Pink Floyd founder Syd Barrett has died, it was announced today.Barrett left the band in 1968 and had lived as a virtual recluse in his home city of Cambridge ever since - although he retained sporadic contact with his former colleagues.
Pink Floyd founder Syd Barrett has died, it was announced today.
Barrett left the band in 1968 and had lived as a virtual recluse in his home city of Cambridge ever since - although he retained sporadic contact with his former colleagues.
He was the main force behind the band's first album Piper at the Gates of Dawn and of its early success in the psycedelic era of the 1960s. He wrote Arnold Layne and See Emily Play, the band's first hit singles.
He left the band soon after Dave Gilmour was recruited as an extra guitarist - and had disappeared from the music scene by the time the band achieved its greatest success from the album Dark Side of the Moon onwards.
However the track “Shine on You Crazy Diamond” on the album Wish You Were Here was dedicated to Barrett.
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