Roger Daltrey was roundly criticized for his singing voice at the 2010 Super Bowl halftime show, but few people knew that just weeks earlier the Who frontman had a precancerous growth removed from his vocal cord. Daltrey noticed he was having extreme difficulty with his singing voice while on a solo tour in 2009. "My voice wasn't performing in a normal way," he told CBS Los Angeles last month. "It was becoming hard work to sing. I just got lucky that somebody put me in touch with Steven Zeitel at Mass General. He saw me and told me that he didn't like what he saw."
(The news was posted on the CBS website a month ago, but it received little attention. The news hit our radar when it was referenced in a Rolling Stonesmessage board post.)
Roger Daltrey Planning Who Tour, New Collaborations
One week before Christmas 2009 Daltrey went under the knife. "He took off what he could from the problem area on my vocal cord," Daltrey said. "He said it wasn't cancer, but it was a pre-cancerous [growth] and you have to keep an eye on it...I see him every time after I finish a tour and he swears that he'll keep me singing into my 80s. That might upset some people, but it keeps me happy."
When The Tour last toured America in 2008 some of the venues weren't sold out. "You can do too much and oversell your market," Daltrey said. "You can also lose your passion for it." Despite Pete Townshend's recent hearing problems, Daltrey says that The Who are still planning on touring this year. "We have an incredible catalog of songs that we can never plan in one tour," Daltrey said. "We're trying to work out something where we play a good size chunk of it, but we'll see."
Roger Daltrey: One of the 100 Greatest Singers Of All-Time
He didn't elaborate on exactly they planned on expanding the setlist, but in other recent interviews Daltrey suggested the possibility of playing multiple night stands that would feature Quadropehania, Tommy and a third night of hits and rarities.

Love the Who. They play ... & I'm there, it's that simple !

[ I want to shout, but I can hardly speak ]

Good lad, you can never beat abit of the 'Oribble Who....

I have to say, the transformation in Daltrey's voice, at least juding by that 31st December's Jools Holland's show clip that's on some thread or other here on IORR, is really quite astonishing. good on him for getting his throat checked out and having those pre-cancerous growths removed. Anyway, love 'em to death, so obviously hoping they do get out and do some shows in 2011. There's still life in 'em yet I do believe.

[ I want to shout, but I can hardly speak ]

I'm glad they caught it in time, I'm a big WHO fan! They're in my top 5 all time favorite bands.

[www.iorr.org])

What the hell is a pre-cancerous growth? A growth is either cancerous, or it's benign.

Quote
tatters
What the hell is a pre-cancerous growth? A growth is either cancerous, or it's benign.

Not exactly. Some growths, and some atypical cells, tend to become cancerous if left untreated. Many types of benign tumours will never become cancerous. Often there is a clear distinction. This is why you will hear people say that many cancers, such as colon cancer, can be prevented with screening - polyps in the colon start as benign growths and become cancerous over time. Remove the polyps, remove the risk of cancer. Sounds like Daltry had a similar situation - good that they caught it in time.

He sounds better in that Mannish boy clip.

htttp://www.last.fm/user/rocknrollcola

A group has started a petition to convice The Who to Tour in 2011

[www.facebook.com]

[http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/pages/The-Who-Please-Plea se-Tour-in-2011/185766121435798

hit "like" and pass it on.

anyway Roger Daltreys voice was starting to go-- he was found to have pre-Cancerous growths on his vocal cords-- He sounds much better- I hope they tour!

Here is Roger's "new voice"

Just read something about a poll in which Tommy was named the #1 concept album of all time.

[www.wcsx.com]

Didnt the Stones cover this song?

Quote
Bomber
Didnt the Stones cover this song?

got it!

Thats not the Stones. Its Mick, Keith and Woody guesting with Muddy etc.

The Stones DID cover the song on Love You Live tho.

They played it on the Licks Tour 2002/03.

Quote
deadegad
They played it on the Licks Tour 2002/03.

nice

Wow, Roger's voice does sound much better. Wonder how it would hold up to a full tour, but at least it's a vast improvement over what it was......

Quote
batcave
Wow, Roger's voice does sound much better. Wonder how it would hold up to a full tour, but at least it's a vast improvement over what it was......

yep. he had the surgery not knowing if it was going to work-- he pretty much had no choice though..

wow he sounds like roger daltrey now. why did it take him so long to get a checkup and see what was wrong?

Quote
keefriffhard4life
wow he sounds like roger daltrey now. why did it take him so long to get a checkup and see what was wrong?

word is he was scared he had advanced cancer-- luckily he went just in time!

[www.smartplanet.com]

I found a link with video interview.

check tha video of Roger

Quote
batcave
Wow, Roger's voice does sound much better. Wonder how it would hold up to a full tour, but at least it's a vast improvement over what it was......

Agreed there!

htttp://www.last.fm/user/rocknrollcola

Quote
RollingStonesRob

Quote
batcave
Wow, Roger's voice does sound much better. Wonder how it would hold up to a full tour, but at least it's a vast improvement over what it was......

Agreed there!

He did a dozen solo shows opening for Clapton and sounded great!

Quote
batcave
Wow, Roger's voice does sound much better. Wonder how it would hold up to a full tour, but at least it's a vast improvement over what it was......

Could'nt get much worse over what it was.

Quote
Bomber
Here is Roger's "new voice"

time to retire, I'd say

Quote
Bomber

Quote
RollingStonesRob

Quote
batcave
Wow, Roger's voice does sound much better. Wonder how it would hold up to a full tour, but at least it's a vast improvement over what it was......

Agreed there!

He did a dozen solo shows opening for Clapton and sounded great!

I attended one of the Spring 2010 Clapton shows and Daltry did sound much better than when I saw him Fall 2009 at an HoB show. Fall 2009 Daltry sounded awful and the show was crap from beginning to end.

Quote
SomeTorontoGirl

Quote
tatters
What the hell is a pre-cancerous growth? A growth is either cancerous, or it's benign.

Not exactly. Some growths, and some atypical cells, tend to become cancerous if left untreated. Many types of benign tumours will never become cancerous. Often there is a clear distinction. This is why you will hear people say that many cancers, such as colon cancer, can be prevented with screening - polyps in the colon start as benign growths and become cancerous over time. Remove the polyps, remove the risk of cancer. Sounds like Daltry had a similar situation - good that they caught it in time.

I don't know. "Pre-cancerous" still sounds to me like a term that was made up by the medical industry to scare people into getting unnecessary surgery. "You'd better have that thing removed, sir. It's pre-cancerous". But, hey, if it made Roger's voice sound better, I'm all for it.