Roger Waters

Roger Waters
Waters performing live at The Wall Live, Barcelona, in 2011
Background information
Birth name	George Roger Waters
Born	(1943-09-06) 6 September 1943 (age 73) Great Bookham, Surrey, England, United Kingdom
Genres	Progressive rock psychedelic rock art rock blues rock
Occupation(s)	Singer songwriter composer producer
Instruments	Vocals bass guitar guitar
Years active	1964–present
Labels	Capitol Columbia Sony Harvest
Associated acts	Pink Floyd The Bleeding Heart Band
Website	roger-waters.com
Notable instruments
Fender Precision Bass Rickenbacker 4001 Martin acoustic guitars
Roger Waters's voice from the BBC programme Desert Island Discs, 29 May 2011.

George Roger Waters (born 6 September 1943) is an English singer, songwriter, bassist, and composer. In 1965, he co-founded the progressive rock band Pink Floyd with drummer Nick Mason, keyboardist Rick Wright and guitarist, singer, and songwriter Syd Barrett. Waters initially served as the group's bassist, but following the departure of Barrett in 1968, he also became their lyricist, conceptual leader and co-lead vocalist.

Pink Floyd subsequently achieved international success with the concept albums The Dark Side of the Moon, Wish You Were Here, Animals, and The Wall. By the early 1980s, they had become one of the most critically acclaimed and best-selling acts in the history of popular music; as of 2013, they have sold more than 250 million albums worldwide. Amid creative differences within the group, Waters left in 1985 and began a legal dispute with the remaining members over their intended use of the band's name and material. They settled out of court in 1987, and nearly eighteen years passed before he performed with them again.

Waters' solo career has included three studio albums: The Pros and Cons of Hitch Hiking, Radio K.A.O.S. and Amused to Death. In 1990, he staged one of the largest and most extravagant rock concerts in history, The Wall – Live in Berlin, with an official attendance of 200,000. As a member of Pink Floyd, he was inducted into the US Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996 and the UK Music Hall of Fame in 2005. That same year he released Ça Ira, an opera in three acts translated from Étienne and Nadine Roda-Gils' libretto about the French Revolution. Later that year, he reunited with Pink Floyd bandmates Mason, Wright and David Gilmour for the Live 8 global awareness event; it was the group's first appearance with Waters since 1981. He has toured extensively as a solo act since 1999 and played The Dark Side of the Moon in its entirety for his world tour of 2006–2008. In 2010, he began The Wall Live and in 2011 Gilmour and Mason appeared with him during a performance of the double-album in London. As of 2013, the tour is the highest-grossing of all time by a solo artist.