Pink Floyd Founder Richard Wright II Dead at 65

Pink Floyd keyboard player and founder member Richard Wright has died aged 65 from cancer.

Wright appeared on the group's first album, The Piper at the Gates of Dawn, in 1967 alongside lead guitarist Syd Barrett, Roger Waters and Nick Mason.

Dave Gilmour joined the band at the start of 1968 while Barrett left the group shortly afterwards.

Gilmour said: "He was such a lovely, gentle, genuine man and will be missed terribly by so many who loved him."

Writing on his website, he added: "And that's a lot of people. Did he not get the loudest, longest round of applause at the end of every show in 2006?"

Wright's spokesman said in a statement: "The family of Richard Wright, founder 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."

He did not say what form of cancer the self-taught keyboard player and pianist had.

Live 8

Wright, a founder member of The Pink Floyd Sound - and other previous incarnations including Sigma 6 - met Waters and Mason at architecture school.

Pink Floyd achieved legendary status with albums including 1973's The Dark Side Of The Moon, which stayed in the US album chart for more than a decade.

Wright, known as Rick earlier in his career, wrote The Great Gig In The Sky and Us And Them from the album.

Waters left the band in 1981, performing his last concert at London's Earls Court.

Wright, together with Gilmour and Mason, continued to record and tour as Pink Floyd during the remainder of the 1980s and into the 1990s, releasing their last studio album - The Division Bell - in 1994.

In 2005, the full band reunited - for the first time in 24 years - for the Live 8 concert in London's Hyde Park.

Richard William Wright was born on 28th July, 1943, in Hatch End, London. His parents, Bridie and Cedric Wright had two other children, Selina and Guinevere. He quickly developed an interest in jazz and classical piano.

Studying architecture at Regent Street Polytechnic in London, he met and formed a band with Roger Waters on bass, Nick Mason on drums, Bob Klose on guitar, Syd Barrett on guitars and vocals and Rick himself on keys. Initially they played R&B, but changed style when Bob Klose left. They became one of the premier art-rock bands in London, becoming synonymous with the underground scene in the city. They took the name Pink Floyd after bluesmen Pink Anderson and Floyd Council. On their debut album, The Piper of The Gates At Dawn, Barrett was the clear leader but Wright managed to sing lead on one song, Matilda Mother and sang harmony on Astronomy Domine.

"The Great Gig in the Sky" - Richard Wright

By 1968 Barrett's mind was an acid casualty, so David Gilmour was brought in to replace him. Initially the group operated democratically, with Wright, Gilmour, and Waters all writing their own compositions and sharing lead vocal duties. Wright's trademark was playing his piano through a Leslie speaker, which, coupled with Gilmour's guitar playing, became the musical foundation for the band. On several occasions, Wright would sing with Gilmour on the same song, providing tonal variety and balance to the vocals.

Unfortunately, by 1977 Waters was starting to get power hungry, and he saw Wright as a rival for creative control of the band. Waters fired Wright in 1978, during sessions for The Wall, and brought in The National Philharmonic Orchestra's Michael Kamen to handle keys for the remainder of the sessions. Wright retreated to southern France and recorded a solo album, Wet Dream. However, he was initially not happy with the end result and did little to promote it. It is currently out of print.

When the ambitious tour for The Wall came underway, Waters temporarily rehired Wright as a sideman. Wright agreed, as he had two children to support, and became the only band member to make money off of the tour: it was such a financial disaster that only salaried personnel managed to profit from it.

While Floyd imploded under the weight of the overindulgent Waters/Kamen collaboration The Final Cut, Wright teamed with Dave Harris from Fashion to form a duo called Zee. Their one album, Identity (1984), was a critical and commercial failure.

In 1986, he rejoined Pink Floyd, now minus Roger Waters towards the end of the recording of the A Momentary Lapse of Reason album. For Pink Floyd's next album, 1994's Division Bell, he co wrote five songs. He also sang lead vocals on a Pink Floyd record for the first time in over 20 years. He followed that with another studio album, the ambient Broken China (1996).

In 2005, he performed alongside Gilmour, Mason and Waters when Pink Floyd reunited for Live 8.

In 2002, he made a cameo at David Gilmour's semi-acoustic shows in London, later going on to perform and sing on Gilmour's solo album "On An Island". When Gilmour toured the album in 2006, he was part of the band, alongside his son-in-law Guy Pratt. Invited by his one-time nemesis Waters to perform at one of his London shows in 2006, he declined, saying he was working on a solo album.

--Wizard's Note: Pink Floyd is my favourite band and Richard Wright was one of my favourite band members - he was rooted in the ground and wrote The Great Gig in the Sky.

Richard, I am saddened with your passing. So long Richard and you have earned that gig.

"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."

--Richard Wright, The Great Gig in the Sky