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Roger Waters

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Roger Waters
File:RogerWaters02.jpg
Background information
OriginGreat Bookham, England
Years active1964 to present

George Roger Waters (born September 6, 1943) is an English rock musician and songwriter.

He is best known for his 1965-1985 career with the band Pink Floyd as one of their chief singers (along with David Gilmour), lyricist and bass player. Following this, he began a moderately successful solo career releasing three studio albums and staging one of the largest concerts ever, The Wall in Berlin in 1990. In 2005, he released an opera, Ça Ira and rejoined Pink Floyd for a performance at the Live 8 concert in London, on July 2, 2005. In 2006, he announced a European tour in the Summer, and a U.S. tour in the Fall. These shows will include a complete performance of Pink Floyd's The Dark Side of the Moon.

History

(Pre 1965) Early years

Waters was born as George Waters in Great Bookham, Surrey near Dorking, and grew up in Cambridge. Although his father, Eric Fletcher Waters had been a Communist and ardent pacifist, he fought in World War II, and died in action at Anzio in 1944, when Roger was only one year old. Waters would refer or allude to the loss of his father throughout his work, especially on The Final Cut album from 1983 (which is dedicated to his father) and the song named "When the Tigers Broke Free" from the movie version of The Wall. However, he has said that the mother character from the former album was nothing like his own. Distrust of authority, particularly government, educational, and military institutions, is a recurring theme in Waters' writing. This theme is clearly expressed in "When the Tigers Broke Free" as Waters expresses what he felt was a hollow and patronizing response to his father's sacrifice at Anzio.

"And kind old King George sent Mother a note when he heard that Father was gone. It was, as I recall, in a form of a scroll, with gold leaf and all. And I found it one day in a drawer of old photographs, hidden away. And my eyes still grow damp to remember, His Majesty signed with his own rubber stamp."

He attended the same school as Syd Barrett and David Gilmour, and met Nick Mason and Richard Wright while attending the Regent Street Polytechnic school of architecture. He was a keen sportsman and was fond of swimming in the River Cam at Grantchester Meadows. At 15 he was chair of YCND in Cambridge.

(1965-1985) Pink Floyd years

In 1965, Roger Waters was a founding member of Pink Floyd, with then lead singer, guitarist, and principal songwriter Syd Barrett – as well as Richard Wright and Nick Mason. Although Barrett initially did most of the songwriting for the band, Roger did compose "Take Up Thy Stethoscope and Walk" on their 1967 debut LP, Piper at the Gates of Dawn. The album was a critical success and positioned the band for stardom.

In 1968, Barrett's erratic behavior and deteriorating mental health led to his eventual departure from the band. There was talk that without the talented lead singer and songwriter, the band would not be able to sustain its initial success. To fill the void, Waters began to chart the band's artistic direction. Along with co-writer, guitarist, and singer David Gilmour, who had joined the band to augment, and later replace Barrett, Waters brought Pink Floyd back into prominence, producing a series of albums in the 1970s that remain among the most critically acclaimed and best-selling records of all time.

Waters, the main lyrical contributor, exerted more and more creative control over the band. Waters steered Floyd into recording increasingly personalized concept albums such as Dark Side of the Moon, Wish You Were Here, Animals, and The Wall. He is the sole writer of many of Pink Floyd's better known hits such as "Money" and "Another Brick in the Wall Pt. 2" In total, Waters has songwriting credit (solo or shared) on over 70% of Pink Floyd's entire music catalog. While recording The Wall, Waters made the decision to fire organist and founding member Rick Wright, although Wright remained on the album tour as a paid session musician. In 1983, the last Waters-Gilmour-Mason collaboration, The Final Cut, was released, though it was largely considered more like a Roger Waters solo album "performed by Pink Floyd" than an actual Pink Floyd collaborative album.

In 1985, Waters proclaimed that, due to irreconcilable differences, the band had dissolved. The ensuing disagreement between Waters and Gilmour over the latter's intention to continue to use the name "Pink Floyd" descended into lawsuits and public bickering in the press. Waters claimed that as the original band consisted of himself, Syd Barrett, Nick Mason and Richard Wright, that this band could not reasonably call itself "Pink Floyd" now that it was without three of its founding members. Another of Waters' arguments was that he had written almost all of the band's lyrics, post Barrett. However, Gilmour and Mason won the right to use the name and a majority of the band's songs, though Waters did retain the rights to the albums The Wall and all of its songs (save for the three Gilmour co-wrote) and The Final Cut, and to the famous Pink Floyd pigs.

(1985-) Solo years

Amused to Death album cover
Amused to Death album cover

Waters embarked on a solo career after Pink Floyd, producing three concept albums and a movie soundtrack which did not garner impressive sales. Solo works have managed critical acclaim and even some comparison to previous work with Pink Floyd.[[1]] His first album, 1984's The Pros and Cons of Hitch Hiking, was a project about a man's dreams in a night. The list of musicians helping Waters during recording included legendary guitarist Eric Clapton. Conceived around the same time as The Wall, the concept was shown to the Pink Floyd members, but they preferred The Wall over The Pros and Cons of Hitchhiking. The album had been demoed by Waters at the same time as The Wall, but the band had voted it too personal. Waters decided to shelve it until he could do it as a solo project. In 1986 Waters contributed songs to the soundtrack of the movie When the Wind Blows.

In 1987 Waters released another concept album, Radio K.A.O.S., about a boy named Billy who can hear radio waves in his head. Waters followed the release with a supporting tour, also in 1987. His album did not garner the impressive sales he had achieved in Pink Floyd. One possible reason was that he was now competing with a reformed Pink Floyd who were touring to support their latest release, A Momentary Lapse of Reason.

After the Berlin Wall came down in 1989, Waters staged a gigantic charity concert of The Wall in Berlin on July 21, 1990 to commemorate the end of the division between East and West Germany. The concert took place on Potsdamer Platz (a location which was part of the former "no-man's land" of the Berlin Wall), featured many guest superstars, and, at the time, was the biggest concert ever staged.

1992's Amused to Death, about the corrupting, desensitizing nature of television, is perhaps Waters' most critically acclaimed solo recording, with music critics comparing it to later Pink Floyd work, such as The Wall. The album had one hit which was What God Wants, Pt. 1 which hit #4 on Mainstream Rock charts. Jeff Beck, another legendary guitarist, saw action on Waters' album as he played lead guitar.

In 1999 Waters embarked on the In the Flesh tour which saw Waters performing some of his most famous work, both solo and Pink Floyd material. The tour was a success. Tickets were at such high demand, that the tour had to be spanned over three years. Almost every show was sold out with some venues garnering more sales than Pink Floyd shows of early touring years.[citation needed] One concert was released on DVD, named In the Flesh Live after the tour.

In 2002 Waters performed at a concert organized by the Countryside Alliance in support of fox hunting. Waters has never publicly expressed any Tory allegiances and has, in fact, criticized the Thatcher government for their handling of the Falklands War on The Final Cut. In June of 2002 Waters played the Glastonbury Festival performing many classic Pink Floyd songs. This was the first time a special speaker system had been set up among the audience to enable sound effects to appear to be moving around amongst the crowd.

Miramax Films announced in mid-2004 that a production of The Wall is to appear on Broadway with Waters playing a prominent part in its production. Reports say the musical will contain not only the original tracks from The Wall, but also songs from Dark Side of the Moon, Wish You Were Here and other Pink Floyd albums, as well as new material. [[2]]

In September 2004, Waters released two new tracks, "To Kill The Child" and "Leaving Beirut". These were released only on the Internet. Both of these tracks were inspired by the U.S./UK invasion of Iraq in 2003. Waters, who currently resides in the U.S., has said that the songs were written immediately after the start of the war, but he delayed releasing them until just before the 2004 Presidential election, hoping to derail George W. Bush's re-election. The lyrics were quite rash such as: "Oh George! Oh George! That Texas education must have fucked you up when you were very small" (from "Leaving Beirut"). Although the songs' criticism was primarily aimed at the American government, Tony Blair is also referenced.[citation needed]

After the tsunami disaster that occurred in late December 2004, Waters performed "Wish You Were Here" with Eric Clapton on an NBC benefit concert.

Waters and Pink Floyd reunited for a performance at the Live 8 concert in London, on July 2 2005. They played a four-song, 23-minute set. Before going into "Wish You Were Here", Waters said:

"It's actually quite emotional standing up here with these three guys after all these years. Standing to be counted with the rest of you. Anyway, we're doing this for everyone who's not here, but particularly, of course, for Syd."

Waters remarked shortly after Live 8 to the Associated Press that, while the experience of playing as Pink Floyd again was positive, the chances of a bona-fide reunion would be 'slight', considering his and Gilmour's continuing musical and ideological differences. Gilmour commented that the experience was like "sleeping with my ex-wife again".

Waters is also known to be working on a new solo album, which (as remarked to Jim Ladd, with whom he worked on Radio K.A.O.S.) has the working title of Heartland, and that it might be released in 2006. Two possible tracks from this album have appeared on In the Flesh Live ("Each Small Candle") and the compilation Flickering Flame: The Solo Years Vol. 1 ("Flickering Flame").

In February of 2005, it was announced on Roger Waters' website that his opera, Ça Ira, had been completed after 16 years of work. It was released as a CD/DVD set by Sony Classical on September 27, 2005 with Baritone Bryn Terfel, soprano Ying Huang and tenor Paul Groves. The original libretto was written in French by the late Étienne Roda-Gil, who set the opera during the optimistic days of the early French Revolution. From 1997 Roger Waters rewrote the libretto in English.

Roger Waters has announced that he will be touring Europe Summer 2006. North American dates in the fall have also been announced. As part of his performance he will be playing the Pink Floyd masterpiece, The Dark Side of the Moon. The tour promises a complete run-through of the 1973 Pink Floyd classic, The Dark Side Of The Moon, as the second half of the show. The first half is a mix of Floyd classics and Roger's solo material. Elaborate staging is promised, designed by Mark Fisher, complete with projections, and a full, 360 degree quadrophonic sound system. This new Waters' solo tour is expected to be as successful as his previous In the Flesh tour. It has been announced that his former Pink Floyd bandmate, Nick Mason will be joining Roger on some of the tour dates. It was also reported that Rick Wright had been invited to participate on the tour as well but he declined the offer to work on solo projects. [3]

On May 20th, 2006 he performed with a set band consisting of Brian May and Eric Clapton and band-mate Nick Mason performing two songs, 'Wish You Were Here' and 'Comfortably Numb'.

2006 tour dates

 20 May - Highclere Castle, Newbury, Berkshire, England 
 2 June - Rock In Rio Festival, Lisbon, Portugal
 4 June - Anfiteatro Arena di Verona, Italy
 5 June - Anfiteatro Arena di Verona, Italy
 8 June - Wuhlheide, Berlin, Germany
 10 June - Arrow Rock Festival, Lichtenvoorde, Netherlands
 12 June - Egilsholl Arena, Reykjavik, Iceland
 14 June - Norwegian Wood Festival, Oslo, Norway
 16 June - Olimpico Stadium, Rome, Italy
 18 June - Terra Vibe Park, Athens, Greece
 20 June - Kurucesme Arena, Istanbul, Turkey
 22 June - Monastery Grounds, Latrun, Neve Shalom, Israel
 24 June - Red Square, Moscow, Russia
 26 June - Viking Stadium, Stavanger, Norway
 29 June - Marquee Festival, Cork, Ireland
 1 July - Hyde Park Calling Festival, London, England
 2 July - Roskilde Festival, Denmark
 12 July - Piazza Napoleone, Lucca, Italy
 14 July - Magny-Cours F1 Race Circuit, Nevers, France
 16 July - Moon and Stars Festival, Locarno, Switzerland
 6 Sept - PNC, Holmdel, NJ, USA
 8 Sept - Tweeter Center, Boston, Mass, USA
 12 Sept - Madison Square Garden, New York City, NY, USA
 13 Sept - Madison Square Garden, New York City, NY, USA
 15 Sept - Jones Beach, Wantagh, NY, USA
 16 Sept - Tweeter Center, Camden, NJ, USA
 18 Sept - The Palace, Detroit, MI, USA
 20 Sept - Air Canada Centre, Toronto, Canada
 21 Sept - Bell Centre, Montreal, Canada
 23 Sept - Nissan Center, Bristow, VA, USA
 24 Sept - Post Gazette Pavilion, Pittsburgh, PA, USA
 27 Sept - Quicken Loans Arena, Cleveland, OH, USA
 29 Sept - First Midwest Bank Amphitheatre, Chicago, IL, USA
 30 Sept - Verizon Wireless, Indianapolis, IN, USA
 3 Oct - Cricket Pavilion, Phoenix, AZ, USA
 5 Oct - Hollywood Bowl, Los Angeles, CA, USA
 6 Oct - Hollywood Bowl, Los Angeles, CA, USA
 8 Oct - Theater Under The Stars, Las Vegas, NV, USA
 10 Oct - Shoreline Amphitheatre, San Francisco, CA, USA
 12 Oct - Key Arena, Seattle, WA, USA

Hits and Awards

Roger Waters had exposure to hit singles in his solo period. His three major solo albums have been acclaimed Gold by the RIAA, and his opera Ça Ira had reached #1 on both the UK and U.S. Classical Charts. His work also consisted of a few hit singles, his most popular was "What God Wants, Pt. 1" on his Amused to Death album, which reached #4. He has also had extremely successful tours including the famous The Wall: Live in Berlin concert and one of the most successful tours without Pink Floyd, In the Flesh Live, which consisted of over 50 sold out shows that since the demand of tickets were so high, spanned over three years of touring which sold more than some Pink Floyd shows. He has also planned another European concert tour of The Dark Side of the Moon, which has almost sold out. Roger has also been inducted into the U.S. and UK Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of Pink Floyd.

Discography

For his work with Pink Floyd, see Pink Floyd discography between 1967 and 1985
Radio K.A.O.S. album cover
Wikiquote has quotations related to Roger Waters.
  • REG- Official International Roger Waters Fans'Club Site
  • Roger-Waters.net - official website
  • [4] - info on tours and future plans


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