Now in his eighties, the lead singer of The Who was born in a London suburb in 1944. When he was a teenager, rock music was also seen as a social uprising, and he made the most of it!

His father worked in a factory while his mother, who had partial paralysis of the hands, was forced to stay at home. So, unlike many other musicians, Roger Daltrey didn't grow up in an artistic environment. The nascent beginnings of rock music occupied the thoughts of the once good-natured teenager. Is this what some right-thinking people have dubbed the ‘rock demon’?

From the early 60s onwards, it's fair to say that Daltrey's path took a few detours before reaching the top. Back in the days when he was a metal worker by day and sang in pubs by night (unpaid, of course), his first band was called... The Detours. It wasn't long before bassist John Entwistle and then guitarist Pete Townshend joined him. Together, they went through their share of difficulties, the kind you never forget and which forge an indefectible bond.

In 1964, when the band had just changed its name to The Who, they were joined by the incredible drummer Keith Moon. The legendary quartet was now ready for glory. And they didn't have to wait forever for it. With their first record deal in the bag, The Who were forced to write their own songs, even though, up until then, they had been used to covers. In contrast to Lennon and McCartney with the Beatles, Daltrey and Townshend only wrote one song together in their entire career. One of their very first compositions was ‘Anyway, Anyhow, Anywhere’.

In retrospect, it's always difficult to spot the sparks that set things alight. It's often a juxtaposition of several factors. Daltrey's twirling, sometimes violent stage presence makes an impression on audiences. That's the first element. Then, heralded by ‘I Can't Explain’ (1954), the first album set out to make its mark, taking the title of ‘My Generation’. The legend of The Who took on the world. And the rest is history...

Of course, The Who adventure would have its ups and downs, with a legendary live album (‘Live At Leeds’ in 1970), a diversion that flirted with opera (‘Tommy’ in 1969) and even a slightly overdone form of grandiloquence (‘Quadrophenia’ in 1973), and of course a few shocking breaks.

Although Roger Daltrey's solo career has hardly produced any masterpieces (unlike Pete Townshend's 1985 album White City), the singer's dozen or so studio albums are enjoyable to listen to, but don't make you swoon either.

One of the more unusual anecdotes is Daltrey's unlikely interest in French chanson. Back in 1987, Daltrey adapted Axel Bauer's ‘Cargo de nuit’ as ‘Take Me Home’. In 2011, he joined Laurent Voulzy on his album ‘Lys & Love’ for ‘Ma seule amour’.

Daltrey, who, like his bandmate Pete Townshend, is now severely deaf, has written his auto-biography, soberly entitled ‘My Generation’, from his farm in the south-east of England in 2019. With the exception of a few stage appearances, he has kept a low profile ever since...

(MH with AK - Photo: © Etienne Tordoir)

Photo: Portrait of Roger Daltrey in Brussels on 9 March 1984

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