Roger Waters
George Roger Waters (born 6 September 1943) is an English musician, singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and composer. In 1965, he co-founded the progressive rock band Pink 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.
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 and David Gilmourfor 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. |
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Nick Mason
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Nicholas Berkeley "Nick" Mason (born 27 January 1944) is an English musician and composer, best known as the drummer ofPink Floyd. He is the only constant member of the band since its formation in 1965. Despite solely writing only a few Pink Floyd songs, Mason has co-written some of Pink Floyd's most popular compositions such as "Echoes" and "Time".
On 26 November 2012, Mason received an Honorary Doctor of Letters from the University of Westminster at the presentation ceremony of the School of Architecture and Built Environment (he had studied architecture at the University's predecessor, Regent Street Polytechnic, 1962–1967). |
Syd Barrett
Roger Keith "Syd" Barrett (6 January 1946 – 7 July 2006) was an English musician, composer, singer, songwriter and painter. A founder member of the band Pink Floyd, Barrett was the lead vocalist, guitarist and principal songwriter in its early years and is credited with naming the band.
Barrett was musically active for less than ten years. With Pink Floyd, he recorded four singles, their debut album (and contributed to the second one), and several unreleased songs. Barrett began his solo career in 1969 with the single "Octopus" from his first solo album, The Madcap Laughs (1970). The album was recorded over the course of a year with five different producers (Peter Jenner, Malcolm Jones, David Gilmour, Roger Waters and Barrett himself). Nearly two months after Madcap was released, Barrett began working on his second and final album, Barrett (1970), produced by Gilmour and featuring contributions from Richard Wright. He went into self-imposed seclusion until his death in 2006. In 1988, an album of unreleased tracks and outtakes, Opel, was released byEMI with Barrett's approval. |
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Richard Wright
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Richard William "Rick" Wright (28 July 1943 – 15 September 2008) was an English musician, composer, singer and songwriter, best known for his career with Pink Floyd. A multi-instrumentalist, Wright's richly textured keyboard layers were a vital ingredient and a distinctive characteristic of Pink Floyd's sound. Wright frequently sang harmony and occasionally lead vocals on stage and in the studio with Pink Floyd (most notably on the songs "Time", "Echoes", "Us and Them", "Wearing the Inside Out", "Astronomy Domine" and "Matilda Mother").
Though not as prolific in songwriting as his band mates Roger Waters, Syd Barrett and David Gilmour, he wrote significant parts of the music for classic albums such as Pink Floyd's Meddle, The Dark Side of the Moon and Wish You Were Here, as well as for The Division Bell. |
David Gilmour
David Jon Gilmour, CBE (born 6 March 1946), is an English musician, singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. He is best known for his work as the guitarist and co-lead vocalist of the progressive rock band Pink Floyd. It is estimated that by 2012 the group had sold over 250 million records worldwide, including 74.5 million units sold in the United States.
In addition to his work with Pink Floyd, Gilmour has produced a variety of artists, for example The Dream Academy and has had a solo career. In 2005, Gilmour was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) for his services to music. He was awarded with the Outstanding Contribution title at the 2008 Q Awards. In 2011, Rolling Stone magazine ranked him number 14 in their list of the greatest guitarists of all time. |
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