30 Inspiring Facts We Bet You Didn't Know About Roger Waters

14 January 2019, 1:18 pm EST By Ruby Karnick

Roger Waters, the co-founder of the progressive rock band Pink Floyd, is a singer, bassist, and composer. He initially served as the bassist, later became the lyricist, co-lead vocalist, and conceptual leader. Here are some amazing facts about the English songwriter:

He staged one of the largest rock concerts in history, The Wall – Live in Berlin, with an attendance of 450,000, in the year 1990.
He, as a member of Pink Floyd, was inducted into the U.S. Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in the year 1996 and the UK Music Hall of Fame in the year 2005.
Since the year 1999, he has toured extensively as a solo act and has also performed The Dark Side of the Moon in its entirety for his world tour of 2006–2008.
In the year 2010, he began the Wall Live, a worldwide concert tour in which the Pink Floyd album "The Wall," was performed in its entirety, and the event later became the highest-grossing of all time by a solo artist.
He co-founded Pink Floyd with drummer Nick Mason, keyboardist Richard Wright, guitarist Bob Klose, and lead guitarist, singer, and songwriter Syd Barrett.
George Roger Waters was born on September 6, 1943, to Eric Fletcher Waters and Mary Waters in George Roger Waters. He has an elder brother.
His father was a schoolteacher, a devout Christian, and a Communist Party member, who drove an ambulance during the Blitz, in the early years of the Second World War, as he was a conscientious objector.
Roger was only five months old, when his father was killed on February 18, 1944, at Aprilia, during the Battle of Anzio. He is commemorated at the Cassino War Cemetery.
His mother, who was also a school teacher, moved to Cambridge with her two sons, following the death of his father.
In memory of his father, he unveiled a monument to his father and other war casualties in Aprilia on February 18, 2014, on his father's sixtieth death anniversary and was made honorary citizen of Anzio.

At the age of 15, was chairman of the Cambridge Youth Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (YCND),and has been the one to design its publicity poster.
It was reported that he hated school, apart from the game sessions, and was a highly regarded member of the high school's cricket and rugby teams.
He met Pink Floyd members Barrett and Gilmour at the Cambridgeshire High School for Boys, which is now known by the name Hills Road Sixth Form College, while he met Nick Mason and Richard Wright in London at the Regent Street Polytechnic school of architecture, which later became the University of Westminster.
Before getting into the career of music, he initially contemplated a career in mechanical engineering. However, while still in Regent Street Polytechnic, he played music in a band named Sigma 6 or Meggadeaths, formed by vocalist Keith Noble and bassist Clive Metcalfe.
Following Barrett's departure in March 1968, Waters became the principal songwriter and lyricist, shared lead vocals with Gilmour and sometimes Wright. He remained the band's dominant creative figure until his departure in the year 1985.
With lyrics written entirely by Waters, "The Dark Side of the Moon" spent 736 straight weeks on the Billboard 200 chart, becoming one of the most commercially successful rock albums ever.
According to Pink Floyd biographer Glen Povey, "The Dark Side of the Moon" album is the world's second bestselling album and the 21st-bestselling album in the United States.
He has constantly referred to the cost of Second World War and the subsequent loss of his father, throughout his works starting from "Corporal Clegg" in the 1968 album "A Saucerful of Secrets," to "The Fletcher Memorial Home" on "The Final Cut."
The 1979 album "The Wall," was actually conceived as a rock opera during Pink Floyd's "In the Flesh Tour," in the year 1977, when he became so frustrated with the audience that he spat on them.
His first solo album "The Pros and Cons of Hitch Hiking," is said to have dealt with Waters' feelings about monogamy and family life versus "the call of the wild." There was also a report about a film adaptation of the album, but no further news about it appeared.

"The Final Cut," the band's last album to feature Waters, explores what he considered the betrayal of his father, who sacrificed his lives, in the Second World War, in the spirit of a post-war dream.
It is reported that the theme and composition of "The Wall," which is largely based on his life story, was influenced by his upbringing in an English society depleted of men after the Second World War.
His third studio album "Amused to Death," in the year 1992, which was 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.
His lyrics in "The Final Cut," were critical of the Conservative Party government of the day and even mention Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher by name.
He made a comeback to the music industry from a seven year hiatus and a 12-year absence from touring with his "In the Flesh" tour, spanning for a total of three years.
He released two new tracks online in July 2004, "To Kill the Child", inspired by the 2003 invasion of Iraq, and "Leaving Beirut", an anti-war song inspired by his travels in the Middle East as a teenager.
He commenced "The Dark Side of the Moon" Live Tour in June 2006, spanning for two years. The second half of the tour included a complete live performance of the album "The Dark Side of the Moon," the first time in over three decades that Waters had performed the album.
In June 2002, he completed the "In the Flesh" tour with a performance in front of 70,000 people at the Glastonbury Festival of Performing Arts, playing 15 Pink Floyd songs and five songs from his solo catalogue.
He has been married four times - his childhood sweetheart Judith Trim in 1969, - Lady Carolyne Christie, the niece of the 3rd Marquess of Zetland, in 1976, - Priscilla Phillips in 1993, - actress and filmmaker Laurie Durning in 2012. He has two sons - Harry Waters, Jack Fletcher and a daughter India Waters from his marriages.
Waters performed "Wish You Were Here" with Eric Clapton during a benefit concert on the American network NBC, following the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and subsequent tsunami disaster.