Roger Daltrey is no fool when it comes to his most valuable asset.

The 65-year-old lead singer of iconic '60s British rock band The Who knows he has to keep his voice in fighting shape if he and guitarist Pete Townshend are going back out on the road next year.

Thus Daltrey's somewhat comically named Use It Or Lose It solo tour -- his first such solo trek in North America since 1985 -- which touches down at Casino Rama tonight. The only other Canadian date was the Oct. 10 tour launch at Vancouver's Commodore ballroom.

"There's always a potentional Who something," said Daltrey down the line recently from a tour stop in Durham, N.C. in a Canadian newspaper exclusive with Sun Media.

"There's a big charity show in March (at Royal Albert Hall in London) and there's something else but I can't talk about it but you'll know shortly."

Daltrey has already talked in previous interviews about The Who Rock Band video game.

He added Townshend is writing -- the last original Who album was 2006's Endless Wire -- but what exactly is always the big question.

"He's always writing but you never know what it is until he's finished," said Daltrey. "It might be a book, or a jazz piece, it might be an orchestral piece, who knows? You just never know with Pete until you talk to him in person."

Thus, Daltrey said, Pete gave him his blessing before he headed out on the road.

"He was really positive. He understands the problems. Singers aren't like guitarists, they have to keep their instrument working, otherwise, because it's physical, it will give up on you. It takes more and more warming up. I've noticed that as I'm getting older."

It was reported that Daltrey lost his voice during the second half of his concert in Cleveland on Tuesday night and he told the audience he'd had a bad sleep the night before and "this is what I woke up with."

Daltrey says it been 40 years since he's consistently played in such small clubs and for that reason the dynamic on this tour is quite different for him.

"Vancouver was fabulous," he said. "It's just really nice to get back to playing very small places where I can see the audience up close, eyeball to eyeball, talk to them, have fun, and play them songs that I've been influenced by, Who songs that the Who haven't done for years and years and years."

Among the covers Daltrey has been covering are Johnny Cash's Ring of Fire and I Got Stripes along with the Who live rarities Pictures of Lily and Going Mobile.

Joining Daltrey on stage for his solo tour is Townshend's younger guitarist brother Simon, and three others.

"I've got a great band and it's different material but it makes it, in that sense, a much more relaxed show. The Who is like a war zone sometimes. This is a much more casual, relaxed show. It's like an evening with me. Of couse, I don't pretend it's anything like a Who show. The whole point of this show is it's not a Who show."

Daltrey, whose last solo abum was 1992's Rocks In the Head, says his current solo jaunt is inspiring him to think about a followup solo disc and he's talking to various potential collaborators.

"I want to go for a solo album but whether it will happen, I don't know," he said. "I can't tell you what it is but if you see the show you kind of get an idea of the way I'm going."

Still, he adds: "Unless The Who stop, I've got no ambition to be a solo artist. I used to be a solo artist before I had The Who, so it doesn't bother me. But as long as Pete and I want to get out there and make music together that will be my first love because it was so special."

Yeah, it's the singing

Who frontman Roger Daltrey has always been known for his voice, and to a lesser extent, his stunning physique. Even at age 65, he was seen in all his glory as pictures of him frolicking in the waves in Palm Beach surfaced on the Internet last week, and were favourably compared to Daniel Craig's famous James Bond bathing suit picture.

"I don't do that much," Daltrey told Sun Media when teased about the photos. "I've always had this kind of body. And I really don't do that much. I do push ups. I do a little bit of rowing. I do a little bit of running. I do very light weights. I've had two shoulder operations and I do have trouble with my shoulders now. I have to be very careful. I do a lot of stretching. And, of course, the singing, that keeps you (young). When you keep your breathing going. I've just been lucky in the body department, as long as you keep the legs out of it.

"When I looked at my legs, I thought they were ribs!" he added with a chuckle.

Jamming with Vedder

Fans at Roger Daltrey's Seattle show lucked out when Pearl Jam frontman Eddie Vedder joined The Who singer on stage and they performed Pearl Jam's Better Man together.

"I started it , and he wasn't even on stage, and of course it went down a storm because it's a Seattle song, and then he came out and did the second verse and then we sang the last chourses together. It was fabulous," Daltrey told Sun Media. "And Eddie's always felt like a son to me. A son and a father, 'cause he's such a lovely guy, he really is. And he's a great singer. It always comes from exactly the right place with him. What I love about Eddie, he's very, very disinctive sounding. You could not mistake Eddie Vedder's voice for anyone else. And that's a quality that's hard to get."