| George Roger Waters (born 6 September 1943) is an English musician,
singer-songwriter and composer. He is best known as the bass player, lyricist
and co-lead vocalist of the rock band Pink Floyd. Following the departure of
fellow founding member Syd Barrett in March 1968, Waters became the band's
lyricist, principal songwriter and conceptual leader. The band subsequently
achieved worldwide success in the 1970s with the concept albums The Dark Side of
the Moon, Wish You Were Here, Animals, and The Wall. Waters' primary instrument
in Pink Floyd was the electric bass guitar, although he experimented with
synthesizers and tape loops and has played electric rhythm and acoustic guitars
in recordings and in concert. Following creative differences within the group,
Waters left Pink Floyd in 1985 and began a legal battle with the remaining
members over their future use of the group's name and material. The dispute was
settled out of court in 1987, and nearly eighteen years passed before he
performed with Pink Floyd again. It is estimated that as of 2010, the group have
sold over 200 million albums worldwide, including 74.5 million units sold in the
United States.
Waters solo career has included three studio albums: The Pros and Cons of
Hitchhiking (1984), Radio K.A.O.S. (1987), and Amused to Death (1992). In 1986,
he 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. In 1990, he staged one
of the largest rock concerts in history, The Wall – Live in Berlin, with an
estimated 200,000 people in attendance. In 1996, he was inducted into the US and
UK Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of Pink Floyd. 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. In 2005, he released Ça Ira, an opera
in three acts translated from Etienne Roda-Gil and his wife Nadine Delahaye's
libretto based on the early French Revolution. On 2 July 2005, he reunited with
Pink Floyd band-mates Nick Mason, Richard Wright, and David Gilmour for the Live
8 benefit concert, the group's only appearance with Waters since their last
performance 24 years earlier. In 2010, he commenced The Wall Live, a worldwide
tour that features a complete performance of The Wall.
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