Richard William Wright 1943 - 2008

ריצ'ארד וויליאם רייט, קלידן להקת פינק פלויד ואחד ממייסדי הלהקה, נפטר אתמול ממחלת הסרטן בגיל 65. ריק לא היה במיטבו בשנים האחרונות אך את המחלה הסתיר מהציבור. הוא נפטר לאחר מאבק קצר מאוד עם המחלה. ריק לא בלט במשך השנים בלהקה ולרוב לא קיבל את הקרדיט שבאמת מגיע לו, למרות שהיה כשרון ענק, יוצר ענק ותרומתו תיזכר לעד, אובדן גדול לעולם.

נוח על משכבך בשלום ריצ'ארד.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Rnn2cV9NHA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZflRAcPOSbk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5wa1glyZYXs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q3fghltH8oM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xxC6kfrwBLs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VfUalvKe-vo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B9TBDVOE0eE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xj5UjNpwtbc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=icPk3lmeVhQ

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