Pink Floyds Syd Barrett is Dead

The "band of the week" on this site last week has lost one of its founders Syd Barrett.
Syd Barrett, Founder of Pink Floyd, Dies at 60
Troubled Genius Composed Many of the Band's Early Songs
By JILL LAWLESS
AP
LONDON (July 11) - Syd Barrett, the troubled genius who co-founded Pink Floyd but spent his last years in reclusive anonymity, has died, the band said Tuesday. He was 60.
A spokeswoman for the band said Barrett died several days ago. She did not disclose the cause of death. Barrett had suffered from diabetes for many years.
The surviving members of the band - David Gilmour, Nick Mason, Roger Waters and Richard Wright - said they were "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,'' they said in a statement.
Barrett co-founded Floyd in 1965 with Waters, Mason and Wright, and wrote many of the band's early songs. The group's jazz-infused rock and drug-laced, multimedia "happenings'' made them darlings of the London psychedelic scene. The 1967 album "The Piper at the Gates of Dawn'' - largely written by Barrett, who also played guitar - was a commercial and critical hit.
However, Barrett suffered from mental instability, exacerbated by his use of LSD. His behavior grew increasingly erratic, and he left the group in 1968 - five years before the release of the group's most popular album, "Dark Side of the Moon'' - to be replaced by Gilmour.Read more.
The original Pink Floyd -- Nick Mason, Richard Wright, Syd Barrett and Roger Waters -- at BBC Studios in 1967. David Gilmour would replace Barrett in the Floyd lineup.
In tribute here is another Floyd video- Flaming from 1968.

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