Born
in Great Bookham near Leatherhead, Surrey, Waters, the younger of two boys, grew up in Cambridge. His father was a teacher and he fought in the wold war 2, and died in combat at Anzio Italy in January 1944, when Waters was just only four months old child. After the death of Waters' father, his mother who was also a teacher(Mary Waters),she moved with her two sons to Cambridge.
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" (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. 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).
Waters and Syd Barrett attended the Morley Memorial Junior School on Blinco Grove, Cambridge, and later both passed the eleven-plus exam, and 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" and attended The Perse School on the same road. Whereas Barrett, Waters, and Gilmour knew each other from having grown up in Cambridge, 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, having designed its publicity poster and participated in its organisation.
Pink Floyd years (1965–85)
In 1965, Roger Waters co-founded Pink Floyd with Syd Barrett, Richard Wright and Nick Mason. Their first recording session took place in December 1964 according to Manson. 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."
Through 1966 and 1967, Barrett was Pink Floyd's lead guitarist, singer, and primary songwriter. 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.
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. 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, but Barrett refused to cooperate, and Laing, "professed himself unable to help".In December 1967, the band added guitarist and vocalist David Gilmour, 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. Working with Barrett eventually proved too difficult, 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".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. Jenner and King, who regarded Barrett as the creative genius of the band, decided to represent him and end their relationship with Pink Floyd. Filling the void left by Barrett's departure, Waters began to chart Pink Floyd's new artistic direction.
Waters became the primary lyrical contributor and the principal songwriter in Pink Floyd after Barrett's departure. 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, and The Final Cut, written entirely by Waters. 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.
During the recording of The Wall, Waters, Gilmour, and Mason became increasingly unhappy with Wright's lack of contribution to the album. Gilmour said Wright "hadn't contributed anything of any value whatsoever to the album—he did very, very little", and "didn't seem to be pulling his weight." Mason said: "Alas, Rick's contribution was to turn up and sit in on the sessions without doing anything, just 'being a producer'. 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." 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." 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." Waters threatened to take The Wall tapes and not allow them to be used as a Pink Floyd album unless Wright left the group. At that time, the members of Pink Floyd were nearly bankrupt from bad investments, and they could not afford to breach their contractual commitment to their record company, so Wright decided to leave Pink Floyd.
Wright stayed on as a paid musician while Waters and Gilmour led the band through 25 complete performances of the album. Gilmour acted as the musical director of the shows. Wright's firing and subsequent position as a paid session musician meant he was the only one of the four to realise a profit from The Wall tour—since the financial losses of the expensive shows were paid by the three remaining members of Pink Floyd. 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. 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. Rolling Stone rated the album 5 stars calling it "a superlative achievement" and "rock art's crowning masterpiece".
In December 1985, Waters "issued a statement to EMI and CBS invoking his 'Leaving Member' clause" on the existing Pink Floyd contract. On 31 October 1986, High Court proceedings initiated by Waters to formally dissolve Pink Floyd's partnership began. In his submission to the High Court, which was released to the press, Waters called Pink Floyd, "a spent force creatively". 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."
In December 1987, an agreement between Waters and Pink Floyd was reached. 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. 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." In addition to release from his contractual obligation with O'Rourke, Waters also retained the rights to The Wall concept, and his trademarked inflatable pig.
The David Gilmour-led Pink Floyd released two more studio albums; A Momentary Lapse of Reason (1987), recorded on Gilmour's studio/houseboat the 'Astoria'an album which according to Gilmour, Mason and Wright contributed little to,and The Division Bell in 1994. Gilmour relied heavily on outside songwriters, lyricists, and studio musicians to complete both albums. 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 favour of straight-forward unrelated tracks.
Early solo years (1984–2005)
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. 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".Rolling Stone rated the album a "rock bottom" one star. 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. Waters began touring the new album aided by guitarist Eric Claptonwith set design by Mark Fisher of Fisher Park and lighting design.[114] 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. In March 1985, Waters went to North America to play smaller venues with the Pros and Cons Plus Some Old Pink Floyd Stuff — North America Tour 1985.
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 on a mute man from an impoverished Welsch mining town named Billy, who has the ability to physically tune into radio waves in his head. Billy first learns to communicate with a radio DJ, and eventually to control the world's computers. Angry at the state of the world in which he lives, he simulates a fake nuclear attack. Waters followed the release with a supporting tour also in 1987.
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. Waters' group of musicians included Joni Mitchell, Van Morrison, Cyndi Lauper, Bryan Adams and Sinéad O'Connor. 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.
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. 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". The title was derived from the book Amusing Ourselves to Death by Neil Postman. It is Waters' most critically acclaimed solo recording, garnering some comparison to his previous work with Pink Floyd. Waters 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. The album had one hit, "What God Wants, Pt. 1" which earned a #4 spot on Billboard's Mainstream Rock Tracks chart. 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. Sales of Amused to Death topped out at around one millionand 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".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."
After leaving Britain, he moved to Long Island in New York with his girlfriend Laurie Durning. 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.[139] 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 July 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".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.
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