R.I.P. Richard Wright

Besides all this noise on the business and financial side (emotions are influencing so much Wall Street and the other financial places, just ridiculous, just “too much”), I would like to emphasize the fact that one of the pillar of the Pink Floyd band, Richard Wright (Wikipedia), their keyboardist and pianist, died yesterday. Rick wrote, among others:

  • Us and Them
  • The great gig in the sky
  • Shine on your crazy diamond
  • Wearing the inside out
  • Marooned

Wright sang also occasionally lead vocals, for example on Time and Echoes.

About Richard Wright, from David Gilmour (on his official website):

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.

Rest In Piece and thanks for your big contribution.

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