George Roger Waters
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Roger Waters wrote and co-wrote Pink Floyd’s 1973 album The Dark Side of the Moon and the 1979 album The Wall. His father Eric Fletcher Waters died at Anzio in 1944, a loss that informed those albums. He left Pink Floyd in 1985 and sued to block the remaining members from using the name, but lost. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a Pink Floyd member in 1996.
Names, aliases, and relatives of Roger Waters — birth name, kin, and personal ties.
Roger Waters by the numbers — life, work, and family.
Roger Waters — early life, career, personal life, and legacy.
Roger Waters was born 6 September 1943 in Cambridge, England, to Mary D. Whyte and Eric Fletcher Waters. His father, a British soldier, died at the Battle of Anzio in 1944. That loss later fueled the themes of Pink Floyd’s albums The Wall and The Final Cut. Waters attended Cambridgeshire High School for Boys and then studied architecture at Regent Street Polytechnic School of Architecture, where he met bandmates Richard Wright and Nick Mason.
Pink Floyd’s 1973 album The Dark Side of the Moon, with Waters as primary lyricist, became one of the best-selling albums of all time. The 1979 double album The Wall, largely written by Waters, was adapted into the 1982 film Pink Floyd: The Wall, in which he appeared. He left Pink Floyd in 1985 and released solo albums such as Radio K.A.O.S. 1987 and the opera Ça Ira. In 2005, he rejoined Pink Floyd for the Live 8 concert.
Waters has been married four times. He married Judy Trim in 1969, Carolyne Christie in 1976, Priscilla Phillips in 1992, and Laurie Durning in 2012. He has three children: son Harry Waters and daughter India Waters with Christie, and son Jack Waters with Phillips. He lives in New York City and is a vocal critic of the state of Israel.
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inducted Waters as a Pink Floyd member in 1996. His conceptual ambition with albums such as The Dark Side of the Moon and The Wall set a benchmark for progressive rock. He is remembered for rock operas that explore war, madness, and isolation.
The complete filmography of Roger Waters — every film, TV show, and documentary credit, ranked by popularity.
A wall of memorable lines from Roger Waters — lyrics, interviews, and off-the-cuff remarks captured over a lifetime.
I Think There Are Things in My Story That Have Helped My Creativity. Your Father Being Killed, for Instance, Is One of the Best Things That Could Happen to a Kid If He’s Going to Write Poetry or Songs.
You Take the Risk of Being Rejected. If You Have Pretentions to Be an Artist of Any Kind, You Have to Take the Risk of People Rejecting You and Thinking You’re an Arsehole.
When I First Got a Guitar, It Was a Spanish, Classical Thing. I Took a Few Lessons from a Woman in Cambridge Who Used to Keep Her Guitar in Her Bed, as If It Was a Sexual Thing.
The Situation in Israel/Palestine, with the Occupation, the Ethnic Cleansing and the Systematic Racist Apartheid Israeli Regime Is Unacceptable.
I Have Been Accused of Being a Nazi and an Anti-Semite for the Past 10 Years. My Industry Has Been Particularly Recalcitrant in Even Raising a Voice Against Israel. There’s Me and Elvis Costello, Brian Eno, Manic Street Preachers, One or Two Others, but There’s Nobody in the US Where I Live. I’ve Talked to a Lot of Them, and They Are Scared Shitless.
I Like My Rock’n’roll to Be Very Direct. I Don’t Want to Be Digging Around Trying to Figure Out the Meaning.
Biden Is Such a F*cking Slimeball, He’s so Weak, and Has No Appeal to Anybody.
Ozzy Osbourne, Who Just Died, Bless Him, in His… Whatever That State That He Was in His Whole Life. We’ll Never Know, We Didn’t, You Know? Although He Was All Over the TV for Hundreds of Years with His Idiocy and Nonsense. I Don’t Care About Black Sabbath, I Never Did. I Have No Interest in Biting the Heads off Chickens or Whatever They Do. I Couldn’t Care Less, You Know.
Little-known facts about Roger Waters — origins, oddities, and behind-the-scenes details from a public life.
His father Eric Fletcher Waters, a British soldier, died at Anzio in 1944. The loss inspired Pink Floyd’s music, especially The Wall 1979 and The Final Cut 1983. His grandfather George Henry Waters was also killed in WWI in 1914, another source of inspiration.
He is partially tone-deaf and uses earpieces during concerts to help him sing. While in Pink Floyd, keyboardist Richard Wright tuned his bass guitars.
After leaving Pink Floyd, he sued to bar the remaining members from using the band’s name but lost.
He admires John Lennon and cites Isolation as a favorite song. In 1985, he performed Across the Universe at a Lennon tribute show with bassist Andy Fairweather Low.
The Sunday Times List in 2009 estimated his net worth at $139 million.
He resides in New York City.
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inducted him as a Pink Floyd member in 1996.
He attended the Regent Street Polytechnic School of Architecture, where he met future bandmates Richard Wright and Nick Mason.
The UK Music Hall of Fame inducted Pink Floyd on November 16, 2005 for their contribution to British music.
In March 2003, The Dark Side of the Moon topped Classic Rock Magazine’s list of the 30 greatest concept albums. The Wall came tenth, and The Final Cut came 21st.
He is a vocal critic of Israel. In 2019, he organized an unsuccessful petition opposing Israel hosting the Eurovision Song Contest, citing the conflict with Palestinians. Peter Gabriel supported the petition, but a rival petition signed by Stephen Fry, Rachel Riley, and others countered it.
He has a son named Jack with his third wife, Priscilla Phillips.
He publicly disdains television but supports social media.
He has been married four times: to Judy Trim 1969-75, Carolyne Christie 1976-92, Priscilla Phillips 1992-2001, and Laurie Durning 2012-2015. Christie appears in a photo in some versions of Ummagumma credited as Jude. He has two children with Christie: son Harry, who tours as his keyboard player, and daughter India, a model. With Phillips he has a son Jack.
In March 2003, his solo album Radio K.A.O.S. 1987 came 24th on Classic Rock Magazine’s list of the 30 greatest concept albums.
He met his third wife, Priscilla Phillips, through her friend Maryam d’Abo at a restaurant.
Waters, whose work with Pink Floyd shaped progressive rock, says he rarely listens to music recreationally. He consistently revisits Bob Dylan, Neil Young, and John Lennon.
In 2005, he became engaged to waitress Laurie Durning.
Quick answers to the questions readers ask most about Roger Waters.
Celebrities similar to Roger Waters — same craft, ranked by reach.
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