Some sad news to begin the week.
Pink Floyd keyboard wizard Richard Wright passed away on Monday at the age of 65, losing his battle with lung cancer. He was among the founder members of the band along with Syd Barrett, Roger Waters and Nick Mason. David Gilmour later replaced Barrett.
Wright created the chord progression for “The Great Gig in the Sky”, one of the tracks on their legendary album, “The Dark Side of The Moon”. Over the years, his composition and Clare Torry’s vocals have elevated this to cult status. Some critics at the time felt it was too long, or even unnecessary in the album.
Here’s a video of the band’s set at Knebworth 1990, when she performed live with them. Goosebumps!
“Understated” and “underrated” are terms often used regarding his contribution to the band, especially when compared to Waters and Gilmour. His subtle sound textures and harmonies were the musical core of their songs.
Wright fell out with Waters during the making of the ‘The Wall’ and left the band. He did play with them as a salaried session musician though. Finally, once legal issues were resolved, he officially rejoined the band for their 1994 album, “The Division Bell”. He was part of Gilmour’s solo performances and tours in later years.
Another epic collaboration, with Gilmour, is “Echoes”, from their 1971 album “Meddle”. The final live performance of this song was a couple of years ago during the concert at Gda?sk, Poland.
Gilmour has declined to perform this song live since Wright’s passing. He said the vocal and musical connection between his guitar and Wright’s keyboards during the song made it impossible to replicate with anyone else.
R.I.P Richard Wright, and thanks for the music!
* The videos shared initially and even later stopped existing on YouTube after a while, possibly due to infringements or deleted. Finally replaced them with videos from their own channel, so should be fine now.