Roger Waters: Difference between revisions

George Roger Waters (born 6 September 1943) is an English rock musician, singer-songwriter and composer. He gained fame as the principal songwriter, lyricist, bass player, co-lead vocalist and one of the founding members of the rock band Pink Floyd. Following the departure of Pink Floyd founding member Syd Barrett in March 1968, Waters became the band's lyricist, principal songwriter and dominant creative figure.^{[1][2][3][4][5][6][7]} The group achieved success in the 1970s with the concept albums The Dark Side of the Moon, Wish You Were Here, Animals, and The Wall. Following creative differences within the group, Waters left Pink Floyd in 1985, and began a legal battle with the remaining band members regarding their continued use of the "Pink Floyd" name and material.^[8][9]

Waters pursued a solo career which has included three studio albums; The Pros and Cons of Hitchhiking (1984), Radio K.A.O.S. (1987), and Amused to Death (1992). In 1990 Waters staged one of the largest rock concerts in history, The Wall - Live in Berlin on the vacant terrain between Potsdamer Platz, and the Brandenburg Gate with an estimated 200,000 people in attendance.^[10][11] In 2005, he released Ça Ira, an opera in three acts translated from Etienne Roda-Gil's French libretto based on the historical subject of the French Revolution.^[12][13][14] Waters reunited with Nick Mason, Richard Wright, and David Gilmour for what would be a final one-off performance at the 2005 Live 8 concert in London's Hyde Park. This was Pink Floyd's only appearance with Waters since their final performance of The Wall at Earls Court London 24 years earlier.^[15][16][17]

He has toured extensively as a solo act since 1999 and played The Dark Side of the Moon in its entirety for his world tours of 2006–2008.^[18] In April 2010, Waters announced The Wall Live tour, which will include a complete performance of The Wall, starting in North America in September 2010 and tentatively ending in Europe in June 2011.^[19]

Born in Great Bookham near Leatherhead, Surrey, Waters grew up in Cambridge. His father, Eric Fletcher Waters, fought in the British army in World War II as a member of The Royal Fusiliers Company C, and died in combat at Anzio Italy in February 1944 when Waters was five months old.^[20][21]

Waters referred or alluded to the cost of war and the loss of his father throughout his work, from "Corporal Clegg" (A Saucerful Of Secrets, 1968) and "Free Four"^[22] (Obscured By Clouds, 1972) to "Us and Them" from The Dark Side of the Moon (1973), "When the Tigers Broke Free", first used in the movie version of The Wall (1982), later included with "The Fletcher Memorial Home" on The Final Cut (1983), an album which is dedicated to Eric Fletcher Waters.^[23] The loss of his father and subsequent traumatic upbringing in a female dominated war-torn Europe play central roles in the theme and composition of The Wall (1979).^[24][25]

Waters and Syd Barrett attended the Morley Memorial Junior School on Blinco Grove, Cambridge, and later both attended the Cambridgeshire High School for Boys (now Hills Road Sixth Form College), while future band member David Gilmour lived on Mill Road in "the heart of Cambridge"^[26] and attended The Perse School on the same road. Whereas Barrett, Waters, and Gilmour grew up in Cambridge.^[27] Waters met Nick Mason and Richard Wright while attending the Regent Street Polytechnic school of architecture where he was a keen sportsman and was fond of swimming in the River Cam at Grantchester Meadows. At 15 he was chairman of the youth section of the Cambridge YCND^[28], having designed its publicity poster and participated in its organization.^[29]

In 1965, Roger Waters co-founded Pink Floyd with Syd Barrett, Richard Wright and Nick Mason. According to Mason their first recording session took place in December 1964. The band, which still included Bob Klose, was calling itself the Tea Set, and had managed to secure some recording time through a friend of Wright's who worked at a studio in West Hampstead, and let them use some "down time" for free. The four-song recording session would become the Tea Set's first demo and included the 1957 Slim Harpo song "I'm a King Bee", two Syd Barrett originals "Butterfly" and "Lucy Leave" and "Double O Bo", a group composition which according to Mason was "Bo Diddley meets the 007 theme."^[30][31][32]

Through 1966 and 1967, Barrett was Pink Floyd's lead guitarist, singer, and primary songwriter.^[33] He wrote or co-wrote all but one track of their debut LP The Piper at the Gates of Dawn released in August 1967. Waters contributed the song "Take Up Thy Stethoscope and Walk" (his first sole writing credit) to the album.^[34]

By late 1967, Barrett's deteriorating mental health and increasingly erratic behaviour rendered him unable or unwilling to continue in his capacity as Pink Floyd's lead singer and guitarist.^[35][36][37] Though several of Barrett's friends, Roger Waters included, claim to have tried to help him by encouraging psychotherapy with the "celebrated" Scottish psychiatrist R. D. Laing.^[38][39] In December 1967, the band added David Gilmour,^[40][41][42] initially not to replace Barrett, but to join as the 5th member of Pink Floyd, intending to keep Barrett in the group as a non-performing songwriter.^{[43][44][45][46][39]}

Working with Barrett eventually proved too difficult,^{[35][47][48][49]} so in early March 1968, Pink Floyd met with then business partners Peter Jenner and Andrew King of Blackhill Enterprises to discuss the band's future. Barrett agreed to leave Pink Floyd and Pink Floyd "agreed to Blackhill's entitlement in perpetuity" in regards to "past activities".^[50][45] The band's new manager Steve O'Rourke made a formal announcement about the departure of Barrett and the arrival of Gilmour in April 1968.^{[51][52][45][53]} Jenner and King, who regarded Barrett as the creative genius of the band, decided to represent him and end their relationship with Pink Floyd.^{[54][55][45][50]} Filling the void left by Barrett's departure, Waters began to chart Pink Floyd's new artistic direction.^[56][7]

Waters became the primary lyrical contributor and the principal songwriter in Pink Floyd after Barrett's departure.^{[57][3][58][5][6]} He wrote all the lyrics to the five Pink Floyd albums preceding his own departure, starting with The Dark Side of the Moon (1973) and ending with The Final Cut (1983), while exerting progressively more creative control over the band and its music. He produced thematic ideas that became the impetus for concept albums such as The Dark Side of the Moon, Wish You Were Here, Animals, The Wall, written largely by Waters,^[59][60] and The Final Cut, written entirely by Waters.^[61] Initially Waters' bandmates were happy to allow him to write the band's lyrics and guide its conceptual direction while they shared the opportunity to contribute musical ideas. This give-and-take relationship began to dissolve circa 1979.^[62][23][63]

During the recording of The Wall, Waters^[64], Gilmour^[64], and Mason^[65] became increasingly unhappy with Wright's lack of contribution to the album. Gilmour said, "he hadn't contributed anything of any value whatsoever to the album."^[66][67][64] Mason said: "Alas, Rick's contribution was to turn up and sit in on the sessions without doing anything, just 'being a producer'.^[62] Longtime Pink Floyd studio engineer Nick Griffiths said, "by the time of The Wall, Rick Wright had lost interest in the idea of the Floyd. He was more interested in his leisure time-sailing around the Greek islands and enjoying the life of a rich rock 'n' roll star."^[68] Gilmour would later say Wright "wasn't doing the job he was paid to do" and "he got the boot because he wasn't contributing in any way to anything."^[68] Waters added, "he was not prepared to cooperate in making the record." and "...it was agreed by everybody. I made the suggestion that O'Rourke gave to Rick: either you can have a long battle or you can agree to this, and the 'this' was you finish making the album, keep your full share of the album, but at the end of it you leave quietly. Rick agreed."^[64] Waters threatened to take The Wall tapes and not allow them to be used as a Pink Floyd album unless Wright left the group.^{[62][69][66][68]} At that time, the members of Pink Floyd were nearly bankrupt from bad investments,^[70][71][64] and they could not afford to breach their contractual commitment to their record company, so Wright decided to leave Pink Floyd.^{[69][62][68][66]} In 1996, Wright said, "I made a decision and left, and then he (Waters) left, and I came back."^[72] Wright stayed on as a paid musician while Waters and Gilmour led the band through 25 complete performances of the album.^[73] Gilmour acted as the musical director of the shows. Ironically, Wright's firing and subsequent position as a paid session musician meant he was the only one of the four to realize a profit from The Wall tour—since the financial losses of the expensive shows were paid by the three remaining members of Pink Floyd.^[74][62][75] The final performance of The Wall was 16 June 1981 at Earls Court London, and would be Pink Floyd's last appearance with Waters until their final one-off performance at the 2 July 2005 Live 8 concert in London's Hyde Park 24 years later.^[15][17]

In 1983, the last Waters–Gilmour–Mason collaboration, The Final Cut, was released. The sleeve notes describe it as "The Final Cut: A requiem for the post-war dream by Roger Waters, music performed by Pink Floyd". Waters is credited with writing all the lyrics as well as all the music to the album.^[76][77] Rolling Stone rated the album 5 stars calling it "a superlative achievement" and "rock art's crowning masterpiece".^[78][79]

In late 1985, Waters "issued a statement to EMI and CBS invoking his 'Leaving Member' clause on their contract", calling Pink Floyd "a spent force creatively". On 31 October 1986, High Court proceedings initiated by Waters to formally dissolve Pink Floyd's partnership began.^[8][80][81] Gilmour and Mason opposed the application and announced their intention to continue as Pink Floyd. Waters claims to have been "forced" to resign and much like Wright some years earlier, decided to leave Pink Floyd based on legal considerations, stating "...if I hadn't, the financial repercussions would have wiped me out completely."^[82][83]

In December 1987, an agreement between Waters and Pink Floyd was reached.^[84][85] According to Mason, "We eventually formalised a settlement with Roger." "On Christmas Eve 1987...David and Roger convened for a summit meeting on the houseboat with Jerome Walton, David's accountant.^[86] Jerome painstakingly typed out the bones of a settlement. Essentially—although there was far more complex detail—the arrangement allowed Roger to be freed from his arrangement with Steve [O'Rourke], and David and me to continue working under the name Pink Floyd. In the end the court accepted Jerome's version as the final and binding document and duly stamped it."^[87] The David Gilmour-led Pink Floyd released two more albums, A Momentary Lapse of Reason, recorded on Gilmour's studio/houseboat the 'Astoria'^[88], in 1987 and The Division Bell in 1994. Gilmour relied heavily on outside songwriters and lyricists to complete both albums.^{[89][90][85][91][92]} In Waters' absence, the longtime Pink Floyd tradition of making conceptual albums with thematically linked songs was also abandoned, though not for a lack of trying, in favor of straight-forward unrelated tracks.^[93][85][94]

Following the release of The Final Cut, Waters embarked on a solo career that produced three concept albums and a movie soundtrack. His first solo album, 1984's The Pros and Cons of Hitch Hiking, was a project about a man's dreams across one night that dealt with Waters' feelings about his failed marriage to Judy Trim, sex, and the pros and cons of monogamy and family life versus "the call of the wild". In the end the character, Reg, chooses love and matrimony over promiscuity.^[95][96] The album featured guitarist Eric Clapton, jazz saxophonist David Sanborn, and artwork by Gerald Scarfe. The Pros And Cons Of Hitch Hiking received mixed reviews, with Rolling Stone's Kurt Loder describing it as a "strangely static, faintly hideous record".^[97] Rolling Stone rated the album a "rock bottom" one star.^[98] Mike DeGagne of Allmusic praised the album for its "ingenious symbolism" and "brilliant use of stream of consciousness within a subconscious realm", rating it four out of five stars.^[99] Waters began touring the new album aided by guitarist Eric Clapton^[100] with set design by Mark Fisher of Fisher Park and lighting design by Mark Brickman.^[101] With a new band, new material, and a selection of Pink Floyd favourites, Waters débuted his tour in Stockholm on 16 June 1984. Poor ticket sales plagued the tour and some of the larger venues had to be cancelled. By his own estimate, he lost $400,000 on the tour^[102] and despite the lukewarm reception he received in Europe, went to the US in March 1985 to play smaller venues with the Pros and Cons Plus Some Old Pink Floyd Stuff — North America Tour 1985.^[100][103]

In 1986, Waters contributed songs and a score to the soundtrack of the movie When the Wind Blows based on the Raymond Briggs book of the same name. His backing band featuring Paul Carrack was credited as The Bleeding Heart Band. In 1987, he released Radio K.A.O.S., a concept album based around a mute man named Billy who can hear radio waves in his head. Billy learns to communicate with a radio DJ and, angry at the state of the world, simulates a fake nuclear attack.^[104] Waters followed the release with a supporting tour also in 1987. Template:Image stack On 9 November 1989 the Berlin Wall fell, and on 21 July 1990 Waters staged one of the largest rock concerts ever, The Wall - Live in Berlin on the vacant terrain between Potsdamer Platz and the Brandenburg Gate. Leonard Cheshire asked him to do the concert to raise funds for charity.^{[105][106][107]} Waters' group of musicians included Joni Mitchell, Van Morrison, Cyndi Lauper, Bryan Adams and Sinéad O'Connor.^[108] Waters also used an East German symphony orchestra and choir, a Soviet marching band, and a pair of helicopters from the US 7th Airborne Command and Control Squadron. Designed by Mark Fisher, a 25 by 170 meter wall was built across the set and Scarfe's inflatable puppets were recreated on an enlarged scale. Although many rock icons received invitations to the show, Gilmour, Mason, and Wright, did not.^[109][110]

In 1990, Waters hired manager Mark Fenwick and left EMI for a worldwide deal with Columbia. He divorced his second wife Carolyne Christie and released his third studio album, Amused to Death in 1992. Amused to Death is heavily influenced by the events of the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 and the Gulf War, and a critique of the notion of war becoming the subject of entertainment, particularly on television.^[111] Pat Leonard, who had also worked on A Momentary Lapse, co-produced the album. Ezrin was also referenced, with the line "Each man has his price, Bob, and yours was pretty low" from "Too Much Rope".^[112] The title was derived from the book Amusing Ourselves to Death by Neil Postman.^[113] It is Waters' most critically acclaimed solo recording, garnering some comparison to his previous work with Pink Floyd.^[114][115] Waters himself described the record as "...a stunning piece of work", ranking the album with Dark Side Of The Moon and The Wall as one of the best of his career.^[116] The album had one hit, "What God Wants, Pt. 1" which earned a #4 spot on Billboard's Mainstream Rock Tracks chart.^[117] Jeff Beck played lead guitar on many of the album's tracks, which were recorded with a "stellar cast" of studio musicians at ten different studios.^[118] Sales of Amused to Death topped out at around one million^[114] and there was no tour in support of this album. Waters would first perform material from it seven years later during his In the Flesh tours.

In 1999, Waters embarked on the In the Flesh tour, performing both solo and Pink Floyd material. The tour was a financial success in the US and though Waters had booked mostly smaller venues, tickets sold so well that most of the concerts had to be upgraded to larger venues. With Gilmour's Pink Floyd retiring after 1994 and many Floyd albums selling at the pace of Beatles records, Waters was in great demand. The tour eventually stretched across the world and would span three years. One concert was released on CD and DVD, named In the Flesh Live. During the tour, he played two new songs "Flickering Flame" and "Each Small Candle" as the final encore to the show. In June 2002, Waters played the Glastonbury Festival performing several Pink Floyd songs.

Waters left the UK shortly after the passing of the Hunting Act 2004, denouncing it as "one of the most divisive pieces of legislation we've ever had in Great Britain".^[119] In October 2005, he clarified: "I come back to the UK quite often. I didn't leave as a protest against the hunting ban; I was following a child in the wake of a divorce."^[120]

After leaving Britain, he moved to Long Island in New York with his girlfriend Laurie Durning.^[121] Miramax announced in mid-2004 that a production of The Wall was to appear on Broadway with Waters playing a prominent part in its production. Reports stated that the musical contained 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.^[122] On the night of 1 May 2004, the overture for Ça Ira was pre-premièred on occasion of the Welcome Europe celebrations in the accession country of Malta, performed over Grand Harbour in Valletta and illuminated by light artist Gert Hof.

In September 2004, Waters released two new tracks on the Internet: "To Kill The Child", inspired by the 2003 invasion of Iraq, and "Leaving Beirut", "inspired by his travels in the Middle East as a teenager".^[119] Both of these tracks were . 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. The lyrics to "Leaving Beirut" contain strong attacks on former US President George W. Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair. After the 2004 Indian Ocean Earthquake and subsequent tsunami disaster, Waters performed "Wish You Were Here" with Eric Clapton during a benefit concert on the American network NBC.^[123]

On 26 September 2005, Waters released the opera Ça Ira. It was released as a double CD album, featuring baritone Bryn Terfel, soprano Ying Huang and tenor Paul Groves. The original libretto was co-written in French by the late Étienne Roda-Gil and his wife Nadine Delahaye, and set during the early French Revolution.^[12][13][14] Starting in 1989 ^[14], Waters rewrote the libretto in English, saying of the composition: "I've always been a big fan of Beethoven's choral music, Berlioz and Borodin ... This is unashamedly romantic and resides in that early 19th-century tradition, because that's where my tastes lie in classical and choral music."^[124] Waters appeared on television to discuss the opera, but the interviews often focused instead on his relationship with Pink Floyd, something Waters would "take in stride", a sign Pink Floyd biographer Mark Blake believes to be "a testament to his mellower old age or twenty years of dedicated psychotherapy".^[124] Template:Image stack On 2 July 2005, Waters and Pink Floyd reunited for a performance at the Live 8 concert in London's Hyde Park. They played a four-song, 23-minute set including "Speak to Me/Breathe"/"Breathe (Reprise)", "Money", "Wish You Were Here", and "Comfortably Numb". Waters told the Associated Press that while the experience of playing with 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.^[125] Though Waters had differing ideas about which songs they should play, he "agreed to roll over for one night only".^[126]

Gilmour told the Associated Press, "The rehearsals convinced me it wasn't something I wanted to be doing a lot of. There have been all sorts of farewell moments in people's lives and careers which they have then rescinded, but I think I can fairly categorically say that there won't be a tour or an album again that I take part in."^[127]

In 2006, Waters began The Dark Side of the Moon Live Tour, a two-year, world spanning effort that began in Europe in June and North America in September. The first half of the show featured both Pink Floyd songs and Waters' solo material, while the second-half included a complete live performance of the 1973 Pink Floyd album, The Dark Side of the Moon, the first time in over three decades that he had performed the album. The shows ended with an encore from the third side of The Wall. Elaborate staging designed by Marc Brickman complete with laser lights, fog machines, flame throwers, psychedelic projections, inflatable floating puppets (Spaceman and Pig) controlled by a "handler" dressed as a butcher, and a full 360 degree quadrophonic sound system were used. Former Pink Floyd bandmate Nick Mason joined Waters for The Dark Side of the Moon set and the encores on select 2006 tour dates.^[128] Waters continued touring in January 2007 in Australia and New Zealand then Asia, Europe, South America, and back to North America in June. On 7 July 2007, he played on the American leg of the Live Earth concert, an international multi-venue concert aimed at raising awareness about global climate change, featuring the Trenton Youth Choir and his trademark inflatable pig. In 2007, Waters became a spokesman for Millennium Promise, a non-profit organisation that helps fight extreme poverty and malaria, he wrote a commentary for CNN's website on the topic.^[129] After performing at California's Coachella Festival in April 2008^[130] Waters completed the North American leg of his The Dark Side of the Moon Live tour with 3 final shows in Colorado and Texas. Waters was to be among the headlining artists performing at Live Earth 2008 in Mumbai India on 7 December 2008. This concert was cancelled in light of the terrorist attacks in Mumbai throughout November 2008.^[131] He completed the world tour in June 2008 with several shows in Europe.^[132]

Waters confirmed the possibility of an upcoming solo album which "might be called" Heartland, and has said he has numerous songs written and/or recorded that he intends to release when they are a complete album.^[133]

In March 2007, the science fiction film The Last Mimzy was released featuring an exclusive Waters song, "Hello (I love you)", which played over the end credits. Waters released it as a download-only single. Waters described it as "...a song that captures the themes of the movie, the clash between humanity's best and worst instincts, and how a child's innocence can win the day."^[134]

Syd Barrett died on 7 July 2006 and shortly after his passing, Waters remarked: "... this is very sad ... Syd Barrett was one of the most significant artists of the 20th century. He left us long, long ago and although he only died just a few days ago fans have mourned him for decades."^[135]

Following Richard Wright's death on 15 September 2008, Waters stated: "Rick's ear for harmonic progression was our bedrock. I am very grateful for the opportunity that Live 8 afforded me to engage with him, and David and Nick that one last time. I wish there had been more."^[136][137]

On 12 April 2010, Waters announced The Wall Live tour, which will include a complete performance of The Wall, starting in North America in September 2010 and tentatively ending in Europe in June 2011. As of June 2010, there are 55 shows scheduled for North America in a span of less than 100 days. There are 38 European dates confirmed with shows starting in March 2011.^[19]

In June 2010, Waters released a cover of the protest song "We Shall Overcome", a song derived from the refrain of a gospel hymm published by Charles Albert Tindley in 1901.^[138] Waters performed with David Gilmour at the Hoping Foundation Benefit Evening on 10 July 2010. The four-song set included: "To Know Him Is To Love Him", which was played in early Pink Floyd sound checks, followed by; "Wish You Were Here", "Comfortably Numb", and "Another Brick in the Wall (Part Two)".^[139][140] Waters confirmed on Facebook that Gilmour will perform "Comfortably Numb" for at least one of his The Wall Live shows.^[141]

Waters married his childhood sweetheart, Judy Trim, in 1969. The marriage was dissolved in 1976.^[142] Waters had a son, Harry, and a daughter, India, with his second wife, Lady Carolyne Christie, the niece of the Marquess of Zetland.^[143] They married in 1976 and divorced in 1992.^[144] Waters married American actress Pricilla Phillips in 1993. They had a son, Jack Fletcher, in 1997.^[111] The marriage ended in 2001.^[145] As of 2005, Waters is engaged to filmmaker Laurie Durning.^[146]

Waters is a supporter of the Countryside Alliance and has played concerts to raise funds for the organisation.^[147] Waters claimed he left Britain due to the Hunting Act 2004:

I've become disenchanted with the political and philosophical atmosphere in England. The anti-hunting bill was enough for me to leave England. I did what I could, I did a concert and one or two articles, but it made me feel ashamed to be English. I was in Hyde Park for both the Countryside Alliance marches. There were hundreds of thousands of us there. Good, honest English people. That's one of the most divisive pieces of legislation we've ever had in Great Britain. It's not a case of whether or not I agree with fox hunting, but I will defend to the hilt their right to take part in it."^[119][148]

Waters opposes the separation barrier being built by Israel, calling it an "obscenity" that "should be torn down".^[149] In December 2009, he pledged his support to the Gaza Freedom March.^[150][151] Waters has voiced his opposition to Operation Iraqi Freedom and the War in Afghanistan (2001–present):

The loss of a father is the central prop upon which (The Wall) stands. As the years go by, children lose their fathers again and again, for nothing. You see it now with all of these fathers, good men and true, who lost their lives and limbs in Iraq for no reason at all. I've done 'Bring the Boys Back Home' in my encores on recent tours. It feels more relevant and poignant to be singing that song now than it did in 1979." ^[152]

Prior to Tony Blair's Labour Party government, Waters had been a lifelong Labour supporter.^[153] His lyrics to the Pink Floyd album The Final Cut were critical of the then Conservative Party government and mention Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher by name.^[154][155]

Template:File Waters primary instrument in Pink Floyd was the electric bass guitar.^{[156][157][158]} He briefly played a Höfner bass that was replaced with a Rickenbacker RM-1999/4001S, Fireglo with rosewood fretboard, used from 1966–1969, then lost in a 1970 equipment van heist in New Orleans. Circa 1970, he switched to a Fender Precision Bass. Black with white pickguard, maple fretboard. First seen at a concert in Hyde park July 1970, this guitar was rarely used prior to April 1972 when it became his de facto stage guitar. Circa 1976, Gilmour's guitar tech Phil Taylor replaced the white pickguard with a black one, this is visible on The Wall tours, In the Flesh and The Dark Side of the Moon Live Tour. During the Wall sessions and tour Waters had three of them. Waters uses Samson wireless systems with his basses.^[159][160] He often plays with a pick but is also known to play fingerstyle. Waters uses RotoSound Jazz Bass 77 bass guitar strings. Throughout his career he has used WEM, Hiwatt and Ashdown amplifiers. He uses delay, tremolo, chorus, panning and phaser effects in his music.

Not only a bassist and vocalist^[161], Waters experimented with the EMS Synthi A and the EMS VCS 3 synthesizers on Pink Floyd tracks such as On the Run.^[162] Waters also plays electric rhythm guitar, using Fender and Washburn guitars, as on Wish You Were Here and Animals, tracks "Shine On You Crazy Diamond" part 9 and "Sheep".^[159][160] He played Martin, Ovation, and Washburn, acoustic guitars on several Pink Floyd tracks from The Final Cut and on the track "Mother" from The Wall.^[159][160] He used synthesizer and tape effects, on tracks such as "Welcome to the Machine". Waters used a Binson Echorec 2 echo effect on his bass guitar for the Pink Floyd track One Of These Days.^[163] According to Pink Floyd bandmate David Gilmour, many of the bass guitar tracks on Pink Floyd albums were played by him, not Waters.^[164][85]

• Pink Floyd's The Dark Side of the Moon (1973), is one of the most commercially successful albums of all time, it spent 723 weeks on the Billboard 200 chart and has sold over 30 million copies worldwide. It still sells around 5,000 units every week, and is the "second best-selling album of all time worldwide".^{[165][166][167]}
• The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) ranks The Dark Side of the Moon number 21 on its "Top 100 Albums" list, with 15 million certified units sold in the US.^[165][168]
• Pink Floyd's album The Wall is largely based on Waters' life story^{[71][59][169]} and having sold 23 million RIAA certified units in the US, it is one of the top three best-selling albums of all time in America.^[168]
• The RIAA and the National Endowment for the Arts named the Waters composition "Another Brick in the Wall (Part II)" one of the "365 Top Selling Songs of the 20th Century".^[170]
• "Another Brick in the Wall (Part II)" was ranked number 375 on Rolling Stone's "500 Greatest Songs of All Time" list.^[171]
• It is estimated that Pink Floyd has sold over 200 million albums worldwide^[172][173] including 74.5 million certified units in the United States.^[174]
• "What God Wants, Pt. 1" from Amused to Death, reached number 35 in the UK in September 1992^[175] and number 5 on Billboard's Mainstream Rock Chart in the US.^[117]
• Waters' first solo album, The Pros and Cons of Hitch Hiking, has been certified Gold by the RIAA.
• Waters opera, Ça Ira reached number 5 on the Billboard Classical Music Chart in the US.^[176]
• Waters was inducted into the US and UK Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of Pink Floyd.^[177]
• In February 2009, he received a "Cinema for Peace" award for The Wall.^[178]

For his work with Pink Floyd, see Pink Floyd discography between 1967 and 1983

• 1987 Going To Live In LA : Radio Waves (single)
• 1987 Sunset Strip / Money [1987 version] : Sunset Strip (single)
• 1987 Get Back To Radio [demo recording] : The Tide Is Turning (After Live Aid) (single)
• 1987 The Russian Missile – Towers Of Faith – Hilda's Dream – The American Bomber – The Anderson Shelter – The British Submarine – The Attack – The Fall Out – Hilda's Hair – Folded Flags : When The Wind Blows (OST)
• 1987 Molly's Song [live] : Who Needs Information (single)
• 1998 Knockin' on Heaven's Door : The Dybbuk of The Holy Apple Field (OST)
• 1999 Lost Boys Calling : The Legend Of 1900 (various)
• 1999 Incarceration Of A Flower Child (Waters composition) : Marianne Faithfull's Vagabond Ways
• 2000 Each Small Candle [live] : In The Flesh (live)
• 2001 Flickering Flame [new demo]
• 2007 Another brick in the wall part II (live) : Live Earth The Concerts For A Climate In Crisis
• 2010 We Shall Overcome : from the documentary "Roadmap to Apartheid"

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• Roger Waters Official website
• Roger Waters at IMDb
• Roger Waters On Tour
• "REG": Roger Waters International Fan Club
• Mark Fisher's Roger Waters gallery
• Roger Waters Facebook page to support 2010 The Wall tour

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