Biography of Syd Barrett

The excess of the success, the talent of a moment

6 January 1946 11 July 2006 Roger Keith Barrett, known as Syd, guitarist and leader of the historical group of Pink Floyd from 1965 to 1968, was born in Cambridge, England on January 6, 1946. The first approach to the music arrives at the age of 14 years when he manages to persuade his mother to buy him a guitar. The nickname ' Syd ' comes from an old jazz musician named Sid Barrett that he often went to hear in a club in his area. SYD will always be associated with jazz and blues: at the beginning of Pink Floyd's career in the band's repertoire include his pieces rendered unrecognisable by long improvised blues rearranged and virtuosity of which Barrett specializes. He is also to choose the band name inspired by his two favourite bluesman Pink Anderson and Floyd Council. The local leading the band to success is the UFO: here are beginning to experience the "Light Show" that will become a key part of their performances, acting as a perfect backdrop to their music. The "light show" is a way of moving on music, in harmony with the lights. These are the years of the Beatles, and the revolution of ' 68 is upon us: in 1967 he released the album "The Pipes at the gates of down", composed almost entirely of Syd Barrett, it is a cornerstone of psychedelic music ever. The resulting success for Syd means stress, panic, neurosis. To help his creations there is definitely a massive intake of LSD, which under stress so strong come to threaten a psyche already tottering. Syd Barrett it's getting hard to play in public, writes lyrics, his sentences are often increasingly bumpy hallucinated. It seems you get one step away from madness. The band members are worried, so for the concerts replace him with a young guitarist named David Gilmour. In subsequent work "A Saucerful Of Secrets" (1968) Barrett is now a shadow of what it was. Soon after leaving the group. Pink Floyd after a period of loss in which they thought their breakup, they decide to go ahead with Gilmour. Without Syd Barrett album after album musical style change: there is more attention to melody and orientation tends more towards progressive rock. With the support and help of some of his old band come out two solo works of Syd Barrett, "The Madcap Laughs" and "Barrett", both from 1970. Syd Barrett's farewell to the public goes back to a 1970 concert at the Olympia Theatre in London. In 1975 for Pink Floyd's "Wish You Were Here"; the band dedicates the album to Barrett. At the end of the production period of this work, a seemingly strange character studies, completely bald, fat and with shaved eyebrows; He is holding a shopping bag. The guy is between those present who are completely appalled. The first to recognize Syd Barrett in that figure now disfigured from abuse started in youth is its closest friend among the band members, as well as the element that took the place of Barrett, David Gilmour, who invites him in directing to hear the product. After listening to the songs, Barrett smiling: "it seems a little dated, shall we?", then quit, leaving Gilmour and his teammates stunned and with tears in his eyes. Barrett disappears and Pink Floyd are led by the hand by David Gilmour and Roger Waters, becoming a band millionaire. We lose track of Syd Barrett. Back to live with his mother in the birthplace of Cambridge. Working to dump his third work, but that will never go out if not together with other material discarded and some bootleg, in 1988, under the title of "Opel". Following the death of his mother, isolated from everything that could remind him of the past, Barrett cultivates a passion for painting, painting abstract style mostly. In 2005 Pink Floyd reunite for concert-charity event of "Live8": playing "Wish you were here" and devote themselves once again to the former leader. Syd Barrett dies at 60 years, Cambridge, around the July 11, 2006 (news about the exact death date is uncertain).
Article contributed by the team of collaborators.