Singer Roger Daltrey has said he feared he would “not make it” as he battled viral meningitis in 2015.
The Who lead singer and founder, 74, was diagnosed with the illness while the band was on the road forcing them to postpone all 50 dates on their North American tour.
He told The Graham Norton Show: “It was weird. I didn’t think I would make it. It was life-changing. I thought about my life and my family and what I had done and thought, ‘How lucky did it get.’
“I survived and was given a second chance. I have the album, I’m touring and I have a book out later in the year.”
He is due to release a new album titled As Long As I Have You and a memoir.
#RogerDaltrey is returning on June 1 with a brand new studio album #AsLongAsIHaveYou . Here is a clip of the new single from the album.
Pre-Order from https://t.co/xvuLn6ndcG pic.twitter.com/WImWaNp2rZ
— The Who (@TheWho) March 21, 2018
“Performing solo has always been a hobby, but this one I have taken seriously,” he said of the new album.
“Part way through creating it I became disillusioned. I was very ill with meningitis and when I recovered and went back to recording I thought it was rubbish and tried to buy it back from the record company to shelve it. Pete (Townshend) took a look and what he did with the songs blew me away.”
He says he wanted to write a book about “what it was like being in the middle of that world. We were in an industry that we were making up as we went along”.
Commenting on the rock band’s “wild days” from early on in their career, he told Norton it was “mostly Keith Moon and Pete Townshend”.
He added: “We thought it was a great jest at the time but looking back, it’s not very funny.”
The Graham Norton show airs on BBC One on April 13 at 10.35pm