Richard Wright, 1943-2008
Pink Floyd keyboard player and founding member Richard William “Rick” Wright died on Monday (9/15) after a short battle with cancer at his home in Britain, his spokesman, Doug Wright (who is not related to the artist), said. He was 65.
Wright met fellow Regent Street Polytechnic architecture students Roger Waters, Nick Mason, Clive Metcalfe, Keith Noble, and Juliette Gale in 1964 and formed the rhythm & blues band Sigma 6. The many went through many name changes and band lineups, but they eventually formed The Tea Set, which then changed to The Pink Floyd Sound (and later changed to “Pink Floyd” in 1965.) By the time that they released their debut album, 1967’s The Piper at the Gates of Dawn, the lineup consisted of Wright on keyboards, Waters on bass, Mason on drums, and Syd Barrett on lead guitar and lead vocals.
Wright played with the band until 1981, when tensions with the rest of the band prompted Waters to insist that he be fired (he was retained as a salaried session musician during the subsequent live concerts to promote their 1979 album The Wall in 1980 and 1981.) In 1984, Wright formed a new musical duo with Dave Harris (from the band Fashion) called Zee. They signed a record deal with Atlantic Records and released only one album, Identity, which was a commercial and critical flop.
After Waters left the band in 1985 to pursue a solo career, Wright rejoined (but only as a recording session musician because of legal and contractual issues) on their 1987 album A Momentary Lapse of Reason. 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 (and so far last) Pink Floyd studio album, The Division Bell. This recording provided material for the double live album and video release of P*U*L*S*E in 1995. Wright, like Mason, has performed on every Pink Floyd tour, and his keyboards appear on every Pink Floyd studio album (except for 1983’s The Final Cut.)
Wright attended the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony for the band in 1996, and on July 2, 2005, Wright, David Gilmour, and Mason were joined by Waters on stage for the first time since the Wall concerts for a short set at the Live 8 charity concert in London. His last project was playing keyboards for Gilmour’s third solo album, 2006’s On an Island and the accompanying world tour.
We wish you were here, you crazy diamond! You’ll be joining Barrett (who died in 2006 of pancreatic cancer) in the “Great Gig in the Sky.” Be sure to listen for those spacy keyboards here on I Hear Dead People.com! Here is Wright performing “Breathe” and “Time” on Gilmour’s live tour at The Royal Albert Hall in 2006: