Roger Waters

George Roger Waters (born 6 September 1943) is an English musician, singer, songwriter and composer. In 1965, he co-founded the progressive rock bandPink Floyd with drummer Nick Mason, keyboardist Richard Wright and guitarist, singer and songwriter Syd Barrett. Waters initially served as the group's bassist and co-lead vocalist, but following the departure of Barrett in 1968, he also became their lyricist and conceptual leader.

Pink Floyd subsequently achieved international success with the concept albums The Dark Side of the Moon, Wish You Were Here, Animals, The Wall andThe Final Cut. By the early 1980s, they had become one of the most critically acclaimed and best-selling acts in the history of popular music; as of 2013, they have sold more than 250 million albums worldwide, including 74.5 million units sold in the United States. Amid creative differences within the group, Waters left in 1985 and began a legal dispute with the remaining members over their intended use of the band's name and material. They settled out of court in 1987, and nearly eighteen years had passed before he performed with them again.

Waters' solo career has included three studio albums: The Pros and Cons of Hitch Hiking, Radio K.A.O.S. and Amused to Death. In 1990, he staged one of the largest and most extravagant rock concerts in history, The Wall – Live in Berlin, with an official attendance of 200,000. As a member of Pink Floyd, he was inducted into the US Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996 and the UK Music Hall of Fame in 2005. That same year he released Ça Ira, an opera in three acts translated from Étienne and Nadine Roda-Gils' libretto about the French Revolution. Later that year, he reunited with Pink Floyd bandmates Mason, Wright andDavid Gilmour for the Live 8 global awareness event; it was the group's first appearance with Waters since 1981. He has toured extensively as a solo act since 1999 and played The Dark Side of the Moon in its entirety for his world tour of 2006–2008. In 2010, he began The Wall Live and in 2011 Gilmour and Mason appeared with him during a performance of the double album in London. As of 2013, the tour is the highest-grossing of all time by a solo artist.

Waters has been married four times; first in 1969 to his childhood sweetheart Judy Trim; they had no children together and divorced in 1975. The following year he married Lady Carolyne Christie; the marriage produced a son, Harry Waters, a musician who has played keyboards with his father's touring band since 2006, and a daughter, India Waters, who has worked as a model. Christie and Waters divorced in 1992, and in 1993, he married Priscilla Phillips. They had one son together, Jack Fletcher, before getting divorced in 2001. In 2012, Waters married actress and filmmaker Laurie Durning.



Contents
[hide]  *1 1943–1964: early years 
 * 2 1965–1985: Pink Floyd
 * 2.1 Formation and Barrett-led period
 * 2.2 Waters-led period
 * 3 1984–present: solo career
 * 3.1 1984–1996
 * 3.2 1999–2004
 * 3.3 2005–present
 * 4 Personal life
 * 5 Activism
 * 6 Political views
 * 7 Equipment and instruments
 * 8 Discography
 * 9 Citations
 * 10 Sources
 * 11 Further reading
 * 12 External links

1943–1964: early years
George Roger Waters was born on 6 September 1943, the younger of two boys, to Mary (née Whyte; 1913-2009) and Eric Fletcher Waters (1913-1944), in Great Bookham, Surrey.[2]  His father, the son of a coal miner and Labour Party activist, was a schoolteacher, a devout Christian, and a Communist Party member.[3]  In the early years of the Second World War, his father was a conscientious objector who drove an ambulance during the Blitz.[3]  He later changed his stance on pacifism and joined the British Army, and as a 2Lt. of the 8th Royal Fusiliers died at Aprilia, between Anzio and Rome in Italy, on 18 February 1944, when Roger was five months old.[4]  On 19 February 2014, Waters unveiled a monument to his father and other war casualties there, and was made an honorary citizen of Anzio.[5]  Following her husband's death, Mary Waters, also a teacher, moved with her two sons to Cambridge and raised them there.[6]  Roger Waters' earliest memory is of the VJ Day celebrations.[7]  Mary Waters died in 2009, aged 96.

Waters attended Morley Memorial Junior School in Cambridge and then the Cambridgeshire High School for Boys (now Hills Road Sixth Form College) with Syd Barrett, while his future musical partner, David Gilmour, lived nearby on the city's Mill Road, and attended the Perse School.[8]  At 15, Waters was chairman of the Cambridge Youth Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (YCND),<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEMason200512.E2.80.9313_9-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[9]  having designed its publicity poster and participated in its organisation.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEPovey200813_10-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[10]  Though he was a keen sportsman and a highly regarded member of the high school's cricket and rugby teams,<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEWatkinsonAnderson199123_11-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[11]  he disliked his educational experience; according to Waters, "I hated every second of it, apart from games. The regime at school was a very oppressive one ... the same kids who are susceptible to bullying by other kids are also susceptible to bullying by the teachers."<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEBlake200814.E2.80.9319_12-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[12]  Whereas Waters knew Barrett and Gilmour from his childhood in Cambridge, he met future Pink Floyd founder members Nick Mason and Richard Wright in London at the Regent Street Polytechnic (later the University of Westminster) school of architecture. Waters enrolled there in 1962, after a series of aptitude tests indicated he was well-suited to that field.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEPovey2008320_13-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[13] He had initially considered a career in mechanical engineering.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEBlake200836_14-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[14]

1965–1985: Pink Floyd
Main article: Pink Floyd===Formation and Barrett-led period===

Waters performing with Pink Floyd at Leeds University in 1970<p style="margin-top:0.5em;line-height:20.363636016845703px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;">By September 1963, Waters and Mason had lost interest in their studies; they had moved into the lower flat of Stanhope Gardens, owned by Mike Leonard, a part-time tutor at the Regent Street Polytechnic.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-15" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[15]  Waters, Mason and Wright first played music together in the autumn of 1963, in a band formed by vocalist Keith Noble and bassist Clive Metcalfe.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-16" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[16]  They usually called themselves Sigma 6, but also used the name the Meggadeaths.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEPovey200813_10-1" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[10]  Waters played rhythm guitar and Mason played drums, Wright played on any keyboard he could arrange to use, and Noble's sister Sheilagh provided an occasional vocal accompaniment.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEMason200517.E2.80.9318_17-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[17]  In the early years the band performed during private functions and rehearsed in a tearoom in the basement of Regent Street Polytechnic.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEMason200513.E2.80.9318_18-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[18]

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:20.363636016845703px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;">When Metcalfe and Noble left to form their own group in September 1963, the remaining members asked Barrett and guitar player Bob Klose to join.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-19" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[19]  By January 1964, the group became known as the Abdabs, or the Screaming Abdabs.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEPovey200814_20-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[20]  During the autumn of 1964, the band used the names Leonard's Lodgers, Spectrum Five, and eventually, the Tea Set.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEPovey200818.2C_28_21-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[21]  Sometime during the autumn of 1965, the Tea Set began calling itself the Pink Floyd Sound, later the Pink Floyd and by early 1966, Pink Floyd.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-22" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[22]

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:20.363636016845703px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;">By early 1966 Barrett was Pink Floyd's front-man, guitarist, and songwriter.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEMason200587_23-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[23]  He wrote or co-wrote all but one track of their debut LP The Piper at the Gates of Dawn, released in August 1967.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEMason200587.E2.80.93107_24-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[24]  Waters contributed the song "Take Up Thy Stethoscope and Walk" (his first sole writing credit) to the album.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEBlake200891_25-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[25]  By late 1967, Barrett's deteriorating mental health and increasingly erratic behaviour,<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEBlake200890.E2.80.93114_26-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[26]  rendered him "unable or unwilling"<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEMason2005129_27-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[27]  to continue in his capacity as Pink Floyd's singer-songwriter and lead guitarist.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEMason200587.E2.80.93107_24-1" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[24]  In early March 1968 Pink Floyd met with managers Peter Jenner and Andrew King of Blackhill Enterprises to discuss the band's future. Barrett agreed to leave Pink Floyd, and the band "agreed to Blackhill's entitlement in perpetuity" regarding "past activities".<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEMason2005105_28-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[28]  The band's new manager Steve O'Rourke made a formal announcement about the departure of Barrett and the arrival of David Gilmour in April 1968.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEMason2005106_29-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[29]

Waters-led period
A live performance of The Dark Side of the Moon at Earls Court, shortly after its release in 1973: (l-r) David Gilmour, Nick Mason, Dick Parry, Roger Waters<p style="margin-top:0.5em;line-height:20.363636016845703px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;">Filling the void left by Barrett's departure in March 1968, Waters began to chart Pink Floyd's artistic direction. He became the principal songwriter, lyricist and co-lead vocalist (along with Gilmour, and at times, Wright), and would remain the band's dominant creative figure until his departure in 1985.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEMason2005106.E2.80.93107.2C_160.E2.80.93161.2C_265.2C_278_30-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[30]  He wrote 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. Every Waters studio album since The Dark Side of the Moon has been a concept album.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEBlake20083.2C_9.2C_113.2C_156.2C_242.2C_279.2C_320.2C_398_31-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[31]  With lyrics written entirely by Waters, The Dark Side of the Moon was one of the most commercially successful rock albums ever. It spent 736 straight weeks on the Billboard 200 chart—until July 1988—and sold over 40 million copies worldwide. It was continuing to sell over 8,000 units every week as of 2005.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-32" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[32]  According to Pink Floyd biographer Glen Povey, Dark Side is the world's second best-selling album, and the United States' 21st best-selling album of all time.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEPovey2008345_33-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[33]

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:20.363636016845703px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;">Waters produced thematic ideas that became the impetus for the Pink Floyd concept albums The Dark Side of the Moon (1973), Wish You Were Here (1975),Animals (1977) and The Wall (1979)—written largely by Waters—and The Final Cut (1983)—written entirely by Waters.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEMason2005265.E2.80.93269_34-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[34]  He 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, "When the Tigers Broke Free", first used in the feature film, The Wall (1982), later included with "The Fletcher Memorial Home" onThe Final Cut, an album dedicated to his father.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEBlake2008294_35-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[35]  The theme and composition of The Wall was influenced by his upbringing in an English society depleted of men after the Second World War.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEBlake2008294.E2.80.93295.2C_351_36-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[36] <p style="margin-top:0.5em;line-height:inherit;">I think things like "Comfortably Numb" were the last embers of mine and Roger's ability to work collaboratively together.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEBlake2008275_37-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[37]

“”—David Gilmour<p style="margin-top:0.5em;line-height:20.363636016845703px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;">The double album The Wall was written almost entirely by Waters and is largely based on his life story,<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEBlake2008260_38-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[38]  and having sold over 23 million RIAA certified units in the US as of 2013, is one of the top three best-selling albums of all time in America, according to RIAA.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-39" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[39]  Pink Floyd hired Bob Ezrin to co-produce the album, and cartoonist Gerald Scarfe to illustrate the album's sleeve art.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEBlake2008260.E2.80.93261_40-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[40]  The band embarked on The Wall Tour of Los Angeles, New York, London, and Dortmund. The last band performance of The Wall was on 16 June 1981, at Earls Court London, and this was Pink Floyd's last appearance with Waters until the band's brief reunion at 2 July 2005 Live 8 concert in London's Hyde Park, 24 years later.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEPoveyRussell1997185_41-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[41]

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:20.363636016845703px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;">In March 1983, the last Waters–Gilmour–Mason collaboration, The Final Cut, was released. The album was subtitled: "A requiem for the post-war dream by Roger Waters, performed by Pink Floyd".<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEPovey2008230_42-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[42]  Waters wrote all the album's lyrics as well as the music. His lyrics were critical of the Conservative Party government of the day and mention Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher by name.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEBlake2008294.E2.80.93299_43-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[43]  At the time Gilmour did not have any new material, so he asked Waters to delay the recording until he could write some songs, but Waters refused.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEBlake2008295_44-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[44]  According to Mason, after power struggles within the band and creative arguments about the album, Gilmour's name "disappeared" from the production credits, though he retained his pay.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEMason2005264.E2.80.93270_45-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[45]  Rolling Stone magazine gave the album five stars, with Kurt Loder describing it as "a superlative achievement" and "art rock's crowning masterpiece".<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-46" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[46]  Loder viewed the work as "essentially a Roger Waters solo album".<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-47" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[47]

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:20.363636016845703px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;">Amidst 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 name and material.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEPovey2008240.E2.80.93241_48-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[48]  In December 1985, Waters "issued a statement to EMI and CBS invoking the 'Leaving Member' clause" on his contract. In October 1986, he initiated High Court proceedings to formally dissolve the Pink Floyd partnership. In his submission to the High Court he called Pink Floyd a "spent force creatively".<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEPovey2008221.2C_237.2C_240.E2.80.93241.2C_246_49-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[49]  Gilmour and Mason opposed the application and announced their intention to continue as Pink Floyd. Waters claims to have been forced to resign much like Wright some years earlier, and he decided to leave Pink Floyd based on legal considerations, stating " ... because, if I hadn't, the financial repercussions would have wiped me out completely."<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEBlake2008312.E2.80.93313_50-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[50]  In December 1987, an agreement between Waters and Pink Floyd was reached.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEPovey2008240.E2.80.93241_48-1" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[48]  According to Mason: <p style="margin-top:0.5em;line-height:inherit;">We eventually formalised a settlement with Roger. On Christmas Eve, 1987, ... David and Roger convened for a summit meeting on the houseboat [the Astoria] 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.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEMason2005293.E2.80.93294_51-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[51] <p style="margin-top:0.5em;line-height:20.363636016845703px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;">Waters was released from his contractual obligation with O'Rourke, and he retained the copyrights to The Wall concept and his trademarked inflatable pig.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEManning2006139_52-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[52]  The Gilmour-led Pink Floyd released two studio albums: A Momentary Lapse of Reason (1987), and The Division Bell (1994). As of 2013, it is estimated that Pink Floyd have sold over 250 million albums worldwide, including 74.5 million RIAA certified units sold in the US.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-53" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[53]

1984–1996
Waters performing The Wall – Live in Berlin, Germany, on 21 July 1990The Wall – Live in Berlin, 21 July 1990<p style="margin-top:0.5em;line-height:20.363636016845703px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;">Following the release of The Final Cut, Waters embarked on a solo career that produced three concept albums and a movie soundtrack. In 1984, he released his first solo album, The Pros and Cons of Hitch Hiking, a project about a man's dreams across one night that dealt with Waters' feelings about monogamy and family life versus "the call of the wild".<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTESchaffner1991272.E2.80.93273_54-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[54]  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.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTESchaffner1991272.E2.80.93273_54-1" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[54]  Kurt Loder described The Pros And Cons of Hitch Hiking as a "strangely static, faintly hideous record".<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEBlake2008305.E2.80.93306_55-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[55]  Rolling Stone rated the album a "rock bottom" one star."<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTESchaffner1991272.E2.80.93273_54-2" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[54]  Years later, 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.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-56" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[56]  Waters began touring in support of the new album, aided by Clapton, 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.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEBlake2008332.E2.80.93333_57-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[57]  By his own estimate, he lost £400,000 on the tour.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEBlake2008309_58-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[58]  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. The Pros and Cons of Hitch Hiking has been certified Gold by the RIAA.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-RIAAGPC_59-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[59]

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:20.363636016845703px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;">In 1986, Waters contributed songs and a score to the soundtrack of the animated 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.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEFitch200536_60-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[60]  In 1987, Waters released Radio K.A.O.S., a concept album based on a mute man named Billy from an impoverished Welsh mining town 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 nuclear attack. Waters followed the release with a supporting tour also in 1987.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEManning2006131_61-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[61]

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:20.363636016845703px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;">In November 1989, the Berlin Wall fell, and in July 1990 Waters staged one of the largest and most elaborate rock concerts in history,<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEPoveyRussell1997246.E2.80.93247_62-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[62]  The Wall – Live in Berlin, on the vacant terrain between Potsdamer Platz and the Brandenburg Gate. The show reported an official attendance of 200,000, though some estimates are as much as twice that, with approximately one billion television viewers.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEBlake2008346_63-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[63]  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, Scorpions, 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, the Wall was 25 metres tall and 170 metres long and was built across the set. Scarfe's inflatable puppets were recreated on an enlarged scale, and although many rock icons received invitations to the show, Gilmour, Mason, and Wright, did not.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEBlake2008342.E2.80.93347_64-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[64]  Waters released a concert double album of the performance which has been certified platinum by the RIAA.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-RIAAGPC_59-1" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[59]

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:20.363636016845703px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;">In 1990, Waters hired manager Mark Fenwick and left EMI for a worldwide deal with Columbia. He released his third studio album, Amused to Death, in 1992. The record 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. The title was derived from the book Amusing Ourselves to Death by Neil Postman. Patrick Leonard, who worked on A Momentary Lapse of Reason, co-produced the album. Jeff Beck played lead guitar on many of the album's tracks, which were recorded with an impressive cast of musicians at ten different recording studios.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEBlake2008348.E2.80.93349_65-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[65]  It is Waters' most critically acclaimed solo recording, garnering some comparison to his previous work with Pink Floyd.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEBlake2008347.E2.80.93352_66-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[66]  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.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEManning2006141.2C_252_67-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[67]  The album had one hit, the song "What God Wants, Pt. 1", which reached number 35 in the UK in September 1992 and number 5 on Billboard ' s Mainstream Rock Tracks chart in the US.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-RWAM_68-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[68]  Amused to Death was certified Silver by the British Phonographic Industry.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-69" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[69]  Sales of Amused to Death topped out at around one million and there was no tour in support of the album. Waters would first perform material from it seven years later during his In the Flesh tour.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEPovey2008323.E2.80.93324_70-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[70]  In 1996, Waters was inducted into the US and UK Rock and Roll Halls of Fame as a member of Pink Floyd.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-71" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[71]

1999–2004
<p style="margin-top:0.5em;line-height:20.363636016845703px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;">In 1999, after a 12-year hiatus from touring, and a seven-year absence from the music industry, 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 many of the concerts were upgraded to larger ones.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEPovey2008329.E2.80.93334_72-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[72]  The tour eventually stretched across the world and would span three years. A concert film 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 many of the shows. In June 2002, he completed the 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.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEPovey2008329.E2.80.93334_72-1" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[72]

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:20.363636016845703px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;">Miramax announced in mid-2004 that a production of The Wall was to appear on Broadway with Waters playing a prominent role in the creative direction. 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.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-73" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[73]  On the night of 1 May 2004, recorded extracts from the opera, including its overture, were played on the occasion of the Welcome Europe celebrations in the accession country of Malta. Gert Hof mixed recorded excerpts from the opera into a continuous piece of music which was played as an accompaniment to a large light and fireworks display over Grand Harbour in Valletta.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEPovey2008334_74-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[74]  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", an anti-war song "inspired by his travels in the Middle East as a teenager".<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEBlake2008391_75-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[75]

2005–present
Waters (far right) performing with Pink Floyd at Live 8, 2 July 2005Waters playing "In the Flesh" on his Dark Side of the Moon Tour at Viking Stadion, Stavanger, 26 June 2006<p style="margin-top:0.5em;line-height:20.363636016845703px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;">In July 2005, Waters reunited with Mason, Wright, and Gilmour for what would be their final performance together 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.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEPovey2008237.2C_266.E2.80.93267_76-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[76]  They played a 23-minute set consisting of "Speak to Me/Breathe"/"Breathe (Reprise)", "Money", "Wish You Were Here", and "Comfortably Numb". Waters told the Associated Press that while the experience of playing with Pink Floyd again was positive, the chances of a bona fide reunion would be "slight" considering his and Gilmour's continuing musical and ideological differences.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTESchaffner1991308_77-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[77]  Though Waters had differing ideas about which songs they should play, he "agreed to roll over for one night only",<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEBlake2008382.E2.80.93383_78-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[78]  Gilmour told the Associated Press, "The rehearsals convinced me it wasn't something I wanted to be doing a lot of. There have been all sorts of farewell moments in people's lives and careers which they have then rescinded, but I think I can fairly categorically say that there won't be a tour or an album again that I take part in. It isn't to do with animosity or anything like that. It's just that ... I've been there, I've done it."<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-79" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[79]  In November 2005, Pink Floyd were inducted into the UK Music Hall of Fame by Pete Townshend of the Who.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-80" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[80]

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:20.363636016845703px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;">In September 2005, Waters released Ça Ira (pronounced [sa iˈʁa], French for "it will be fine"; Waters added the subtitle, "There is Hope"), an opera in three acts translated from the late Étienne Roda-Gil's French libretto based on the historical subject of the French Revolution.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-81" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[81]  Ça Ira was released as a double CD album, featuring baritone Bryn Terfel, soprano Ying Huang and tenor Paul Groves.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEPovey2008324.E2.80.93325_82-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[82]  Set during the early French Revolution, the original libretto was co-written in French by Roda-Gil and his wife Nadine Delahaye. Waters had begun rewriting the libretto in English in 1989,<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEManning2006256_83-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[83]  and said about the composition: "I've always been a big fan of Beethoven's choral music, Berlioz and Borodin ... This is unashamedly romantic and resides in that early 19th-century tradition, because that's where my tastes lie in classical and choral music."<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEBlake2008392_84-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[84]  Waters appeared on television to discuss the opera, but the interviews often focused instead on his relationship with Pink Floyd, something Waters would "take in stride", a sign Pink Floyd biographer Mark Blake believes to be, "a testament to his mellower old age or twenty years of dedicated psychotherapy".<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEBlake2008392_84-1" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[84]  Ça Ira reached number 5 on the Billboard Classical Music Chart in the United States.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-85" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[85]

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:20.363636016845703px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;">In June 2006, Waters commenced The Dark Side of the Moon Live tour, a two-year, world-spanning effort that began in Europe in June and North America in September. The first half of the show featured both Pink Floyd songs and Waters' solo material, while the second half included a complete live performance of the 1973 Pink Floyd album The Dark Side of the Moon, the first time in over three decades that Waters had performed the album. The shows ended with an encore from the third side of The Wall. He utilised elaborate staging by concert lighting designer Marc Brickman complete with laser lights, fog machines, pyrotechnics, psychedelic projections, and inflatable floating puppets (Spaceman and Pig) controlled by a "handler" dressed as a butcher, and a full 360-degree quadraphonic sound system was used. Nick Mason joined Waters forThe Dark Side of the Moon set and the encores on select 2006 tour dates.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEPovey2008319.2C_334.E2.80.93338_86-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[86]  Waters continued touring in January 2007 in Australia and New Zealand, then Asia, Europe, South America, and back to North America in June.

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:20.363636016845703px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;">In March 2007, the Waters song, "Hello (I Love You)" was featured in the science fiction film The Last Mimzy. The song plays over the film's end credits. He released it as a single, on CD and via download, and described it as, "a song that captures the themes of the movie, the clash between humanity's best and worst instincts, and how a child's innocence can win the day".<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-87" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[87]  He performed at California's Coachella Festival in April 2008 and was to be among the headlining artists performing at Live Earth 2008 in Mumbai, India in December 2008,<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-88" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[88]  but that concert was cancelled in light of the 26 November terrorist attacks in Mumbai.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-89" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[89]

Roger Waters in Barcelona, during The Wall Live in 2011<p style="margin-top:0.5em;line-height:20.363636016845703px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;">Waters confirmed the possibility of an upcoming solo album which "might be called" Heartland, and has said he has numerous songs written (some already recorded) that he intends to release when they are a complete album.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-90" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[90]  In June 2010, Waters released a cover of "We Shall Overcome", a protest song rewritten and arranged by Guy Carawan and Pete Seeger at the Highlander Folk School possibly derived either from the refrain of a gospel hymn published by Charles Albert Tindley in 1901, but more likely from Louise Shropshire's hymn, "If My Jesus Wills." He performed with David Gilmour at the Hoping Foundation Benefit Evening in July 2010.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-91" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[91]  The four-song set included: "To Know Him Is to Love Him", which was played in early Pink Floyd sound checks, followed by "Wish You Were Here", "Comfortably Numb", and "Another Brick in the Wall (Part Two)".<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-92" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[92]

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:20.363636016845703px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;">In September 2010, Waters commenced The Wall Live tour, an updated version of the original Pink Floyd shows, featuring a complete performance of The Wall.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-93" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[93] According to Cole Moreton of the Daily Mail, "The touring version of Pink Floyd's The Wall is one of the most ambitious and complex rock shows ever ...",<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-CMDM_94-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[94]  and it is estimated that the tour cost £37 million to stage.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-CMDM_94-1" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[94]  Waters told the Associated Press that The Wall Tour will likely be his last, stating: "I'm not as young as I used to be. I'm not like B.B. King, or Muddy Waters. I'm not a great vocalist or a great instrumentalist or whatever, but I still have the fire in my belly, and I have something to say. I have a swan song in me and I think this will probably be it."<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-95" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[95]  At The O2 Arena in London on 12 May 2011, Gilmour and Mason once again appeared with Waters and Gilmour performing "Comfortably Numb", and Gilmour and Mason joining Waters for "Outside the Wall".<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-96" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[96]  For the first half of 2012, Waters' tour topped worldwide concert ticket sales having sold more than 1.4 million tickets globally.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-97" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[97]  As of 2013, The Wall Live is the highest-grossing tour of all time by a solo artist.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-98" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[98]  Waters performed at the Concert for Sandy Relief at Madison Square Garden on 12 December 2012.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-99" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[99]

Personal life
<p style="margin-top:0.5em;line-height:20.363636016845703px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;">In 1969, Waters married his childhood sweetheart Judy Trim, a successful potter; she was featured on the gatefold sleeve of the original release of Ummagumma, but excised from subsequent CD reissues.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEMabbett201050_100-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[100]  They had no children together and divorced in 1975.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEFitch2005335_101-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[101]  Trim died in 2001.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEBlake2008376_102-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[102]

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:20.363636016845703px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;">In 1976, Waters married Lady Carolyne Christie, the niece of the 3rd Marquess of Zetland.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEFitch2005335_101-1" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[101]  His marriage to Christie produced a son, Harry Waters, a musician who has played keyboards with his father's touring band since 2006, and a daughter, India Waters, who has worked as a model.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-103" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[103]  Christie and Waters divorced in 1992.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEFitch2005335_101-2" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[101]  In 1993, he married Priscilla Phillips; they had one son together, Jack Fletcher. Their marriage ended in 2001.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-104" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[104]  In 2004, he became engaged to actress and filmmaker Laurie Durning; the two married on 14 January 2012.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-105" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[105]

Activism
<p style="margin-top:0.5em;line-height:20.363636016845703px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;">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.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-106" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[106]  He was outspoken against the Hunting Act of 2004, and performed a concert for, and attended marches supporting, the Countryside Alliance. Waters explained: <p style="margin-top:0.5em;line-height:inherit;">I've become disenchanted with the political and philosophical atmosphere in England. The anti-hunting bill was enough for me to leave England. I did what I could, I did a concert and one or two articles, but it made me feel ashamed to be English. I was in Hyde Park for both the Countryside Alliance marches. There were hundreds of thousands of us there. Good, honest English people. That's one of the most divisive pieces of legislation we've ever had in Great Britain. It's not a case of whether or not I agree with fox hunting, but I will defend to the hilt their right to take part in it.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEBlake2008391_75-1" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[75]

Waters performing "Comfortably Numb" during The Wall Live in Kansas City, 30 October 2010<p style="margin-top:0.5em;line-height:20.363636016845703px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;">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."<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-107" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[107]  After leaving Britain, he moved to Long Island in New York with his fiancé Laurie Durning.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEBlake2008391.E2.80.93392_108-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[108]  In June 2007, Waters became a spokesman for Millennium Promise, a non-profit organisation that helps fight extreme poverty and malaria. He wrote an opinion piece for CNN in support of the topic.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-109" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[109]  In July, he participated in the American leg of the Live Earth concert, an international multi-venue concert aimed at raising awareness about global climate change, featuring the Trenton Youth Choir and his trademarked inflatable pig. Waters told David Fricke why he thinks The Wall is still relevant today: <p style="margin-top:0.5em;line-height:inherit;">The loss of a father is the central prop on which [The Wall] stands. As the years go by, children lose their fathers again and again, for nothing. You see it now with all these fathers, good men and true, who lost their lives and limbs in Iraq for no reason at all. I've done Bring The Boys Back Home in my encore on recent tours. It feels more relevant and poignant to be singing that song now than it did in 1979.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEFricke200974_110-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[110] <p style="margin-top:0.5em;line-height:20.363636016845703px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;">In 2012, Waters led a benefit for United States military veterans called Stand Up for Heroes. He invited a music group of combat wounded veterans calledMusiCorps to perform with him.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-111" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[111]  In June 2013, Waters and numerous other celebrities appeared in a video showing support for Bradley Manning.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-112" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[112]

Political views
<p style="margin-top:0.5em;line-height:20.363636016845703px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;">Waters has been outspoken about Middle Eastern politics, and in June 2009 he openly opposed the Israeli West Bank barrier, calling it an "obscenity [that] should be torn down".<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-113" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[113]  Later that year, he pledged his support to the Gaza Freedom March, and in 2011 he announced that he had joined the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-114" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[114]  Waters spoke about his support for BDS, stating that he has "been very disillusioned with UK foreign policy ... since Wilson. It was such a political turnabout from Keir Hardie and Attlee and the principles of British socialism."<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-115" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[115]

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:20.363636016845703px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;">In October 2010, after an animated B52 bomber had been been shown dropping symbols including the Star of David as part of The Wall Live tour, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) attacked Waters, saying that he had used "imagery long associated with steretotypes about Jews and money" and had "cross[ed] the line into anti-Semitism." In response, he wrote an open letter to The Independent in which he commented: "If I don't respond, people will see the story and will come to believe I'm anti-Semitic, and I'm not. Nothing could be further from the truth."<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-JP2010_116-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[116]  He explained that the artwork used during his shows is "representative of religious and national and commercial interests, all of which have a malign influence on our lives and prevent us from treating each other decently".<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-JP2010_116-1" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[116]  He added: "You can attack Israeli policy without being anti-Jewish ... It's like saying if you criticise the US policy you are being anti-Christian. I'm critical of the Israeli policy of occupying Palestinian land and their policy of building settlements, which is entirely illegal under international law, and also of ghettoising the people whose land they are building on ... It's that foreign policy I'm against. It's nothing to do with the religion."<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-JP2010_116-2" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[116]

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:20.363636016845703px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;">In March 2013, during an interview with Electronic Intifada, Waters stated that the American media "was under instructions from somewhere not to report [criticism of Israel] to the American public, on what grounds I cannot guess."<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-117" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[117]

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:20.363636016845703px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;">On 20 July 2013, during a concert in Belgium, Waters' road crew released a pig-shaped balloon that had been painted with symbols including a Star of David, other political symbols shown including representing fascist, communist and capitalist representations. As the balloon floated over the audience, Waters sang the lyrics to "In the Flesh": "get him up against the wall, that one looks Jewish and that one's a coon, who let all of this riff-raff into the room" while holding "a machine gun replica and wearing a long black leather jacket with a red-and-white arm band reminiscent of a Nazi uniform."<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Haaretz2013_118-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[118] <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-JP2013_119-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[119]  Rabbi Abraham Cooper, associate dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center attacked him: "Waters deployed a classic disgusting medieval anti-Semitic caricature widely used by both Nazi and Soviet propaganda to incite hatred against Jews."<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-120" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[120]  Waters responded to the accusations, characterizing Cooper's statement as "wild and bigoted" with an "entirely predictable resulting rant."<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-RSJ2013_121-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[121]  Waters commented: "I should point out that in the show, I also use the Crucifix, the Crescent and Star, the Hammer and Sickle, the Shell Oil Logo and the McDonald’s Sign, a Dollar Sign and a Mercedes sign."<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-RSJ2013_121-1" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[121]  Waters explained that his father had died fighting Nazis and that he grew up in post-war England, receiving an in-depth education about the war: "I was spared no horrific detail of the heinous crimes committed in the name of that most foul ideology."<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-RSJ2013_121-2" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[121]  Waters stated that the Wall Show: "is many things. It is thoughtful, life affirming, ecumenical, humane, loving, anti-war, anti-colonial, pro-universal access to the law, pro-liberty, pro-collaboration, pro-dialogue, pro-peace, anti-authoritarian, anti-fascist, anti-apartheid, anti-dogma, international in spirit, musical and satirical. It is not anti-Semitic or pro-Nazi."<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-JB2013_122-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[122]  Waters clarified his position regarding the use of religious imagery: "the Star of David represents Israel and its policies and is legitimately subject to any and all forms of non violent protest."<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-RSJ2013_121-3" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[121]  Waters stated that the pig balloon represents "the evil of errant government."<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-RSJ2013_121-4" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[121]  He added: "For the sake of some perspective. The inflatable pig ... has appeared at every Wall Show since September 2010, some 193 shows [and] yours is the first complaint."<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-JB2013_122-1" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[122]

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:20.363636016845703px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;">During a December 2013 interview in CounterPunch magazine, Waters made statements urging musicians to boycott Israel in response to their continued occupation of Palestine. He compared Israeli domestic policies with those of Nazi Germany, stating: "the parallels with what went on in the 30's in Germany are so crushingly obvious".<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-123" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[123]  In response, author Rabbi Shmuley Boteach accused Waters of anti-Semitism.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-124" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[124]  Waters defended himself, pointing out that he was not criticising Jews or Israelis in general, but the actions of the Israeli state against the Palestinians.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-125" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[125]

Equipment and instruments
<p style="margin-top:0.5em;line-height:20.363636016845703px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;">Waters' primary instrument in Pink Floyd was the electric bass guitar. He briefly played a Höfner bass but replaced it with a Rickenbacker RM-1999/4001S, until 1970 when it was stolen along with the rest of the band's equipment in New Orleans.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEPovey200814_20-1" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[20]  He began using Fender Precision Basses in 1968, originally alongside the Rickenbacker, and then exclusively after the Rickenbacker was lost in 1970. First seen at a concert in Hyde Park, London in July 1970, the black P-Bass was rarely used until April 1972 when it became his main stage guitar and as of 2 October 2010, the basis for a Fender Artist Signature model.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-126" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[126]  Waters endorses RotoSound Jazz Bass 77 flat-wound strings.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-127" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[127]  Throughout his career he has used Selmer, WEM, Hiwatt and Ashdown amplifiers but has used Ampeg for the last few tours, also employing delay, tremolo, chorus, stereo panning and phaser effects in his bass playing.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEFitch2005416.E2.80.93430.2C_441.E2.80.93445_128-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[128]

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:20.363636016845703px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;">Waters experimented with the EMS Synthi A and VCS 3 synthesisers on Pink Floyd pieces such as "On the Run",<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEMason2005169_129-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[129]  "Welcome to the Machine",<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEFitch2005324_130-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[130]  and "In the Flesh?"<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEFitchMahon200671_131-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[131]  He played electric and acoustic guitar on Pink Floyd tracks using Fender, Martin, Ovation and Washburn guitars.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEFitch2005416.E2.80.93430.2C_441.E2.80.93445_128-1" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[128]  He played electric guitar on the Pink Floyd song "Sheep", from Animals,<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEFitch2005285_132-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[132]  and acoustic guitar on several Pink Floyd recordings, such as "Pigs on the Wing 1 & 2", also from Animals,<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEFitch2005241.E2.80.93242_133-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[133]  "Southampton Dock" from The Final Cut,<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEFitch2005295_134-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[134]  and on "Mother" from The Wall.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEFitch2005213_135-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[135]  A Binson Echorec 2 echo effect was used on his bass-guitar lead track "One of These Days".<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEMabbett199539_136-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[136]  Waters plays clarinet during concert performances of "Outside the Wall".<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEFitch2005232_137-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[137]

Discography
Main article: Roger Waters discographySee also: Pink Floyd discography*The Pros and Cons of Hitch Hiking (1984)
 * Radio K.A.O.S. (1987)
 * Amused to Death (1992)
 * Ça Ira (2005)