Oct 02 2008
Richard Wright/Pink Floyd/Set the Controls
It happened before I took up the blog habit, but I would just like to take note of the recent death of Richard Wright, keyboardist and occasional song-writer for the British spacerockers Pink Floyd. Wright died of cancer at the age of 65 a few weeks ago. He was not the most influential member of the band, but did contribute his part to their music. And considering there were only five members of Floyd over a twenty year span, that’s a pretty solid contribution. Wright co-wrote some of the songs on Floyd’s best-known album The Dark Side of the Moon, which was the longest-running album on the Billboard 200 Album Chart and one of the best-selling records of all time.
Pink Floyd has not been active for many years as a recording unit, but they have left more than their share of great music for people to enjoy, and Wright was an important part of that.
One more brick from the wall. During the recording of the 1979 album The Wall Wright was fired from the band, but continued recording the album as a session musician. When the band went on tour to support the record, Wright was paid as a regular musician. The tour was so expensive to produce that the three member of the band lost money on the tour. Only Wright made money from the tour. He later rejoined Floyd as a regular member. RIPF Richard Wright.
