Zak Waters (born January 22) is an American musician, singer-songwriter and record producer. Born in Los Angeles, California, he is also prominently known by the stage name Pretty Sister. Waters began his music career forming the band Blueskyreality. After the group disbanded, Waters started his solo music career, releasing his debut extended play (EP), New Normal (2011).
He featured on Madeon's 2012 multi-platinum single "The City", to positive acclaim, charting at number 20 on the US Hot Dance Club Songs chart and number 16 on the UK Dance Chart. He released his debut studio album, Lip Service, on September 9, 2013. The following year, he released his second EP, Now // Later on Rostrum Records. He collaborated on Adventure Club's single "Fade", which became certified gold by the RIAA. He also collaborated on other popular singles including Adventure Club and David Solano's "Unleash (Life In Color 2014)" and Alex Gaudino and Manufactured Superstars's 2015 single "Lights Go Out". He appeared on the American songwriting competition series Songland in 2020.
As Pretty Sister, he has released one studio album, Catalina (2021), and three extended plays, Z Funk Era, Vol. 1 (2018), Poolside Vibe (2019), and 20 (2020). He has featured on other artists' singles including Nause's platinum-selling 2015 single "Dynamite" and Keljet's "Love At First Site" and LDN Noise's "Tears", which was released in August 2016. He has collaborated and produced for numerous other music artists such as Betty Who, Breathe Carolina, Nathan Sykes, Superfruit and JoJo, among others.
Music career
2007–12: Beginnings and New Normal
Zak Waters was born and raised in Los Angeles, California. He first started writing and recording music with the pop rock group Blueskyreality, who signed to Universal Republic Records in 2008. After the group's departure, Waters began writing music as a solo artist. He released his debut single "Unstoppable" on June 21, 2011. He wrote, recorded, and mixed his debut EP album, New Normal, with friend and record producer Jarrad Kritzstein. The album was released on August 2, 2011, and was recorded at The Room Of Requirement and The Woods Studios in Los Angeles.
Waters released the single "Skinny Dippin' in the Deep End" on June 18, 2012. The music video for the single was released the following day. On August 24, 2012, French electronic music producer Madeon released his collaborative single "The City", featuring Zak Waters. To date, "The City" has been Waters' most popular single achieving chart success worldwide, charting at No. 74 on the U.K. Singles chart, No. 20 on the U.S. Billboard Hot Dance Club Songs chart, No. 16 on the U.K. Dance Singles chart, and No. 13 in Hungary.
In October 2012, Waters released a remix of Adam Lambert's single "Trespassing".
2013–14: Lip Service and Now // Later EP
He released another solo single, "Runnin' Around", accompanied with its music video, on January 22, 2013. Waters collaborated with the electronic music duo Candyland and released the single "Not Coming Down" on July 8, 2013, through Beatport. A remix EP, Not Coming Down (The Remixes), was later released in April 2014.
On August 27, 2013, Waters released the single "Penelope" and revealed that he would release his debut full-length studio album, Lip Service, on September 9 exclusively on Spotify. In support of the album, he performed with his full live band at The Satellite in Los Angeles for a month-long free residency every Monday night beginning September 2.
On January 28, 2014, Waters released the single "Over You". Canadian electro house music duo Adventure Club released the collaborative single, "Unleash", featuring Zak Waters and David Solano, as part of the Life In Color 2014 celebration on April 2, 2014. Waters released his first EDM-produced single "Out Of My Head", featuring Codi Caraco, on April 17, 2014.
Waters released his cover of R&B singer Ginuwine's 1996 single "Pony", on June 3, 2014, to criticism. He released his second EP, Now // Later, on June 17, 2014, through FAUX and Rostrum Records. The EP features five tracks, two of which are covers and three being previously released singles; "Sleeping in My T-Shirt", "Over You", and "Said and Gone", featuring Audra Mae (previously titled Dear John"), all of which were featured on Waters' studio album Lip Service.
On December 31, 2014, Waters released the single "By the End Of the Night".
2015–18: Z Funk Era
Alex Gaudino released the collaborative single, "Lights Go Out", featuring Zak Waters and Manufactured Superstars on April 18, 2015.