_ Bloke at the Back Roger Daltrey featureseditor@belfasttelegraph.co.uk Why my generation needs to help these brave teenagers

The rock ‘n’ roll legend hit the big time in the 1960s as frontman with band The Who, alongside Pete Townshend, Keith Moon and John Entwistle. The group went on to sell more than 100m records, with My Generation, I Can See For Miles and Won’t Get Fooled Again among their biggest hits.

He is a patron of the charity the Teenage Cancer Trust, which was founded in 1997 by Dr Adrian Whiteson and wife Myrna, with the ethos that teenagers shouldn’t be placed in wards alongside children or adults while being treated. Roger will be organising a special series of concert for the charity, beginning at the Royal Albert Hall this Wednesday. For more information on the charity, visit teenagecancertrust.org

YOU’VE BEEN A PATRON OF THE TEENAGE CANCER TRUST CHARITY FOR 15 YEARS. DO YOU FIND YOU GET VERY CLOSE TO THE PEOPLE YOU’RE HELPING?

You can’t get attached. I mean, it’s obviously terrible, but I just don’t. I feel for the parents more than anything, and that’s because I’m a parent. I can see the look in their eyes. I recognise it immediately. It’s a look of sheer, stark terror that this is happening to their kid.

YOU CAME TO THE CHARITY AS SOON AS IT WAS FOUNDED, WITH BANDMATE PETE TOWNSHEND. HOW DID THE CONCERTS COME ABOUT?

I promised Adrian that if The Who got back together, we’d do a benefit for them. That happened in 2000, and I’ve organised these concerts ever since. I pulled in a load of favours from people like Bryan Adams, Eddie Vedder [Pearl Jam] and Kelly Jones from Stereophonics, and they’ve also become involved, they’re there whenever I ask them.

IT SOUNDS LIKE QUITE A JOB TO PULL TOGETHER SUCH A BIG EVENT.

It involves a lot of planning, meeting people so I can actually ask them to play, and begging, which I don’t enjoy. Begging is not in my nature, but if that’s what it takes to put these shows on, that’s what I do.

BENEFIT GIG: Roger and Pete Townshend on stage for the Teenage Cancer Trust; in The Who’s heyday with Townshend and John Entwistle (right); and with a teen (below) who was helped by the support of the charity

HAS YOUR INVOLVEMENT WITH THE CHARITY BEEN SPURRED ON BY ANY PERSONAL LOSS?

I’m not involved through any personal attachment. I mean, cancer killed loads of my family, and I’m a parent, but it’s more fundamental than that. I wanted to get involved because teenagers built my industry. It seems strange to me that no one had thought of treating teenagers as a group before the Trust.

I’m just paying them back. If they hadn’t been turned on by Elvis, and their parents hadn’t told them to "Turn that racket off", rock ’n’ roll wouldn’t have taken off and my life would have been very different.

THE FUNDS YOU’VE HELPED RAISE HAVE ENABLED THE TCT TO BUILD 12 SPECIALIST UNITS IN NHS HOSPITALS, WITH THE AIM OF 31 FINISHED BY 2014. IS EVERYTHING ON TRACK?

We can’t think the job is done when we hit that target. We need to maintain those units. And some hospitals will be phased out, so we have to rebuild them elsewhere.

THIS YEAR’S BILL BOASTS PAUL MCCARTNEY, FLORENCE + THE MACHINE, PULP AND EXAMPLE. THAT’S QUITE A DIVERSE LINE-UP!

It was easy to get Paul McCartney. I just asked. He was going to come last year but couldn’t make the dates work, so promised he’d play this year, and here he is. He put on a few extra shows in Europe to cover the cost of getting him and his crew back for the show as well, which was a very good thing to do.

WE HEAR YOU’VE ROPED IN THE LIKES OF PAUL WELLER AND KELLY JONES TO BE IN YOUR BAND THIS YEAR. ANY OTHER BIG NAMES LINED UP TO JOIN YOU ON STAGE?

There are more surprises in store, but I don’t want to let that out of the bag before the night. That’s the thing with the internet, you can’t keep secrets anymore.