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It’s Sir Roger Now: The Who’s Daltrey is Knighted

by Best Classic Bands Staff

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The Who’s Pete Townshend, Keith Moon, Roger Daltrey and John Entwistle in 1970 (Photo: Trinifold Archive via UMe; used with permission)

Roger Daltrey has been knighted as part of the King’s birthday honors list. The news was revealed Friday evening, June 13, 2025. The Who frontman, 81, was selected for his charitable efforts, most notably for having launched and curated the Teenage Cancer Trust concerts. Sir Roger, the honorific for which he’s now entitled to use, began programming the annual concerts, held at London’s Royal Albert Hall. For 25 years, until he stepped down from the role this year, performers have included The Who (many times), Paul McCartney and Oasis.

Daltrey was quoted by the PA News Agency, the national news agency for the U.K. and Ireland, “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?”

Among those also conferred knighthood in the 2025 birthday honors were soccer star David Beckham and actor Gary Oldman. Actress Elaine Paige received the female equivalent and is now a dame.

Fittingly, the 2025 Teenage Cancer Trust concerts were the final ones Daltrey curated. He has passed the baton to The Cure’s Robert Smith.

“It’s kind of weird,” Roger told the PA, “but I am deeply honored to get this, especially for the charity for the Teenage Cancer Trust, and I accept it on their behalf really, because this honor is really for all unsung heroes.

“It’s a dream come true for me, but it’s especially a dream because the charity means so much.”

Reminiscing about his early days with The Who, Daltrey, born March 1, 1944, recalled, “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.”

Daltrey joins such fellow classic rock giants as Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Rod Stewart, Ray Davies, Mick Jagger, Elton John, Barry Gibb, among others.

The Who have announced “The Song Is Over North America Farewell Tour,” named after the band’s 1971 classic song from Who’s Next. Tickets for these August and September shows are available here.