ABC/Richard CartwrightRoger Daltrey is a rare rock star: He’s been married for almost fifty years and has never had a drug problem. In an interview with Rolling Stone, the Who frontman says a couple of simple rules have kept him on the straight-and-narrow.
The singer married his wife, Heather Taylor, in 1971. Though he admits “[it’s] not easy,” he thinks his marriage “survived because I was always honest with her [about] whatever had gone on during the tour.”
Daltrey says he wasted no time getting “on the first bloody plane back to her” after each Who tour, adds that he “worship[s] the ground she walk[s] on.”
As for that other big rock star cliche — drugs and rehab — Roger says his clean living was a lucky combination of preference and necessity.
“I had to [stay clean], so I could keep the others in line,” he says, and then jokes, “You try getting three people on acid from the Monterey Pop Festival all the way to London!”
The singer also notes that he saw “so many people…[become] complete a**holes” on drugs, and realized he never wanted that to happen to him.
Daltrey also believes that his relatively drug-free life was due to his desire to preserve his voice, which, after all, is his instrument.
Daltrey, who’ll release his autobiography in October, wraps a two-month solo tour tomorrow night in Indio, CA. The Who is currently on a break, but Daltrey promises, “We haven’t ever thought of [retiring].”
However, Roger says he would like to retire one particular song from the Who’s set: “Won’t Get Fooled Again.”
“That’s the only song I’m bloody bored s**tless with. I don’t know why, but I’m being honest,” he says.
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