The Who's Roger Daltrey ‘very humbled' by ‘dream come true' knighthood

The Herald Scotland

13-06-2025

He told PA: 'It's strange, it's an experience that I've never had before, I'm very humbled by it.
'But equally, pride isn't something you wear on the outside, you can't say you're proud of that, I'm not proud, it's something that you wear in your heart, and this sits very well in my heart, because it's for the charity, it is for the music and the music I've had the joy of giving it out there – how lucky was I?'
Sir Roger Daltrey said he was glad to be recognised for his charity work (Ian West/PA)
Sir Roger said he was particularly pleased to be honoured for his charity work, which will see him remain an honorary patron of Teenage Cancer Trust, while The Cure frontman Robert Smith takes over the curation of his London concert series next year.
He added: 'It's kind of weird, but I am deeply honoured to get this, especially for the charity for the Teenage Cancer Trust, and I accept it on their behalf really, because this honour is really for all unsung heroes.'
Sir Roger continued: 'It's a dream come true for me, but it's especially a dream because the charity means so much.'
The first Teenage Cancer Trust show by The Who And Friends at the Royal Albert Hall in 2000 raised more than £12 million in ticket sales and revenue from a concert film and CD, and as a result Sir Roger was given a humanitarian award in 2003 from Time magazine.
Sir Roger and The Who have also thrown their support behind a number of other cancer charities, and the frontman was one of the original supporters of music therapy charity Nordoff And Robbins.
The singer first rose to fame with the 1960s mod rock band when their early Shel Talmy-produced singles I Can't Explain, Anyway, Anyhow, Anywhere, and My Generation stormed into the UK charts, with the latter reaching number two.
Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend have performed together in The Who since the 1960s (Suzan Moore/PA)
With The Who, Sir Roger became known for his energetic performances, which saw him lasso his microphone around his head with its cable, while bandmates Pete Townshend, Keith Moon and John Entwistle smashed their equipment at the end of shows in a proto punk display of destruction.
Asked whether he could have foreseen his knighthood during the band's early days, Sir Roger said: 'No, no, I mean, you've got to remember, we came from post-war England, I was born in an air raid.
'But what we didn't have that could say we kind of feel we need in today's world, we had barely enough, we had hardly anything at all, but that was a blank canvas to paint our own, whatever we wanted to do in our lives.
'We could paint ourselves on to that canvas and make it count, and we got into music, we got lucky, it's as simple as that, it was luck.
'We were born with talent, that's for sure, you can't have the success we've had and not have some kind of talent, even if it's for cock-ups.
'So we got lucky, we were right place, right time, we had the right chemistry with the four band members, and it's been a dream life, I can't thank everybody enough.'
The band are widely acknowledged as the first mod band, and went on to further success with their fourth album Tommy (1968), a rock opera about a 'deaf, dumb and blind' boy who becomes an expert pinball player, before becoming a god-like figure.
The Who rocketed to fame in the 1960s (PA Archive)
Tommy spawned a number of theatrical adaptions, and in 1975, a film directed by Ken Russell starred Sir Roger in the lead role. This marked the start of an acting career which went on to see him play composer Franz Liszt in Lisztomania (1975), as well as appear in The Legacy (1978) and TV's The Bill.
Having become known as one of the heaviest groups of the 1960s, and one of the first mainstream groups to utilise guitar feedback, The Who became one of the first British hard rock bands with the release of Who's Next (1971), which also saw them among the first such acts to use synthesisers.
Who's Next included some of the band's best known tracks such as Baba O'Riley and Won't Get Fooled Again.
In 1973, the band released a second rock opera in Quadrophenia, which was also adapted into a film in 1979, which starred Phil Daniels as main character Jimmy Cooper in an all-star cast that also included Sting as Ace Face, Ray Winstone as Kevin Herriot and Toyah Willcox as Monkey.
The Who's original drummer Keith Moon died in 1978, while bass player John Entwistle died in 2002.
While The Who were still active and during their time apart, Sir Roger has released a series of solo albums, beginning with Daltrey (1973), which peaked at number six in the UK albums chart.
In 2018, Sir Roger published his autobiography Thanks A Lot Mr Kibblewhite.
Kate Collins, chief executive of Teenage Cancer Trust, said: 'We're all delighted that Roger Daltrey has been awarded a much-deserved knighthood. Sir Roger is a tireless and passionate supporter of, and advocate for, young people with cancer in the UK and internationally.
'The powerhouse behind Teenage Cancer Trust's flagship Royal Albert Hall fundraising gigs for more than 25 years, Sir Roger has had – and continues to have – a remarkable impact on our work and on the lives of young people with cancer.
'Sir Roger has made a unique and exceptional contribution to both music and charity, and we all wholeheartedly congratulate him on this honour. It is so deserved.'