Pink Floyd’s Richard Wright dies

Richard Wright, a founding member Pink Floyd, died today. Pink Floyd's spokesman Doug Wright, said Wright died after a battle with a undisclosed form of cancer at his home in Britain. He was 65.

Wright met fellow members Roger Waters and Nick Mason while attending the Regent Street Polytechnic College of Architecture. He was a founding member of The Pink Floyd Sound (as they were then called) in 1965, and also participated in its previous incarnations, Sigma 6 and The (Screaming) Abdabs

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Wright performing in 2006. Photo credit Deep Schism @ Flickr Creative Commons Attribution 2.0



In the early days of Pink Floyd, Wright was seen as a dominant musical force in the group (though not as much of one as Syd Barrett) and he wrote and sang several songs of his own during 1967–1968. As the sound and the goals of the band evolved, Wright became less interested in songwriting and focused primarily on contributing his distinctive style to extended instrumental compositions. His most commercially popular compositions are “The Great Gig in the Sky” and “Us and Them” from 1973's The Dark Side of the Moon. He also contributed significantly to other mid-period Floyd classics like “Breathe” and “Time”.

Battling both personal problems and an increasingly rocky relationship with Roger Waters, he was forced to resign from Pink Floyd during The Wall sessions by Roger Waters, who threatened to pull the plug on the album's tapes if Wright did not leave the band. However, he was retained as a salaried session musician during the subsequent live concerts to promote that album in 1980 and 1981.

Wright rejoined Pink Floyd following Waters' departure. By the time of the Momentary Lapse world tour and the 1988 live album The Delicate Sound of Thunder, Wright was contractually a member of Pink Floyd once again. In 1994, he co-wrote five songs and sang lead vocals on one song (“Wearing the Inside Out”) for the next Pink Floyd album, The Division Bell.

Wright contributed keyboards and background vocals to David Gilmour's most recent solo album, On an Island, and performed with Gilmour's touring band for over two dozen shows in Europe and North America in 2006.

Additional writing: “Richard Wright (musician).” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. 15 Sep 2008, 23:48 UTC. 16 Sep 2008.

What is your favourite Pink Floyd album? Leave a comment below.

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11 thoughts on “Pink Floyd’s Richard Wright dies”

  1. Re: Richard Wright, a founding member Pink Floyd, died today. Pink... Pink Floyd’s Richard Wright dies
    MaxDB

    Pink Floyd spoke of Life and Death in many of their songs with such passion that ,to me, it helps take some of the sting out of his passing…because I know he’s on the other side…where oneday, we’ll all have to go.

    The Great Gig In The Sky

    And I am not frightened of dying, any time will do, I
    don’t mind. Why should I be frightened of dying?
    There’s no reason for it, you’ve gotta go sometime.”
    “I never said I was frightened of dying.

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