Sept. 6: Roger Waters of Pink Floyd fame is 67 today.

George Roger Waters  gained musical legend status 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 primary lyricist, principal songwriter and dominant creative figure - along with David Gilmore, to be fair - through his own departure from the band in 1985.

Pink Floyd 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.


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 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.

In 2005, he released Ça Ira, an opera in three acts translated from Etienne Roda-Gil and his wife Nadine Delahaye's French libretto based on the historical subject of the early French Revolution. 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, Pink Floyd's only appearance with Waters since their final performance of The Wall at Earls Court London 24 years earlier.


Pink Floyd have been nominated for and won several awards, including a Grammy in 1995 for "Rock Instrumental Performance" on "Marooned"; inductions into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (17 January 1996) and UK Music Hall of Fame (16 November 2005), and the Polar Music Prize for their contribution to contemporary music in 2008 when Waters and Mason received the prize from King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden.

Press links below to view You Tube videos:
-- "The Wall" (Berlin 90 VII)
-- "Shine On You Crazy Diamond" (Syd Barrett Tribute)
-- The Hoping Foundation: David Gilmour & Roger Waters, Kiddington, Oxfordshire (July 11, 2010)







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