Roger Daltrey, lead singer of the rock band The Who, has revealed that after celebrating his 81st birthday on March 1, he is gradually losing his hearing and vision. "The joys of getting old mean you go deaf. I also now have got the joy of going blind," Daltrey told the crowd at London's Royal Albert Hall during a concert on Thursday, March 27, per Sky News.
"Fortunately, I still have my voice," Daltrey quipped, "because then I'll have a full Tommy," referencing the band's hit album. Tommy is the main character from The Who's 1969 album-turned-rock opera of the same. In the story, Tommy is deaf, blind, and mute.
Young Till I Die
This isn't the first time Daltrey has admitted he is going "very, very deaf," blaming his hearing loss to his over 60-year career as a rock and roll vocalist. "Bring your f–king earplugs with you to the gigs," he warned the audience during a 2018 performance in Las Vegas, as reported by TMZ.
Daltrey has also spoken about aging and mortality in recent interviews, including one with The Times in January 2024.
"My dreams came true so, listen, I'm ready to go at any time," he told the outlet at the time. "My family are all great and all taken care of."
"You've got to be realistic," the "My Generation" singer continued. "You can't live your life forever. Like I said, people my age, we're in the way. There are no guitar strings to be changed on this old instrument."
Pete Townshend, Daltrey's bandmate from The Who, has also made light of being an aging rock star approaching his 80s. "Four and a half weeks ago, I had my left knee replaced," Townshend, 79, told the London crowd last week. "Maybe I should auction off the old one."
Setting Sun
The "Baba O'Riley" guitarist, Pete Townshend, shared that he hurt his knee while trying to dance on stage in the same way Rolling Stones legend Mick Jagger, 81, does.
The news about their declining health comes two years after Daltrey and Townshend hinted that The Who might be retiring, nearly 60 years after the band was formed in 1964. "I suppose Roger and l, at some point, will look ahead and try to work out whether or not we want to do an Elton John and end it in some way," Townshend said in 2023 while referencing Elton John's successful farewell tour.
"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," he continued.
Townshend also acknowledged that both he and Daltrey were growing "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," the "Magic Bus" writer said. "Whatever it is that you decide to do to fill your time away from the road – and it's harder and takes longer."
Keith Moon, the original drummer of the band, died in 1978 at 32, while John Entwistle, the original bassist, died in 2002 at 57. Both of their deaths were linked to drug use.
