The Who’s Roger Daltrey Reveals He’s Going Deaf and Blind

The Who lead singer Roger Daltrey revealed he’s been struggling with multiple health issues.

“The joys of getting old mean you go deaf. I also now have got the joy of going blind,” the rock star, 81, told the crowd at The Who’s Thursday, March 27, show in London, per Sky News. “Fortunately, I still have my voice.”

Daltrey joked once his voice was gone he’d have a “full Tommy,” referring to The Who’s 1969 rock opera, Tommy. The album tells the story of a fictional character named Tommy Walker who dissociates and becomes “deaf, dumb and blind” to the world around him.

Later in the concert, Daltrey’s bandmate Pete Townshend shared he’s also got some physical ailments.

“Four and a half weeks ago, I had my left knee replaced,” Townshend, 79, said before joking he “should auction off the old one.”

The Who performed multiple shows in London this past week for the Teenage Cancer Trust charity concert. Daltrey previously served as a curator of the Teenage Cancer Trust’s Royal Albert Hall concerts but recently stepped down from the position. He will remain an honorary patron of the nonprofit.

Daltrey and Townshend are the only surviving founding members of The Who. The duo cofounded the band alongside bassist John Entwistle in 1964. Entwistle died in 2002 at age 57. The group’s best-known drummer, Keith Moon, died in 1978 at age 32.

Following Entwistle’s passing, Daltrey and Townshend have kept The Who alive over the past six decades. However, both men have broached the idea of retirement. When Elton John — who also has suffered from multiple health issues — embarked on his farewell tour in 2022, Townshend shared that he and Daltrey were considering ending their performing legacy in a similar fashion.

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“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 told The Sun in April 2023. “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.”

Townshend acknowledged that he and Daltrey are aware that they are “both old.”

“That in itself has a downside … apart from what you can or can’t do on the stage,” he explained. “When you finish touring, you come back to normal life — whatever it is that you decide to do to fill your time away from the road — and it’s harder and takes longer.”