If you haven’t yet heard Richard Wright, keyboardist and founder of Pink Floyd, died yesterday of cancer at the age of 65. Pink Floyd is arguably one of the ten most important bands in rock history and, though Wright’s keyboard work was amazing, he, like Ray Manzarek and John Entwistle, is sometimes forgotten because other band mates have garnered more attention.
To be sure, Waters, Gilmour, and Barrett were bound to get their fair share of attention—Barrett because he was the face of The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn and later had a cult following with his solo albums, Waters because he would ultimately become the band’s unquestioned leader, and Gilmour because he was the lead guitarist—but listen to “Us And Them” again and you realize how powerful Wright’s presence was. Though he may not be as well known as Waters or Gilmour (or even Billy Preston, for that matter), Richard Wright was a phenomenal keyboardist and was responsible for starting one of the greatest and most versatile bands in rock history.
The short of it is that anyone who was prominently involved with making Dark Side Of The Moon deserves every bit of praise that came their way and Wright was certainly worthy of the equal praise that was directed at Waters and Gilmour. Sad day for anyone who loves ’60′s- and ’70′s-era rock but also a reminder that the truly great bands were comprised of great artists at every instrument, and not some simplistic formula that dictated that only the lead singer and lead guitarist were worthy of prestige and notoriety.