Roger Daltrey was (and still is on
reunion concerts and tours) the lead singer of the english
rock band The Who. He has a great voice and he's able to play the guitar and
harmonica.
Roger Harry Daltrey was born on March 1, 1944, to Harry & Irene Daltrey. He was the oldest of three children and had two sisters, Gillian and Carol.
Roger was the best at some tests at school, so he was enrolled in Acton Country Grammar, an all-boys school. Daltrey said that he was a school rebel, he didn't want to do what others told him and he was against everythnig. The only thing he wanted to get into was rock & roll.
So he started playing the guitar. He made his first one out of a block of wood. Roger formed his own band, The Detours, and became the lead guitarist. Daltrey soon got expelled from Grammar School.
He started working, and playing with the Detours at night. Daltrey asked John Entwistle to be the bassist of his band, and John accepted. He recommended Pete Townshend, who then became the rhythm guitar player of the Detours, which were Daltrey on lead guitar, Pete on rhythm guitar, John on bass, Doug Sandom on drums and Colin Dawson as the lead singer.
The Detours were playing top ten songs at weddings and bar mitzvahs in 1961. Two years later, their lineup changed, because the Detours changed into a power trio with a lead singer. Colin Dawson left, Roger became the new singer, and Pete took over the lead guitar.
The change in the band didn't affect the fact that Roger had the control over the band. He decided what they should play, which at that time was Beatles songs, James Brown numbers and older rock & roll stuff.
In early 1964 the Detours wanted to change their name, because of an irish band called the Detours too, who were more successful. So after Richard Barnes suggested The Who, Roger decided that it would be their new name. A few months later, Doug Sandom left the band and Keith Moon became The Who's new drummer.
After a short mod-like phase, during the band's name was The High Numbers, they became The Who again. The Who, actually Pete Townshend, started writing their own material, because they were forced to by a record deal. The Who's second single, Anyway, Anyhow, Anywhere was co-written by Roger, and it was Pete's and Roger's only collaboration in their band history.
Roger was the right person to sing Pete's lyrics, because he could combine anger and other elements needed for them. When they played live, Roger developed his famous microphone swing technique, often swinging the microphone over the audience's heads.
Perhaps he took his leader role too seriously, being upset about the band and flushing down Keith Moon's pills. Of course, the rest of them didn't like Roger's behaviour so he was kicked out of the band in September 1965. However, a few days later, after deciding that The Who was the most important thing for him, he joined the band again.
Some months later The Who's first album, My Generation, was released and Daltrey sung 10 of 12 songs, one being instrumental (of the 12 songs, not the 10 he was singing, silly ;).
He divorced his wife and mother of his son after being married two years in 1966. In the same year The Who released A Quicke One, featuring one Daltrey song, See My Way. He had written this song because of an advance he later used for buying a car. Roger's vocals on the album's title track, the mini-opera A Quick One (While He's Away) are great.
His singing on The Who's next album release, The Who Sell Out (1967), was very good again. The cover of the album shows him in a bathtub full of Heinz baked beans.
After a year of inactivity The Who released their first big hit album in 1969 called Tommy. Roger's vocals were again excellent, though IMHO the studio recording of See Me, Feel Me is not as good as the live versions. This album however changed Daltrey's look. He would wear an open vest showing his chest, and he let his hair grow long and curly.
The Who released a live album, Live At Leeds in 1970, showing The Who's unbelievable live energy. Check out Roger's vocal skills on Heaven And Hell, A Quick One (While He's Away), My Generation or Magic Bus.
1971 saw the release of Who's Next, a legendary album, featuring legendary songs sung by Roger, for example the album's opening track Baba O'Riley, in which Roger is singing about the Teenage Wasteland, Behind Blue Eyes, which is arguably on of the Who's best record ever, or Won't Get Fooled Again, featuring a great scream by Roger.
Roger Daltrey released his first solo album in 1973, the same year Quadrophenia, Pete's next rock opera was released.
Two years later, Roger was starring in the Tommy film, and released his second solo album, Ride A Rock Horse.
The Who also wasn't inactive that year and released The Who by Numbers with seven songs sung by Roger. His third solo album, One of The Boys, was released in 1976, and The Who's last studio album with Keith Moon, Who Are You, came out in 1978.
Roger was deeply hurt by the tragedy of Keith's death, who died on September 7, 1978 of an overdose of sleeping pills. The Who, however, did not split up but continued playing and touring with Kenney Jones on drums. They released two more studio albums (Face Dances (1981), It's Hard (1982)) before finally splitting up in 1984.
Roger released his fourth solo album in 1985, dedicated to the "original" Who's drummer Keith Moon, called Under a Raging Moon.
Other albums:
IMHO Roger Daltrey was a great singer before he got too old. Listen to his fabulous vocals on Won't Get Fooled Again, Young Man Blues, Heaven And Hell, ... He was just the right person to sing Pete Townshend's lyrics to his great songs, and The Who wouldn't have been the same without him.