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Richard
Wright - Keyboards,
Organ, Piano, |
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Synth,
Acoustic Guitar,
Trombone, Vocals, |
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Guitar,
Fiddle, Harpsicord,
Saxophone, Cello |
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Syd
Barrett - Guitar,
Vocals, Bass, Slide |
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guitar, Ukelele,
Mandolin, Banjo |
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Album Art |
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Richard William "Rick"
Wright (born July 28, 1943 in Hatch End, London)
is a self-taught pianist and keyboardist best
known for his long career with Pink Floyd. Though
not as prolific a songwriter as his bandmates
Roger Waters and David Gilmour, Wright’s
richly textured keyboard layers have been a vital
ingredient and a distinctive characteristic of
Pink Floyd’s sound. In addition, Wright frequently
sang background and occasionally lead vocals onstage
and in the studio with Pink Floyd (most notably
on the songs "Time" and "Echoes").
Wright was educated at the Haberdashers' Aske's
School and the Regent Street Polytechnic College
of Architecture, where he met fellow band members
Roger Waters and Nick Mason. He was a founding
member of The Pink Floyd (as they were then called)
in 1965, and also participated in its previous
incarnations, Sigma 6 and The (Screaming) Abdabs.
In the early days of Pink Floyd, Wright (along
with Syd Barrett, the band’s chief songwriter
at the time) was seen as the group’s dominant
musical force and he wrote and sang several songs
of his own during 1967–68. As the sound and
the goals of the band evolved Wright became less
interested in songwriting and focused primarily
on contributing his distinctive style to extended
instrumental compositions such as "Interstellar
Overdrive", "A Saucerful of Secrets",
"Careful with That Axe, Eugene", "One
Of These Days" and to musical themes for
film scores ("More", "Zabriskie
Point" and "Obscured by Clouds").
He also made essential contributions to Pink Floyd's
long, epic compositions such as "Atom Heart
Mother", "Echoes" and "Shine
On You Crazy Diamond". His most commercially
popular compositions are "The Great Gig in
the Sky" and "Us and Them" from
1973's The Dark Side of the Moon.
Using songs which included material that was considered
unsuitable for Pink Floyd's Animals album by Roger
Waters, Wright recorded his first solo project,
Wet Dream, and released it in September 1978 with
little fanfare. However, the album is regarded
with some aclaim amongst Pink Floyd fans. Battling
both personal problems and an increasingly rocky
relationship with Roger Waters, he was forced
to resign from Pink Floyd during The Wall sessions
by Roger Waters who threatened to pull the plug
on the album's tapes. However, he was retained
as a salaried session musician during the subsequent
live concerts to promote that album in 1980 and
1981. Ironically, Wright became the only member
of Pink Floyd to profit from those hugely spectacular
shows, since the net financial loss had to be
borne by the three remaining "full-time"
members. He was the only member of the band not
to attend the 1982 première of the film
of The Wall. In 1983, Pink Floyd released the
only album on which Wright does not appear: Waters'
swan song The Final Cut.
During 1984, Wright formed a new musical duo with
Dave Harris (from the band Fashion) called Zee.
They signed a record deal with Atlantic Records
and released only one album, Identity, which was
a commercial and critical flop. Wright rejoined
Pink Floyd following Waters' departure. Because
of legal and contractual issues from his "hired
gun" status during The Wall world tour, Wright's
photo was not included in the 1987 album A Momentary
Lapse of Reason and his name was listed in smaller
letters than Mason and Gilmour. By the time of
the Momentary Lapse world tour and the 1988 live
album The Delicate Sound of Thunder, Wright was
contractually a member of Pink Floyd once again.
In 1994, he co-wrote five songs and sang lead
vocals (on "Wearing the Inside Out")
for the next Pink Floyd album, The Division Bell.
This recording provided material for the double
live album and video release P*U*L*S*E in 1995.
Wright, like Nick Mason, has performed on every
Pink Floyd tour.
Modern Days
In 1996, inspired by his successful input into
The Division Bell, Wright released his second
solo album, Broken China, including contributions
from Sinéad O'Connor on vocals, Pino Palladino
on bass, Manu Katché on drums, Dominic
Miller (known from his guitar work with Sting)
and Tim Renwick, another Pink Floyd associate,
on electric guitar. Broken China was considered
as a more focused and artistically successful
work than Wet Dream and marked a new phase in
Rick Wright's modus operandi, with extensive use
of computer-based recording and production techniques,
assisted by Anthony Moore with whom he co-wrote
the album's lyrics.
On July 2, 2005, Wright, Gilmour, Mason were joined
by Waters on stage for the first time since the
Wall concerts for a short set at the Live 8 concert
in London. Wright underwent eye surgery for cataracts
in November 2005, preventing him from attending
Pink Floyd's induction into the UK Music Hall
of Fame. Roger Waters, who was also unable to
attend the band's induction due to rehearsals
for the opening of his opera Ça Ira in
Rome, appeared in video link and stated, tongue-in-cheek:
“ Rick actually hasn't had an eye operation,
he and I have eloped to Rome and we're living
happily in a small apartment off the Via Venuti!
”
Wright contributed keyboards and background vocals
to David Gilmour's most recent solo album, On
An Island, and performed with Gilmour's touring
band for over two dozen shows in Europe and North
America in 2006 . On stage with Gilmour he performed
piano, electric piano and synth leads with his
Kurzweil K2600 workstation, Hammond organ and
even his long-inactive Farfisa organ, which was
resurrected especially for performing "Echoes"
and a couple of Pink Floyd's and Syd Barrett's
older numbers that Gilmour chose to revisit in
his recent concerts. He also provided backing
vocals and lead vocals (notably on "Echoes",
"Time", "Comfortably Numb",
"Wearing the Inside Out" and "Arnold
Layne" - the latter released as a live single).
He declined an offer to join Roger Waters and
Nick Mason on Waters' The Dark Side of the Moon
Live tour in order to spend more time working
on an upcoming solo project (which may be an instrumental
album released in 2007).
On July 4, 2006, Wright joined Gilmour and Mason
for the official screening of the P*U*L*S*E DVD.
Inevitably, Live 8 surfaced as a subject in an
interview. When asked about performing again,
Wright replied he would be happy on stage anywhere.
He explained that his plan is to "meander"
along and said about playing live:
“ ...and whenever Dave wants me to play with
him, I’m really happy to play with him. And
[to Gilmour] you’ll play with me, right?
”
However, Rick has stated that he has no desire
to perform with Roger Waters as Pink Floyd again,
stating that the Live 8 concert was nice as a
"one off."
Wright has the lowest profile of any member of
a band known for their lack of individual attention
seeking. Unlike the three other surviving band
members who have emerged as public figures, Wright
rarely speaks in public. Oddly enough, Wright
was very rarely seen in the live footage from
the Live 8 reunion performance, with a few exceptions
he was only shown in wide shots. Some have suggested
that the director of the broadcast did not know
which musician was the fourth member of Pink Floyd
until the very end when they got together for
a group shot.
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Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia |
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