PINK FLOYD - PINK FLOYD GUITARIST PAYS TRIBUTE TO FOUNDING MEMBER

PINK FLOYD GUITARIST PAYS TRIBUTE TO FOUNDING MEMBER

Pink Floyd guitarist David Gilmour had paid tribute to founding band-mate Richard Wright who recently died of cancer.

Describing the band's keyboard player, Gilmour called him "gentle, unassuming and private but his soulful voice and playing were vital, magical components of our most recognised Pink Floyd sound".

"Like Rick, I don't find it easy to express my feelings in words, but I loved him and will miss him enormously. I have never played with anyone quite like him," he added.

Wright's spokesman confirmed on Monday the 65-year-old had lost his battle with cancer.

Wright met fellow band members Roger Waters and Nick Mason at the Regent Street Polytechnic College of Architecture and was part of the Pink Floyd Sound - as they were originally called - as well as the band's previous incarnations Sigma 6 and the Screaming Abdabs.

He played and wrote music on the classic albums The Dark Side Of The Moon and Wish You Were Here.

"Without Us And Them and The Great Gig In The Sky, what would The Dark Side Of The Moon have been?" Gilmour added.

"Without his quiet touch the album Wish You Were Here would not quite have worked. In my view all the greatest Pink Floyd moments are the ones where he is in full flow."

Wright was forced to resign from the band during the recording sessions for their seminal album The Wall, as his personal relationship with Waters grew untenable, though he appeared as a salaried session musician during the subsequent tour in 1981 and 1982.

Like Nick Mason, he appeared on every Pink Floyd tour and is only absent from one album, 1983's The Final Cut.