Roger Waters's Real Name: George Roger Waters

Quick answer: The musician is known professionally as Roger Waters. Britannica and AllMusic independently give the full name George Roger Waters and date his birth to September 6, 1943, in Great Bookham, Surrey, England.

Real name and early life

Independent publishers support the documented full name George Roger Waters. Britannica gives that name in full, dates the birth to September 6, 1943, in Great Bookham, Surrey, and says his father, a teacher and soldier, died in World War II when Waters was only a few months old, after which his mother moved him and his elder brother to Cambridge. AllMusic independently lists George Roger Waters, the same date, and Great Bookham, Surrey, and says his father, Eric, died in combat when Roger was five months old and that his mother, Mary, moved the family to Cambridge, where Waters later met future bandmates Syd Barrett and David Gilmour. Britannica says he enrolled at Regent Street Polytechnic, where he met the future Pink Floyd drummer Nick Mason, and that, with Richard Wright and later Barrett, the group eventually settled on the name Pink Floyd.

Career highlights

Britannica says Pink Floyd's debut album, The Piper at the Gates of Dawn (1967), became a rock classic, and that after Barrett left the band in 1968, Waters became the principal lyricist on later records, writing all the lyrics for The Dark Side of the Moon (1973) and remaining the primary songwriter on Wish You Were Here (1975), Animals (1977), and The Wall (1979). The same account dates his departure to after The Final Cut (1983), and says a later lawsuit left Gilmour and Mason with the rights to the name Pink Floyd, while Waters retained rights to The Wall and its songs. AllMusic independently describes him as the driving force behind Dark Side of the Moon, Wish You Were Here, and The Wall, and dates his departure to after 1983's The Final Cut. Britannica lists later solo albums including The Pros and Cons of Hitchhiking (1984), Radio K.A.O.S. (1987), and Amused to Death (1992). AllMusic independently names the same three solo albums and later dates Is This the Life We Really Want? to 2017. Britannica also records that in 1990 Waters staged a charity concert in Berlin later issued as the live album The Wall: Live in Berlin.

Name notes for searchers

People looking up Roger Waters or George Roger Waters are looking for the same musician. Britannica and AllMusic support the full name used in the title.