Lonnie Donegan: The overlooked vocalist Roger Daltrey claimed inspired a generation of rock frontmen
Music has its definitive archetypes, and one of the most iconic is the rock frontman. Often portrayed with long flowing hair, clad in blue jeans and boots, and possessing a captivating voice, there have been numerous figures who embody this image, epitomised in characters from the Guitar Hero franchise and spanning from real-life legends like Robert Plant to Eddie Vedder. However, it was Roger Daltrey, the elemental lead of The Who, who truly ignited this tradition.
In the early years with the group, the full extent of Daltrey’s vocal power wasn’t immediately apparent. While The Who enjoyed success and began to experiment, expanding their sonic palette, Daltrey’s vocal abilities underwent significant development. As he grew his cropped hair into lengthy golden waves, he also honed his primal voice—becoming more guttural and booming than many other notable frontmen of the era. Daltrey would go on to deliver numerous iconic moments, including unforgettable performances on tracks like ‘Baba O’Riley‘ and ‘Pinball Wizard’, inspiring future vocal masters in the process.
Tipping his head back and forcibly extracting his resonant sound from deep within through home speakers and PA systems worldwide, Daltrey would cement himself as the definitive frontman of the age, fusing vocal might with a presence that only the most fearless musicians possess. Yet, according to the man himself, who has always been candid about his own limitations as well as those of his bandmates and other artists, Daltrey acknowledges that he wasn’t the first to make singing such a passionate undertaking.
Many may consider Roger Daltrey as one of the ultimate rock frontmen, with classic performances like Live at Leeds and Isle of Wight solidifying his status. However, according to Daltrey, there was one man who inspired him and countless other influential frontmen of his era: the ‘King of Skiffle’ himself, Lonnie Donegan.
It’s often overlooked, but alongside the significant advancements made by American blues, R&B, and rock ‘n’ roll, skiffle was one of the most popular genres in the 1950s and early 1960s before rock music as we know it exploded into various subgenres. Skiffle, a type of American folk music drawing upon influences from bluegrass, jazz, and country, featured instruments like acoustic guitars, washboards, jugs, fiddles, and even unconventional ones like musical saws and comb-and-paper. This rudimentary form played a crucial role in shaping the musical landscape of the 1960s. Notably, The Beatles’ earlier incarnation, The Quarrymen, started as a skiffle act. Additionally, the soulful jams of Rory Gallagher owe much to the influence of this genre.
While the genre originated in the United States, skiffle became ubiquitous in the United Kingdom in the 1950s, with the likes of Donegan, Chas McDevitt and The Vipers Skiffle Group proving so instrumental that the second folk revival, British blues boom and of course, the British invasion are all traced back to it. It is a strange topic, considering it is primarily overlooked outside of circles of moustachioed musos, but skiffle was so consequential that everyone from Bert Jansch to Eric Clapton probably wouldn’t have emerged without it changing the musical and cultural landscape.
This is something that Daltrey is acutely aware of, and when speaking to Meet My Inspiration in 2021, he reflected on the importance of Donegan. After the host noted the Glaswegian didn’t enjoy the kind of fame that The Who and their peers would, Daltrey assertively replied that his celebrity was different and nonetheless influential, affecting his entire generation of rock frontmen.
He said: “Different kind of fame. You’ll find if you look through the British singers of that period, people like Robert Plant, so many of us, look at their inspirations, and it will be Lonnie Donegan. It doesn’t matter how famous he was; that wasn’t the important bit of it; it was what he was doing.”
While his music might seem dated to a younger audience, Donegan’s worldly passion made Daltrey and the rest of his idealistic generation realise they could achieve success. While he was born in Glasgow, he was a working-class everyman raised in Essex who resonated with male listeners. They knew they would never be the glamorous Elvis Presley, but the way that Donegan, a man they knew in different forms and saw on every street corner, threw his head back and opened up his lungs was utterly captivating, creating a blueprint for an entire archetype of musicians. He was the singer Daltrey always aspired to be, and in doing so, The Who man took the skiffle spirit to audiences who had no idea about it.