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Roger Waters facts for kids
| Roger Waters | |
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Waters performing live at the London O2 Arena on 18 May 2008
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | George Roger Waters |
| Born | 6 September 1943 Great Bookham, Surrey, England |
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| Years active | 1964–present |
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George Roger Waters (born 6 September 1943) is an English songwriter, singer, bassist, and composer. In 1965, he co-founded the progressive rock band Pink Floyd. Waters initially served as the bassist, but following the departure of songwriter Syd Barrett in 1968, he also became their lyricist, co-lead vocalist, and conceptual leader.
Pink Floyd achieved international success with the concept albums The Dark Side of the Moon (1973), Wish You Were Here (1975), Animals (1977), and The Wall (1979). By the early 1980s, they had become one of the most critically acclaimed and commercially successful groups in popular music; by 2013, they had sold more than 250 million albums worldwide. Amid creative differences, Waters left in 1985 and began a legal dispute with the remaining members over the use of the band's name and material. They settled out of court in 1987.
Waters' solo work includes the studio albums The Pros and Cons of Hitch Hiking (1984), Radio K.A.O.S. (1987), Amused to Death (1992), and Is This the Life We Really Want? (2017). In 2005, he released Ça Ira, an opera translated from Étienne and Nadine Roda-Gils' libretto about the French Revolution.
In 1990, Waters staged one of the largest rock concerts in history, The Wall – Live in Berlin, with an attendance of 450,000. As a member of Pink Floyd, he was inducted into the U.S. Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996 and the UK Music Hall of Fame in 2005. Later that year, he reunited with Pink Floyd bandmates Mason, Wright and David Gilmour for the Live 8 global awareness event, the group's first appearance with Waters since 1981. He has toured extensively as a solo act since 1999; he performed The Dark Side of the Moon in its entirety for his world tour of 2006–2008, and in 2010 began the Wall Live tour, the highest-grossing of all time by a solo artist.
Personal life
In 1969, Waters married his childhood sweetheart Judith Trim, a successful potter; she was featured on the gatefold sleeve of the original release of Ummagumma, but excised from subsequent CD reissues. They had no children and divorced in 1975. Trim died in 2001.
In 1976, Waters married Lady Carolyne Christie, the niece of the 3rd Marquess of Zetland. His marriage to Christie produced a son, Harry Waters, a musician who has played keyboards with his father's touring band since 2002, and a daughter, India Waters, who has worked as a model. Christie and Waters divorced in 1992. In 1993, Waters married Priscilla Phillips; they had one son, Jack Fletcher. Their marriage ended in 2001. In 2004, Waters became engaged to actress and filmmaker Laurie Durning (born 1963); the two married on 14 January 2012 and filed for divorce in September 2015.
Waters is an atheist.
Images for kids
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Waters performing with Pink Floyd at Leeds University in 1970
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A live performance of The Dark Side of the Moon at Earls Court, shortly after its release in 1973: (l–r) David Gilmour, Nick Mason, Dick Parry, Roger Waters
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Waters performing The Wall – Live in Berlin, Germany, on 21 July 1990
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Waters (far right) performing with Pink Floyd at Live 8, 2 July 2005
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Waters performing "Comfortably Numb" during The Wall Live in Kansas City, 30 October 2010