:58you
23:58you
23:59you
23:59you
24:00you