Daltrey on healing after tragic ’79 concert
Roger Daltrey is sounding slightly croaky on the phone from London.
But The Who lead singer is fine, he insists, after a laser procedure to remove pre-cancerous cells from his throat, which has had him on vocal rest for more than a week. The annual doctor checks, and operations, have become a regular part of life for Daltrey, 75, since cells were first discovered and removed in 2009.
“I’ve got the usual cold that I end up with after I have it, but I’ll be fine,” says Daltrey, “I just have to be kind to myself for a couple of months, no singing for six weeks minimum.”
However, Daltrey sounds powerful from the first track on The Who’s selftitled album with songwriter guitarist Pete Townshend. The band’s first offering in 13 years officially dropped today, and Daltrey spoke about it with USA TODAY.
Question: You’ve had some voice issues during the last leg of your tour, how is it going?
Daltrey: This summer was hard for me because I go for a check every July, and I went for a check literally four days after a gig at Wembley Stadium (in England). And my vocal chords looked so bad after that show, that my doc, who’s a genius, kind of freaked out.
He usually treats me in his office with his lasers, but he said, ‘I’m going to have to wheel you in for another fullblown operation because it’s not looking good at all.’ That kind of freaked me a little bit. I couldn’t do it then because there wasn’t enough recovery time for the September tour. So I had to do that whole second leg of the tour with this little woodpecker on my shoulder, nibbling on my brain going, ‘I hope your voice lasts.’
But I went back, it was much better. He managed to treat me in his office with lasers. It’s not something I can get rid of. It will slowly come back. But as long as I keep on top of it, it shouldn’t interfere with our work.
Q: What is Roger Daltrey like on no-talking mode ?
Daltrey: I just sulk. It’s impossible. Trying to write notes for conversations is an absolute joke. And you can’t answer the telephone, that just rings. I completely shut off communication. I’m even bad on emails.
Q: How does a rock star stay in your kind of shape?
Daltrey: I got very lucky early in life. A good chemist warned me off of chemical drugs. He told me never to touch them. I might be the only rock star in the world who didn’t take cocaine. But I didn’t get into all those naughties that you see for the people who did get into them. I got lucky. I smoked a lot of pot. It was always a