The only musician who made Roger Daltrey nervous: “I was such a big fan”
Some artists just ooze star power, which radiates off them at all times, even if they are doing a mundane task like buying milk at the local corner shop.
This is a level of aura that is impossible to fake or deny the presence of, which doesn’t necessarily correlate with how many records an artist has sold. The Who frontman Roger Daltrey has seen it all in his time in the music business, but only one star has left him quaking in his boots out of nerves.
As the lead singer of the most brash and confident band, especially in a live scenario, of their era, being intimidated didn’t come naturally to Daltrey. Typically, he was the most larger-than-life presence in any room rather than cowerly sitting in the corner, overcome with a sense of being starstruck.
But that all changed when he was in the company of Tina Turner, who made Daltrey shrink within himself.
Following the success of The Who’s pioneering rock opera album, Tommy, it was time for them to take the project to the big screen. Despite Daltrey’s management attempting to stop him from starring as the title character, director Ken Russell knew he was the perfect fit, and he took on the daunting role.
At this time, Daltrey was established in the music world, but a total novice when it came to acting. He wasn’t in his normal environment, which could have seen him flounder. However, as it was a character that he already knew inside out, making that transition was like a duck taking to water.
It was a star-studded production, including Jack Nicholson and Oliver Reed, but even those Hollywood icons didn’t have the same presence as Tina Turner, who played The Acid Queen.
Notably, this was before Turner began the second life of her music career. She was yet to break away from her abusive husband, Ike Turner, and despite her immense talent, was trapped. While it would take the world several more years to view her in the light that her talent deserved, everyone who spent time in her orbit knew she had that special something.
Many years later, Daltrey reflected on his experience of working with Turner during an appearance on BBC Radio 2, explaining to listeners: “I worked with Tina on Tommy; she played The Acid Queen and wanted to tell you, I was so much in character because I was playing this deaf, dumb and blind kid.”
“I had to lie there for probably five or six hours on the floor with Tina standing over me while she was doing her song, and for the life of me, I can’t remember one piece of visual,” Daltrey added of the daunting experience, before admitting, “I was so frightened to even talk to her, and I was such a big fan“.
Although Turner made Daltrey too scared even to speak, she was incredibly nervous herself, too, even if nobody would have been able to read it on her face.
While her role in Tommy turned out to be nothing more than an inconsequential footnote on her astonishing career, it meant everything to her at the time.
She later told the Harvard Business Review: “Acting in movies was always a big dream, even though I had never expressed it outside my private prayers. So it was a total surprise when I was asked to play a starring role in the rock opera film Tommy. That was a real dream come true, as was starring in Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome.”
Although Turner didn’t have a starring role in Tommy, she stole every scene she was in, even though she wasn’t a trained actor. It was a role she was destined to play, as Pete Townshend heartbreakingly noted after her death, “All the anger of her years as a victim exploded into fire and bluster and a magnificent and crazy cameo role that will always stay with me.”
Thankfully, it wasn’t long after Tommy that Turner finally managed to escape Ike Turner and prove that she was more than capable of shining on her own. A true once-in-a-generation talent who left everybody who spent time around her in utter awe.
