The Who’s legendary frontman Roger Daltrey, now 81, has revealed serious concerns about his ability to complete his current tour due to multiple health challenges that have worsened in recent years.
In a candid new interview with The Times, Daltrey disclosed that lingering complications from viral meningitis he contracted nine years ago continue to affect his ability to perform.
“It’s done a lot of damage,” Daltrey explained. “It’s buggered up my internal thermometer, so every time I start singing in any climate over 75 degrees I’m wringing with sweat, which drains my body salts.”
The rock icon admitted his genuine fear about the tour’s completion, stating, “The potential to get really ill is there and, I have to be honest, I’m nervous about making it to the end of the tour.”
The meningitis aftermath represents just one of several health battles Daltrey is fighting, Parade said. He believes his hearing problems began long before his decades with The Who, tracing them back to his teenage years working in a sheet metal factory at age 16.
Daltrey’s health struggles became more public during the annual Teenage Cancer Trust concert in March, a cause he has long championed. During the event, he revealed to the audience that he was not only losing his hearing but his sight as well. With characteristic dark humor, he told attendees that if he lost his voice too, he would “go the full Tommy” – referencing The Who’s famous rock opera about a “deaf, dumb, and blind kid.”
Unlike many performers his age, Daltrey does not use teleprompters for lyrics, but for a heartbreaking reason, according to Parade. When asked why, he simply replied, “There’s no point,” explaining he wouldn’t be able to see it anyway. When questioned about his current vision, his response was blunt: “Not good.” He then revealed his diagnosis: “I’ve got an incurable macular degeneration.”
Age-related macular degeneration, is an eye condition that affects the retina, the part of your eye that helps you see, according to the American Academy of Ophthlamology. It damages a small area in the center of the retina called the macula. This causes you to lose your central vision, making it hard to see details clearly—whether things are near or far. However, your side (peripheral) vision usually stays normal, the organization said.
Despite facing this triple threat of hearing loss, deteriorating vision, and meningitis complications, Daltrey continues to perform. But Peter Chakerian, life and culture reporter with Cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer, was not quick to feel too much sympathy for Daltrey
“Daltrey is not doing himself any favors by staying worked up at hired-fired Who drummer Zac Starkey,” Chakerian said.
”If he’s really that bad off, maybe he should just pull off the road… like The Who were supposed to in 1982, 1989, 1996, 2000 and after the 50th Anniversary tour.”
This story was written with the assistance of AI.
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