Rock legend Roger Daltrey, the frontman of The Who, has revealed that he’s losing his sight in a candid admission while performing at London’s Royal Albert Hall
Rock titan Roger Daltrey has told fans he’s “going blind”.
The legendary frontman of The Who told fans that he was losing his sight while on stage with his bandmates at London’s Royal Albert Hall for the Teenage Cancer Trust. The Who played two shows at the iconic venue in support of the cancer charity which they have supported for years.
Daltrey opened up about how he was going “deaf” and “blind” due to old age – but was grateful that he could still sing. The band’s guitarist, Pete Townsend, poked fun at his own health battles as he joked he was now “Superman” after getting his knee replaced.
During the performance on Monday night (March 27), he said: “The problem with this job is that you go deaf. And now I’ve been told that I am going blind.”
He then referenced Tommy, the lead character who cannot see, hear or speak in his band’s 1969 rock opera of the same name. “Thank God I’ve still got my voice. If I lost that I’ll go full Tommy,” he quipped.
Pete joked about flogging his old knee for charity. “Maybe I should auction off the old one,” he said. “Elton John had one done, and he wears his as a bracelet. Unfortunately, mine’s in three bits.
However, he said that his knee issues were nothing, a “piece of p***”, in comparison to what cancer patients have to go through. Daltrey and the band are playing a second night at the Royal Albert Hall on Sunday (March 30).
Last year, the singer announced he was stepping down as curator of the annual Teenage Cancer Trust concerts, having held the position since 2000. The Cure singer Robert Smith has taken on the role.
Daltrey has been open about his health battles over the years and told concertgoers in 2018 that he had suffered hearing loss following so many years of performing. He said he was “very, very deaf” and urged fans to use earplugs to reduce exposure to loud noise.
The rocker has also suffered problems with his voice and in 2010 was diagnosed with vocal cord dysplasia. He got surgery to remove what was potentially a pre-cancerous growth – this was successful.
The band have been going since the 1960s are still going strong but have spoken about their retirement. In 2023, Townsend told The Sun: “It’s difficult to make a decision going forward, to say we’re going to do this or that, because we don’t know how well we’re going to be or how fit we’re going to be. We’re both old.
“That in itself has a downside because, apart from what you can or can’t do on the stage, when you finish touring you come back to normal life – whatever it is that you decide to do to fill your time away from the road – and it’s harder and takes longer.
“So life slows down because it’s so much harder getting up and down the stairs, but it also speeds up.” Daltrey also discussed ageing after he turned 80.
“I have to be realistic,” he wrote in The Times. “I’m on my way out. The average life expectancy is 83 and with a bit of luck I’ll make that, but we need someone else to drive things.
“I’m not leaving TCT – I’ve been a patron since I first met the charity’s founders, Dr Adrian and Myrna Whiteson, more than 30 years ago – and that will continue, but I’ll be working in the back room, talking to the government, rattling cages.”
Want all the biggest Showbiz and TV news straight to your inbox? Sign up for our free Daily Star Showbiz newsletter.
