Roger Waters is a famous British rock musician, bass player, songwriter and composer. One of the founders of the legendary band Pink Floyd.
Biography
Roger Waters was born on September 6 in the British city of Cambridge in 1943. Parents of the future musician worked at school, mother - director and teacher of literature, and father taught theology. With the outbreak of World War II, Eric Fletcher, Roger's father, went to the front and soon died in Italy. Mother, trying to somehow make up for the loss, began to educate the boy more strictly. Later, Roger will reflect this in the legendary album, and then the film "The Wall."
From an early age, Roger was fond of sports and like most English, he loved football. He not only loved to play it, but to this day he is a fan of the famous London club Arsenal. But this remained at the level of hobbies, he wanted to realize himself in music.
After graduation, the guy moved to the capital of Great Britain, London, where he entered one of the prestigious universities of the capital at the Faculty of Architecture. From the first scholarships, Roger got himself a guitar and even took a few lessons on playing it. But as it turns out later, according to the musicians themselves, those lessons didn’t come in handy for him in the future. While studying at the institute, Roger repeatedly spoke at various student events.
Early activity
In 1965, Roger Waters decided to create his own ensemble. And in the company of their classmates Nick Mason and Richard Wright, as well as an old friend from the hometown of Cambridge Barrett, they create a musical team. The name was proposed by Sid Barrett, and the company began to call itself Pink Floyd.
Many of the attributes of the ensemble and the first hits were invented by Sid, because he remained in history as the creator of the legend. Unfortunately, the fame and popularity that quickly fell on the group, money, amusements and drugs led Barrett to leave the team. His place was taken by David Gilmore, a longtime friend of Roger.
The group continued to gain momentum, regularly released records, constant tours, interviews and participation in radio broadcasts. The peak of the group’s popularity occurred in the mid-70s of the last century, however, along with the growth of popularity, a conflict broke out in the group. Unable to withstand this in 1981, Richard Wright left the group.
Album "Wall"
The most striking and memorable work of Roger Waters can rightly be considered the 11th collection of Pink Floyd's Wall. The album was released in late 1979. The concept of the album, most of the words and arrangements were invented directly by Waters. Richard Wright left the band on the eve of the release of the album, but despite this, he took part in the tour of the Wall record as a session musician.
The fees and popularity of “The Walls” exceeded all expectations, the album occupied the highest lines of various charts for several years. In 1982, director Alan Parker shot the eponymous
feature film scripted by Roger Waters. In the film, the contents of the album were partially changed, some compositions were omitted, something Roger recorded specially for the film adaptation.
Career after The wall
Smoldering since the mid-70s, the discord peaked, and in 1985 Roger Waters announced the breakup of the group. However, the remaining in the group, Gilmore and Mason did not want to come to terms with this. Then Waters tried to sue the rights to the name of the team, but failed. The rights to paraphernalia and songs were granted to David Gilmore, Nick Mason and Richard Wright. The band continued to perform without Roger Waters.
The musician began an independent career and recorded several concept albums. Waters also recorded the soundtrack for the animated film When the Wind Blows. After the Berlin Wall collapsed in 1990, in honor of this event, the famous musician organized a grandiose performance in Berlin, which attracted an incredible number of spectators.
And in 2004, the famous film company Miramax said that it was working on a musical on the legendary “Wall”, and Roger Waters took a lively part in the creation of the play. The musician has recorded five solo works and continues to perform at concerts with both his own works and the heritage of Pink Floyd. For example, the grand tour The Wall live, which lasted almost 3 years, became the highest grossing in the world among solo artists. In 2018, the famous musician went on a regular tour called Us + Them.
