I hope I die earlier than I get previous.
Roger Daltrey of the rock band The Who has revealed that he’s slowly going deaf and blind after turning 81 on March 1.
“The fun of getting previous imply you go deaf. I additionally now have gotten the enjoyment of going blind,” Daltrey informed the gang at London’s Royal Albert Corridor throughout a live performance on Thursday, March 27, per Sky Information.
“Thankfully, I nonetheless have my voice,” he quipped, “as a result of then I’ll have a full Tommy.”
Tommy is the title of the primary character from The Who’s 1969 album-turned-rock opera of the identical title. He’s not solely deaf and blind but in addition mute.
This wasn’t the primary time Daltrey revealed he’s going “very, very deaf,” blaming his situation as the results of his greater than 60-year profession as a rock and roll singer.
“Take your f–king earplugs with you to the gigs,” he informed the gang throughout one other live performance in Las Vegas in 2018, based on TMZ.
Daltrey has additionally mentioned getting older and demise in newer interviews, together with one with The Instances in January 2024.
“My goals got here true so, hear, I’m able to go at any time,” he informed the outlet on the time. “My household are all nice and all taken care of.”
“You’ve bought to be practical,” the “My Era” singer continued. “You may’t stay your life without end. Like I stated, folks my age, we’re in the best way. There aren’t any guitar strings to be modified on this previous instrument.”
Daltrey’s fellow The Who bandmate Pete Townshend has additionally joked about being an getting older rock star on the cusp of octogenarians.
“4 and a half weeks in the past, I had my left knee changed,” Townshend, 79, informed the London crowd final week. “Possibly I ought to public sale off the previous one.”
In accordance with the “Baba O’ Riley” guitarist, he injured his knee after attempting to bop across the stage like Rolling Stones star Mick Jagger, 81.
The information of their deteriorating well being comes two years after Daltrey and Townshend prompt The Who is likely to be retiring almost 60 years after the band was first fashioned in 1964.
“I suppose Roger and l, in some unspecified time in the future, will look forward and attempt to work out whether or not or not we wish to do an Elton John and finish it ultimately,” Townshend stated in 2023 whereas referencing Elton John’s profitable farewell tour.
“It’s troublesome to decide going ahead, to say we’re going to do that or that, as a result of we don’t know the way nicely we’re going to be or how match we’re going to be,” he continued.
Townshend additionally admitted that he and Daltrey have been each getting “previous.”
“That in itself has a draw back as a result of, aside from what you possibly can or can’t do on the stage, whenever you end touring, you come again to regular life,” the “Magic Bus” author stated. “No matter it’s that you simply resolve to do to fill your time away from the highway – and it’s more durable and takes longer.”
Keith Moon, the band’s authentic drummer, handed away in 1978 on the age of 32. The Who’s authentic bassist, John Entwistle, died in 2002 at 57. Each deaths have been associated to drug use.
The Submit has reached out to Daltrey’s reps for remark.
