Seven years before achieving stardom in AC/DC, singer Brian Johnson says a gesture from Roger Daltrey helped him stay on course.
The two met when Johnson and his previous band, Geordie, performed on Top of the Pops in 1973. Daltrey was also on the show to perform his debut solo single “Giving It All Away.”
In his memoir, The Lives of Brian, Johnson writes that during a backstage chat, the Who singer invited him to his house in the English countryside.
Johnson accepted and Daltrey played him the Quadrophenia album, which The Who were working on, and, then after lunch, he explained why he invited him.
“You told me that you were living in a filthy flat in Hackney,” he said. “Well, me and the missus went through all of that. So, I wanted to bring you here and show you what you can do if you stick at it, because there’s really no easy way — and if our paths never cross again, I just want to say that I really hope everything works out for you…The secret is, don’t give up. Never give up.”
Johnson says he “clung on to” that advice, “never giving up hope, even after my 30s crept up on me and kidnapped my 20s – even after I had to give up being a musician and get a ‘real job’ again.”
As we know it all worked out and Johnson says he and Daltrey remain friends.
The Lives of Brian will be published on Tuesday.
REUTERS PHOTO
