Pink Floyd keyboardist and songwriter Rick Wright died today at the age of 65, after a short bout with cancer.
Wright kept a surprising low profile, despite being a member of one of the most influential rock bands of all time. While other 70’s keyboard heroes were known for burning up the keyboards, Wright leaned more towards subtle keyboard styles, pioneering a psychedelic space rock style.
“He was such a lovely, gentle, genuine man and will be missed terribly by so many who loved him,” said bandmate David Gilmour.
In a lot of ways, Wright was under appreciated. He contributed some of Pink Floyd’s most important tracks, like The Great Gig In The Sky and Us and Them from Dark Side Of The Moon. His work was also extremely infuential in the world of electronic music, and is cited by Tangerine Dream, Klaus Schulze and many other synth music pioneers.
Here’s Wright, Alan Parsons and others commenting on Great Gig In The Sky.
the reason i began my current path, so long ago
I grew up listening to a lot of German electronic bands, without even realizing how much they were influenced by early Pink Floyd. It wasn’t until later that I made the connections.
To this day, late PInk Floyd does nothing for me, but I think I hear something new everytime I listen to their late 60’s and early 70’s recordings.
My all time fav, so much so I asked my wife to have it played at my funeral, if your gonna go what better way, than a piece of music that lifts the soul and always touches you to the core.