Off Topic Rick Wright dies today

[ProgHead]

A few minutes ago I red the sad news.

Thank you Rick for the music you gave me with Pink Floyd!

 

[TNT]

Some of the most "beautiful" songs came from PF.

Jn.3:16

 

[RitchieDarling]

Very sad! One of my favorite performers!

R

 

[GGK]

Sad it is

Wow, very sad indeed. I held that band in very high esteem. I had the pleasure of seeing them live (in Montreal) on two occasions back in the 70's. R.Waters would be one influence that had me take up bass after starting out on the old 6 string. My sentiments go out to all PF friends, family and fans.

 

[SquidLizard]

I remember when his solo album came out in ~ 1980 -- we played it endlessly at work. I still enjoy it. He was a great artist. RIP.

 

[Jimmyb]

I'm a huge Pink Floyd fan.

I heard this on my way home from work, this is truly sad news.

A great musician and from what I've seen, a true gentleman.

My thoughts and best wishes go to his family and friends at this time. It must be a terrible shock for all of them and for Guy in particular, having to deal with the loss of his Father in law and close friend.

At least we can be thankful that he didn't have a long, painful, drawn out fight.

Thanks for your music Rick.

 

[Spudmurphy]

AW shoot - never realised until I read this thread.

Sad news indeed.

He certainly left his mark in the history of British and indeed world music.
RIP

 

[MingusBASS]

Damn, that sucks. Pink Floyd has always been one of my favorite bands.

 

[Oldtoe]

Arrgh. Bad news.

My thoughts with his loved ones.

 

[Russel]

I just started listening to Floyd heavily, like, I want all their albums now heavily, no more than 3 days ago.

This news is next to heartbreaking.

My sentiments.

 

[DrGonzo5150]

This is just horrible. Cancer claims yet another.
65 is just too young...

There was a period where a bootleg of Pulse would go on every friday night and just play on & on & on... Usually come off lunchish sunday as we began to refocus to tackle work on monday.. Floyd played soundtrack to a big chunk of my adolescence.

My thoughts with his friends and family.

Thanks for the tunes and memorys.

 

[oli@bass]

That's really incredibly sad... I was so looking forward to probably be able to see them at least once in my life.

I grew up with Pink Floyd, and Roger Waters (in fact David Gilmour, who played many of the genious bass tracks in the studio) is probably the reason why I play bass. I always totally loved the keyboard textures supplied by Rick Wright and thought of him as the silent but very influential force behind the band's sound.

His passing away is a huge loss for rock music.

Edit: I'd like to quote the obituary written by David Gilmour (from his website) here:

Richard Wright

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.

David Gilmour
Monday 15th September 2008

 

[brasco68]

Huge loss! We will never see the classic lineup of Pink Floyd ever again....this is a sad reality for me because I am a huge Floyd fan. Pink Floyd to me is one of those bands that you hoped would never break up and eagerly await anything they put out...simply because their music is timeless. Rick Wright was underrated, and any true Floyd fan knows it.

Listening to the Great Gig in the Sky takes on a whole new vibe now.