The Story Behind “Cuvée Roger Daltrey” – The Official Champagne of Rock and Roll
Over lunch with his son Jamie and friend Jerome Jacober, rock star Roger Daltrey mused on his life in The Who and how long the band had been active. At the time it had been about 50 years. The three men agreed that was something to celebrate. Jerome, the CEO and Founder of Eminent Wines, could even bring a special Champagne to life to toast this amazing achievement. The Roger decided the aesthetics of the line should honor “Tommy.” This was a project made at a time in his life when he could not have imagined he’d be–five decades later–touring, releasing music, an icon in rock and roll history, and the Co-Founder of an American cancer charity for teens and young adults. As with many of Roger’s projects, the question, “how can we use this to support the charity?” was top of mind from the start. “A few years ago, Jerome Jacober from Eminent Wines generously offered to create a limited Cuvée to celebrate 50 years of the success of The Who. On agreeing to this I insisted that it achieved three things: that it should be a great Cuvée, that somehow the bottle clearly celebrated the band, and lastly, we raise awareness and funds for Teen Cancer America.” – Roger Daltrey. It is a festive drink born during a festive time in Daltrey’s life, and a portion of all proceeds go directly to Teen Cancer America. Eminent Wines also donates bottles of the Champagne and its uniquely designed, limited glasses and tubs to TCA events, auctions, raffles, and more. It is a premium Champagne which Roger tasted and helped develop over three years alongside Jerome and Eminent Wines. Purchasing a bottle and its accessories is purchasing artfully designed pieces, infused with the soul of rock music. When you taste the drink, your spirit is sipping alongside Daltrey and toasting to The Who.
The Play It Back Songs program immerses Adolescent and Young Adult (AYA) cancer patients and survivors in the world of modern-music creation. The participants create high-quality recordings of their own original songs using current songwriting methods with professional producers, writers, and world-renowned music creators.
Through the support of generous donors; the Wand Burns family and the Riley family, Teen Cancer America was able to create this unique program. Both families were inspired because of their talented young sons, who were both musicians, yet sadly lost their battles with cancer.
This exceptional music experience gives the opportunity for self-expression and communication in a way that other music programs can’t. Some big industry names have already signed up to show their support and give something back to these AYAs. Musical artists such as: Benny Blanco, Portugal. The Man, Mike Posner, Billy Steinberg, and Nicky Blitz are just a few of the amazing talent that has come on board to assist with the program.
Under direction of the Play It Back Songs Program Manager, these professional musicians will work in tandem with patients and survivors to write and produce original music. The program is directed by musician and producer, Kenli Mattus.
Andy is a 16-year-old high school sophomore that lives in Moorpark, California. He loves going to the gym, weight lifting, playing video games, and was very excited to make the varsity track & field team last year. He began to have pain in his leg for some time and continued to intensify until he was unable to continue training. Andy was later diagnosed with Osteosarcoma on December 26, 2018, just after turning 16. 
Consider the sweep of Roger Daltrey’s career: Rock and Roll Hall of Fame front man for The Who, one of the most influential groups ever; Golden Globe-nominated film actor (“Tommy”); and fashion icon when London was mod and swinging. Whoever first coined “He’s a rockstar” as shorthand for boldfaced success could easily have had Daltrey in mind.
Jim Axelrod asked Daltrey how long it took him to get used to grand-scale fame. “About 50 years!” he laughed.
Now pushing 75, Daltrey is at the point where he’s considering not just his career, but his life – and for the first time, he’s looking back on it, with a memoir called “Thanks a Lot, Mr. Kibblewhite” (Henry Holt), a title that nods to the source of his ambition: his school principal who threw him out at the age of 15 for misbehaving.
Daltrey said, “There was that moment when he kicked me out of the school. And as I was going through the door with my back to him, he said, ‘You’ll never make anything of your life, Daltrey.’ And that was it. If he hadn’t have said that, maybe I wouldn’t have made anything of my life.” Born in a working class neighborhood in London, Daltrey met a couple of schoolmates – Pete Townshend and John Entwistle – who shared his love for Elvis, Bo Diddley, and the Everly Brothers.
Daltrey pointed out to Axelrod the house where he’d lived from age 11 until he left home. “This is the house where I made my first guitar, and that room up there was my mother’s bedroom, that’s where The Who started. We made hell of a racket! The neighbors never complained; they were so happy I gave up the bugle and started a band!”
They would refine that “racket,” add drummer Keith Moon, and build a sound around Townshend’s hard-driving chords that spoke to teenagers’ rage, angst and isolation.
The Who’s music was different from what The Beatles and Rolling Stones were producing. “Yeah, this was in-your-face stuff,” Daltrey said. “And the stuff that came from the inside of youth of the day.”
While the chemistry clicked, they’d go on to sell 100 million records, it was a combustible mix. “It was a very volatile group of people,” said Daltrey. “We were more like a gang, we much more like a gang than a group,” he laughed.
The band’s success was matched only by its excess – a threat that constantly shadowed The Who from the beginning.
“We went on our first European tour and they started taking amphetamines and all kinds of drugs,” Daltrey recalled. “And the last show, they were playing things so fast and I couldn’t get the lyrics in. I said, ‘I’m gonna put a stop to this.’ So, went straight into the dressing room after the show, raided Keith Moon’s suitcase and flushed it all down the toilets!”
But the drugs never really went away. Keith Moon fatally overdosed in 1978. “I wish we could have saved him,” said Daltrey. “I mean, knowing what we know now about drug abuse and rehab and all that, we might have done better.”
A cocaine-fueled heart attack claimed bassist John Entwistle in 2002.
That left just Daltrey and Townshend, who don’t actually see much of each other these days.
Axelrod asked, “So after half a century working so closely with this guy, it’s never ring him up and go get a beer and talk about life?”
“No, [we] don’t have that kind of relationship. We never did. We did in the very early days. We used to, after gigs, we used to go fishing, used to play golf.”
“Any part of that sad to you?”
“Not really, ’cause I had it with him once. If he ever wanted to have it again, he would make an approach but I don’t want to play golf. I still go fishing!”
Still, the two remain linked by something other than their music.
For decades Daltrey and Townshend have given their names, money and time to building teen cancer units in hospitals across the U.K., and now in America, including at UCLA Medical Center in Santa Monica.
“A lot of people don’t realize that they get the rarest and most aggressive cancers,” he said of the young patients.
Daltrey feels passionately that medicine was treating teenagers the way music did before rock and roll: as either kids or adults, when actually they are neither.
One patient told Axelrod, “We’re trying to achieve independence when we’re our age, and getting locked up in a hospital isn’t like a great way to go about doing it, so it’s nice to be given something like this.” 
On Tuesday night The Who’s Roger Daltrey, in a 90-minute conversation with director Judd Apatow, discussed Daltrey’s new memoir, Thanks a Lot Mr. Kibblewhite: My Story.
The discussion, part of the 
TCA Celebrity Ambassador and actor, Wyatt Oleff, (well known for his role as “Stanley” in the hit horror movie “IT”) recently completed a Crowdrise campaign that raised funds for Teen Cancer America. Not only has he been an active ambassador, but Wyatt was also very busy on social media, encouraging people (especially his fans) to rally behind a good cause.
Wyatt’s VIP Experience took place at the HorrorHound Expo in Indianapolis, IN, where thousands of fans gather to meet and take pictures with some of their favorite actors from the horror and sci-fi genre.
The contest winner, Tessa, was very excited to learn she had won a chance to fly out to Indiana and meet Wyatt.
“I stumbled upon the Crowdrise campaign when Teen Cancer America posted Wyatt’s video on their Instagram story. The event was amazing and my friend and I had a ton of fun. Being able to see some of the cast from IT and other horror icons was wonderful.”
The Crowdrise contest lasted three weeks in which Wyatt managed to raise a total of $6,408 for Teen Cancer America.
Thanks to all who donated and participated in the contest. Also, many thanks to the Oleff family for being patrons and supporters of Teen Cancer America.