Roger Waters
Birthdate: September 6th, 1943
Band: Pink Floyd, solo
Instrument: Bass, vocals, guitar, keyboards, synth, etc.
Age in 2024: 81
George Roger Waters was born on September 6th, 1943 in Surrey, England. He was the founding bassist and vocalist for one of the most massively successful rock bands of all time, Pink Floyd.
Formed by Roger Waters with drummer Nick Mason, keyboard player Richard Wright, guitarist Bob Klose and vocalist Syd Barrett in 1965, the group would go through a series of names before settling on Pink Floyd in early 1966. Together, they released their debut album The Piper at the Gates of Dawn in 1967, with Waters writing “Take Up thy Stethoscope and Walk” for the album.
By the end of 1967, Barrett had to step down due to health issues, leading Roger Waters and the rest of the band to find a replacement. The answer was David Gilmour who was formally announced as a band member in 1968, who would help the band release their second album A Saucerful of Secrets which peaked at number 9 in the UK.
Following Barrett’s departure, Roger Waters took creative control over the band, becoming the band’s main lyricist and songwriter. Pink Floyd released their third album More in 1969, a soundtrack for a movie of the same name which also peaked at number 9 in the UK. The band’s 4th album Ummagumma came out the same year to high praise, peaking at 5 on the UK chart and being certified platinum in the US and gold in three other countries.
In 1970, the band finally topped the UK album chart with Atom Heart Mother and was in the top 10 in numerous European countries. The band continued their commercial success with Meddle in 1971 and Obscured by Clouds in 1972, with both albums performing quite well, with Meddle going double platinum in the US.
Then, in 1973, the band released the album that has become the fourth most-sold album of all time, behind only Michael Jackson’s Thriller (1982), AC/DC’s Back in Black (1980), and the soundtrack for The Bodyguard (1992). We’re talking about the legendary The Dark Side of the Moon. After its release in 1973, with lyrics written entirely by Roger Waters, the album topped weekly charts across the globe, peaking no lower than the top 3 where it wasn’t number one.
With nearly every reissue, remaster, rerecording, and boxset, the album has returned to the charts, holding positions that even new releases can’t reach. The album is certified at least platinum in just about every country that has a system, including double diamond in Canada, and 15-time platinum in both the US and UK. The album is one of a few that can be called a “perfect” album with little to no argument.
Normally, when a band has a massive success to the size of The Dark Side of the Moon, it’s very difficult to follow up with anything that meets that standard. Yet, Pink Floyd delivered yet another hit-spawning, chart destroying album in 1975 with Wish You Were Here. They followed up in 1977 with Animals which followed their new pattern of topping the music world.
Following Animals was Pink Floyd’s 11th album, which would end up being the massively successful rock opera The Wall (1979). It would end up topping all but two weekly album charts across the world and become 23-time platinum in the US. The Wall would also go on to become a film released in 1982 that featured a combination of live actors and animation.
In 1983, Pink Floyd released The Final Cut, which was the first time in over a decade the band received mixed reviews. The album was written entirely by Roger Waters, leading to tensions between Waters and Gilmour that led to Waters leaving and Gilmour taking control of the band.
A year later, Roger Waters released his first solo album, The Pros and Cons of Hitch Hiking, another concept album that featured Eric Clapton on guitar and David Sanborn on saxophone. A few years later, he worked on the score for the animated film When the Wind Blows (1986). The next year Waters released his second solo album, another concept album titled Radio K.A.O.S. (1987).
In July of 1990, following the fall of the Berlin Wall, Roger Waters put on what is arguably one of the most elaborate concerts in rock history titled The Wall – Live in Berlin. The performance was of Pink Floyd’s The Wall with a star studded guest lineup that included Cyndi Lauper, Scorpions, The Band, Bryan Adams, Van Morrison and more. It also included a 550 feet long and 82 feet high wall constructed on stage that was finished during the performance only to be destroyed at the end as well as inflatable puppets.
In 1992, Roger Waters released a third solo album titled Amused to Death with lyrics that were heavily inspired by major political events such as the Tiananmen Square protests and the Gulf War. The album featured Jeff Beck on guitar, as well as a number of other musicians who all recorded in 10 different studios around the world. Waters would then take a break from touring and from the music industry as a whole until 1999, when he went on the In the Flesh Tour.
Roger Waters “agreed to roll over for one night only” and played a 23-minute set with Pink Floyd at the 2005 Live 8 concert. Later that year, he released Ça Ira (2005) which is a translation from a French libretto based around the French Revolution. The album reached number 5 on the Classical Music Charts in the US.
Roger Waters would continue to tour, usually leaning into a particular Pink Floyd album as a basis for the tour, hitting on both The Dark Side of the Moon and The Wall. In 2017, he released Is This the Life We Really Want? Which performed moderately well. He has since continued to tour off and on up until today.
