MUSIC NEWS- Sad news from the UK; Pink Floyd keyboardist Richard Wright, 65, whose playing graced some of the most popular songs in rock history, died today, September 15 in Britain after a brief battle with cancer. A spokesman for Wright, who had three children, declined to give further details about his illness. He said: "The family of Richard Wright, founding member of Pink Floyd, announce with great sadness that Richard died today after a short struggle with cancer. The family have asked that their privacy is respected at this difficult time."
UPDATE- 9/24/08- Read about David Gilmour's tribute to his friend on the Jools Holland BBC tv program
Wright was born on July 28, 1943, in Middlesex, England. He met Roger Waters and Nick Mason at the Regent Street Architectural School and formed the band Sigma 6 in 1965. After Syd Barrett joined, they changed the group name to Pink Floyd and a rock legend was born. Wright and Barrett were the driving, creative forces behind the band's early psychedelic rock sound, as heard on their 1967 album "The Piper at the Gates of Dawn" and 1968's "A Saucerful of Secrets." Self taught, Wright continued on as an key part of the songwriting process even after David Gilmour replaced the mentally unstable Barrett in the spring of 1968. It was Wright who wrote "Us and Them" and "The Great Gig in the Sky" (see video clip below) on the 1973's classic "Dark Side of the Moon" album. He also did some occasional lead vocals live on songs such as "Astronomy Domine," "Echoes" and "Time." Unfortunately, as Pink Floyd became one of the biggest groups in the world, tensions between Roger Waters and the other band members reached a breaking point. During sessions for 1979's "The Wall," Waters attepted to fire Wright, who stayed around to play on the WALL tour but did not appear on the next Pink Floyd album, 1983's "The Final Cut." Wright returned to Pink Floyd after Waters left the band, and remained with Mason and Gilmour for the albums "A Momentary Lapse of Reason" and "The Division Bell." And, in recent years, he appeared on Gilmour's solo album, "On An Island," and toured as part of his live band. With Waters, Pink Floyd reunited to play at Live 8 in 2005 in London for the first time in more than 20 years. Without Mr Waters, Wright, Gilmour and Mason have played together on a number of occasions, including a May 2007 set at a memorial service for Barrett. But the group has continued to refuse to reunite, with Gilmour recently telling Billboard, "the thought of going back to Pink Floyd just doesn't interest me." Outside of Pink Floyd, Wright recorded an album in 1984 under the band name Zee and released two solo albums: 1978's "Wet Dream" and 1996's "Broken China." David Gilmour has penned a touching tribute to his friend Richard Wright, stating "No one can replace Richard Wright. He was my musical partner and my friend", read Mr Gilmour's full statement on his site, DavidGilmour.com.
Additional details about Wright's illness or memorial information have not yet been released by his family. Our condolences to his family...
OMG, I was so saddened to hear this. RIP RW. My friend made this playlist in memoriam http://www.redux.com/playlist/pink_floyds_richard_wright_in_memoriam .
Posted by: Brent | Sep 15, 2008 at 09:27 PM