Roger Keith Barrett
January 6, 1946 – July 7, 2006

Sad news in the music world today as we learned that Syd Barrett, co-founder of Pink Floyd has died at the age of 60. He passed on Friday July 7th of complications related to diabetes.

Barrett was the co-founder of Pink Floyd in 1965 and he wrote most of the bands early material including 2 of my personal favorites, Arnold Layne and See Emily Play. But as Pink Floyd grew in popularity and attracted a larger audience, the pressures of fame contributed to Barrett's increasing psychiatric illness which was exacerbated by continued experimenting with the psychedelic drug LSD. It was during a US tour in 1968 that he started to show signs of instability and erratic behavior oftentimes standing motionless onstage. The band had to cut the tour short hoping Syd would recover. They went back out on the road enlisting a friend of Barrett’s, guitarist David Gilmour. But over the next few months, Barrett suffered a breakdown and left the band, retreating to seclusion and losing touch with his band mates.

So the legend goes, it was during a recording session for Wish You Were Here in 1975 that an unannounced and unrecognizable Syd Barrett showed up to watch the band record Shine on you Crazy Diamond , which was coincidentally a song they had written about him. Syd was overweight and had shaved off all of his hair off, including his eyebrows. He had a tooth brush and was jumping up and down trying to brush his teeth. It has been reported that when they finally realized who he was, Roger Waters was so distressed that he was reduced to tears.

Syd Barrett lived out his remaining years in Cambridgeshire as something of a recluse, gardening, painting and refusing visitors. His creative genius though has lived on to inspire many including his former band mates who never forgot him or his legacy. They made sure that Barrett received all royalties from his work with Pink Floyd. Roger Waters song-writing and ongoing theme of mental illness would carry on through many of Pink Floyds later albums especially Dark Side of the Moon and the Wall. On the Brain Damage track, Waters made a specific reference to Barrett’s condition in the line, "the band you're in starts playing different tunes." Wish You Were Here was also a powerful tribute to Syd Barrett. In the 1981 film version of the Wall, Bob Geldof’s character “Pink” was based on Barrett. The tragic reluctant rock star succumbing to the pressures of life and fame, in one scene shaving off his eyebrows. In July 2005, Pink Floyd reunited to perform at the Live 8 concert and sang a heart warming rendition of Wish You Were Here. As the band launched into the song Roger Waters said, "This is for the people who can't be here - especially Syd”

The surviving members of Pink Floyd — David Gilmour, Nick Mason, Roger Waters and Richard Wright issued the following statement, “We are very upset and sad to learn of Syd Barrett’s death. Syd was the guiding light of the early band lineup and leaves a legacy which continues to inspire.”

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Remember when you were young, You shone like the sun. Shine on you crazy diamond. Now there's a look in your eyes, Like black holes in the sky. Shine on you crazy diamond.
~Pink Floyd's tribute to Syd Barrett on Wish You Were Here, 1975

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