Roger Daltrey has been given a “purpose” in life through his charity work.
The 79-year-old rocker is best known as part of The Who alongside Pete Townshend but has organised the annual Teenage Cancer Trust concert series at the Royal Albert Hall since 2000 and explained that even though he is now stepping down from the role, he will “never forget” some of the young patients he has met.
He told Metro newspaper’s SixtySeconds column: “I’ve met so many over the years. There’s quite a few who will stay with me forever – I could never forget them and the letters and cards really mean a lot – I’ve kept them all.
“I’m some old fart of a rock singer and this has given me a purpose.
“I’m not very good at doing nothing and I’m looking towards the end of a singing career. So this has been something I’m so proud of. Pete and I also founded Teen Cancer America 12 years ago, and we’re getting the chance to get together a lot of data that will really help the science one day.”
Over the years, the ‘My Generation’ rocker has managed to persuade a number of big names including Ed Sheeran, Sir Paul McCartney, and Simply Red to give up their time for free to perform during the week.
For the upcoming series of concerts – which will take place from Monday 18 March – Oasis rocker Noel Gallager will be returning to the stage with his High Flying Birds band and Roger joked that his “knees are sore” from “begging” acts to perform for free but noted that no-one has ever regretted their performance.
He said: “Gosh, it was tough at the start, because I was determined bands should want to do this for free, and it’s not easy getting big names to actually block out their time. My knees are now so sore from 24 years of begging!
“When I see someone famous, I go straight over and ask them to play a gig – and I’m sure they’ll see me now and run away!
But not one of the bands has ever come off the stage without saying, ‘What a fantastic experience.'”