A very sad day has befallen us all. Fellow band mate and founder of the legendary
"INTERSTELLAR BAND" THE PINK FLOYD has sadly left us today at the mere age of 65.
News came down the wire on 9/15/2008 that Sir Richard William Wright, born July 28, 1943
died after a short struggle with cancer. News of his untimely death has hit us real hard.
Especially here in the good old U.S.A. where MILLIONS of fans anxiously awaited in
great hope and anticipation, of a possible reunion tour between the four members
of what I called THE DIAMOND GROUP! and the band that changed my life forever!
Sir Richard was born in Hatch End, London, the son of a biochemist. He was
educated at the Haberdashers Aske's School and by his teens had learned
trombone, saxophone, guitar and piano. Inspired by the love of jazz, he wanted to
follow in the footsteps of John Coultrane, Miles Davis and Eric Dolphy, but was
persuaded by a careers master to study architecture at Regent Street Polytechnic.
This is where he met his future band members, Sir Roger Waters and Sir Nick
Mason. (Sir David Gilmour was to come later.)
(A GRATEFUL & HEARTFELT THANK YOU GOES OUT TO THAT CAREERS MASTER!)
While attending the Polytechnic for architecture, Sir Richard was taking private
lessons in musical theory and composition at the Eric Gilder School of Music.
After doing some travelling, he enrolled in the Royal College of Music in time to
rejoin Sirs' Nick and Roger, whose band had just added Syd Barrett and Rado 'Bob'
Klose to become a band called "The Tea Set".
The 5-piece played intermittently in early 1965 as both The Tea Set and The Pink
Floyd. (The Floyd name coming from two blues artists, Pinkney "Pink" Anderson &
Floyd 'Dipper Boy' Council.)
I am truly going to miss the melodic and eerie yet beautiful way of his keyboard playing.
Born in the heart of New York I never really got a chance to hear much rock & roll. And
coming to South Florida in the late 70's at the age of nine was no help as all you heard in the
neighborhood was disco and rap ( or shall we say CRAP). It wasn't until one day I was
listening to an A.M. station which is where I heard for the first time, Another Brick In The
Wall and Comfortably Numb. The rest was like an interstellar time warp. I was even
fortunate enough to see them in the Miami Orange Bowl in 1988 then again at Joe Robbie
Stadium in 1994. The Orange bowl concert "Delicate Sounds Of Thunder" was my first
concert ever! (What a way to start the concert scene!) I sure do hope that the remaining
three chaps of this diamond band choose to tour. At least in memory to Sir Richard Wright.
And surely before we loose another one of these legendary icons of Rock music.
REST IN PEACE RICK...
The following are words written by Sir Richards' friend and colleague, and the
reason I bought my first guitar, Sir David Gilmour:
"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.
David Gilmour
Monday 15th September 2008
By the way, did anyone notice how after so many years of great timeless music this gifted
musician and his band mates left us, NOT ONE news station (at least in my area) had any
real coverage of this unfortunate death? Instead they focus on issues of so called
celebrities same sex marriages, which ones are not wearing undergarments so they could
snap photos of them and report it, who's wearing the latest fashions in Hollywood. This is
the news they report to us.
Sad Really!
"INTERSTELLAR BAND" THE PINK FLOYD has sadly left us today at the mere age of 65.
News came down the wire on 9/15/2008 that Sir Richard William Wright, born July 28, 1943
died after a short struggle with cancer. News of his untimely death has hit us real hard.
Especially here in the good old U.S.A. where MILLIONS of fans anxiously awaited in
great hope and anticipation, of a possible reunion tour between the four members
of what I called THE DIAMOND GROUP! and the band that changed my life forever!
Sir Richard was born in Hatch End, London, the son of a biochemist. He was
educated at the Haberdashers Aske's School and by his teens had learned
trombone, saxophone, guitar and piano. Inspired by the love of jazz, he wanted to
follow in the footsteps of John Coultrane, Miles Davis and Eric Dolphy, but was
persuaded by a careers master to study architecture at Regent Street Polytechnic.
This is where he met his future band members, Sir Roger Waters and Sir Nick
Mason. (Sir David Gilmour was to come later.)
(A GRATEFUL & HEARTFELT THANK YOU GOES OUT TO THAT CAREERS MASTER!)
While attending the Polytechnic for architecture, Sir Richard was taking private
lessons in musical theory and composition at the Eric Gilder School of Music.
After doing some travelling, he enrolled in the Royal College of Music in time to
rejoin Sirs' Nick and Roger, whose band had just added Syd Barrett and Rado 'Bob'
Klose to become a band called "The Tea Set".
The 5-piece played intermittently in early 1965 as both The Tea Set and The Pink
Floyd. (The Floyd name coming from two blues artists, Pinkney "Pink" Anderson &
Floyd 'Dipper Boy' Council.)
I am truly going to miss the melodic and eerie yet beautiful way of his keyboard playing.
Born in the heart of New York I never really got a chance to hear much rock & roll. And
coming to South Florida in the late 70's at the age of nine was no help as all you heard in the
neighborhood was disco and rap ( or shall we say CRAP). It wasn't until one day I was
listening to an A.M. station which is where I heard for the first time, Another Brick In The
Wall and Comfortably Numb. The rest was like an interstellar time warp. I was even
fortunate enough to see them in the Miami Orange Bowl in 1988 then again at Joe Robbie
Stadium in 1994. The Orange bowl concert "Delicate Sounds Of Thunder" was my first
concert ever! (What a way to start the concert scene!) I sure do hope that the remaining
three chaps of this diamond band choose to tour. At least in memory to Sir Richard Wright.
And surely before we loose another one of these legendary icons of Rock music.
REST IN PEACE RICK...
The following are words written by Sir Richards' friend and colleague, and the
reason I bought my first guitar, Sir David Gilmour:
"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.
David Gilmour
Monday 15th September 2008
By the way, did anyone notice how after so many years of great timeless music this gifted
musician and his band mates left us, NOT ONE news station (at least in my area) had any
real coverage of this unfortunate death? Instead they focus on issues of so called
celebrities same sex marriages, which ones are not wearing undergarments so they could
snap photos of them and report it, who's wearing the latest fashions in Hollywood. This is
the news they report to us.
Sad Really!
July 28, 1943
September 15, 2008
Rest in Peace ole chap!
