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Born Roger Keith Barrett on January 6th 1946, Cambridge, England, Barrett was an early member of the Psychedelic/Space-Rock
Progressive group Pink Floyd, and wrote most of the band's early material. He was an innovative guitarist who explored the sonic possibilities
of dissonance, distortion, feedback, and the echo machine. Most notably, he is remembered for playing his Fender Esquire by sliding a zippo
lighter along the fretboard in the band's top 10 hit "See Emily Play". These experimentally playful techniques produced mysterious,
otherworldly sounds that became associated with the g ...read more
Born Roger Keith Barrett on January 6th 1946, Cambridge, England, Barrett was an early member of the Psychedelic/Space-Rock
Progressive group Pink Floyd, and wrote most of the band's early material. He was an innovative guitarist who explored the sonic possibilities
of dissonance, distortion, feedback, and the echo machine. Most notably, he is remembered for playing his Fender Esquire by sliding a zippo
lighter along the fretboard in the band's top 10 hit "See Emily Play". These experimentally playful techniques produced mysterious,
otherworldly sounds that became associated with the group. He released one album with them (1967's ground breaking The Piper at the
Gates of Dawn), along with a few singles.
After suffering a mental breakdown brought on by excessive use of LSD that was already causing Barrett to exhibit erratic behavior (such as
bouts of violence and not playing at concerts), Barrett was admitted into a Cambridge psychiatric hospital for a short time. It was then
announced that he was no longer a member of Pink Floyd in 1968. He was replaced by David Gilmour, his childhood friend, who had already
been tagging along for Floyd's live performances because of Syd's strange behavior. Barrett released two solo albums after this, The
Madcap Laughs and Barrett, which were made with help from Pink Floyd members David Gilmour, and Roger Waters (along with
members of the group Soft Machine). Although attempts were made to make another album in 1974, the sessions did not yield any real
results, and further attempts to get him back into the studio (including a quest by the Sex Pistols to get him to produce their debut album)
proved fruitless.
After visiting his former Pink Floyd bandmates during the recording of Wish You Were Here, Barrett retired from the music business in
1975, and spent much of his time thereafter in his home in Cambridge. Since then, EMI has released (on his behalf) Opel, a series of
outtakes and unheard footage, along with boxed set Crazy Diamond in 1993. The Best of Syd Barrett: Wouldn't You Miss Me? was
released in 2001. Another notable release is the bootleg recording Have You Got It Yet?, a 19-disc audio/visual compilation composed of
several live performances of Barrett both solo and with Pink Floyd.
Barrett died in his home in Cambridge, England on July 7, 2006 of pancreatic cancer. He was 60 years old at the time. « hide |
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