décès de Richard Wright, membre fondateur des Pink Floyd

Le claviériste Richard Wright, l'un des membres fondateurs du groupe Pink Floyd, est décédé lundi à l'âge de 65 ans à la suite d'un cancer.

PINK FLOYD's Richard Wright Dies At 65

Richard Wright, a founder member of PINK FLOYD, has died at the age of 65 after battling cancer, his spokesman said.
Wright played the keyboard with the legendary band and wrote music in classic albums such as Dark Side Of The Moon and Wish You Were Here.

His spokesman said: "The family of Richard Wright, founder member of Pink Floyd, announce with great sadness, that Richard died ... after a short struggle with cancer. The family have asked that their privacy is respected at this difficult time."

Wright's spokesman did not say from what form of cancer the star had been suffering.

The self-taught keyboardist and pianist met fellow band members Roger Waters and Nick Mason while at architecture school. He was a founder member of The Pink Floyd Sound in 1965, and the group's previous incarnations, such as SIGMA 6.

In the early days of Pink Floyd, Wright, along with Syd Barrett, was seen as the group's dominant musical force. The London-born musician and son of a biochemist wrote and sang several songs of his own.

'The Great Gig In The Sky', and 'Us And Them', both from 1973's seminal Dark Side Of The Moon album, were his most well-known compositions. He also made essential contributions to Atom Heart Mother, Echoes and Shine On You Crazy Diamond, the tribute to former band member Barrett.

After his relationship with Waters became increasingly difficult, he left Floyd following sessions for the album The Wall. Wright was retained as a salaried session musician during live concerts in 1980 and 1981. In 1983, Pink Floyd released the only album in which Wright does not appear - The Final Cut.

Wright played with the surviving members of Pink Floyd in 2005 at Live 8. He also performed at a tribute concert to Barrett last year, but Waters and Gilmour, who famously fell out more than 25 years ago, appeared separately. Wright had performed on every Pink Floyd tour.

He officially rejoined Pink Floyd following the departure of Waters and contributed vocals and keyboards to the 1987 album A Momentary Lapse of Reason. In 1994, he co-wrote five songs on The Division Bell album, singing lead vocals on the track Wearing The Inside Out.

Pink Floyd's 'Us And Them':

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tZGRtUeYTU8&eurl=http://www.bravewords.com/news/96807

PINK FLOYD's DAVID GILMOUR On Passing Of Richard Wright - "I Loved Him And Will Miss Him Enormously"

Legendary PINK FLOYD guitarist/vocalist DAVID GILMOUR has issued the following statement regarding the passing of his fellow band mate/keyboardist Richard Wright, who has died at the age of 65 after battling cancer

"No one can replace Richard Wright. He was my musical partner and my friend.

In the welter of arguments about who or what was Pink Floyd, Rick's enormous input was frequently forgotten.

He was gentle, unassuming and private but his soulful voice and playing were vital, magical components of our most recognised Pink Floyd sound.

I have never played with anyone quite like him. The blend of his and my voices and our musical telepathy reached their first major flowering in 1971 on 'Echoes'. In my view all the greatest PF moments are the ones where he is in full flow. After all, without 'Us and Them' and 'The Great Gig In The Sky', both of which he wrote, what would 'The Dark Side Of The Moon' have been? Without his quiet touch the album Wish You Were Here would not quite have worked.

In our middle years, for many reasons he lost his way for a while, but in the early nineties, with The Division Bell, his vitality, spark and humour returned to him and then the audience reaction to his appearances on my tour in 2006 was hugely uplifting and it's a mark of his modesty that those standing ovations came as a huge surprise to him, (though not to the rest of us).

Like Rick, I don't find it easy to express my feelings in words, but I loved him and will miss him enormously."

Gilmour with Wright performing 'Wearing The Inside Out':


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5wa1glyZYXs&eurl=http://www.bravewords.com/news/96841

PINK FLOYD Keyboardist Richard Wright - "God, I Don’t Understand The Whole Cult Of Floyd"

The following story is courtesy of Paul Sexton from Timesonline.co.uk:

Which one’s Pink, they used to ask. Sadly, it took the early death of their keyboard player and co-founder to make people ask: which one’s Rick?

Richard Wright, who died on Monday at 65, was the mystery inside the enigma of PINK FLOYD. If his profile had been any lower, he could have been reported missing. He was the unostentatious exception to the rule of rock stardom, rarely recognised beyond the obsessive fan base of a group so huge that they have sold three million albums in the UK this decade, without even making a new album for 14 years. He liked that anonymity just fine.

Like Charlie Watts with THE STONES, Rick Wright just turned up when he was asked to and played brilliantly. To paraphrase Watts, one year’s playing and 39 years’ hanging about. Yet the outpouring of appreciation for him this week has been intense. One message board contributor said: “I’ve never met you, but you’ve been a huge part of my life for 40 years.”

Wright himself was baffled. “God, I don’t understand the whole cult of Floyd,” he told me. “I think all you writers need to talk about that. I know we’ve made some great songs and great music, but I can’t tell you why we’re so popular.”

Guy Pratt, who in 1987 inherited Roger Waters’s bass part on stage after his toxic departure from Floyd, says: “It took a while to get to know him, but he did get very close to people, especially around the band.” Pratt would later marry Gala, Wright’s daughter from the first of three marriages (to Juliette Gale, whom he wed in 1964) before the group was formed.

“He was a very quiet man, he was happiest on his boat. That was the nicest place to see him, because he was in charge there. Some bands spawn real families around them and some don’t, and Floyd did. For me, that turned into something else. It’s strange to think that I knew my father-in-law before I knew my wife.”

Read more here.