Behind the 2006 Death of Pink Floyd Founder Syd Barrett

In 1965, Syd Barrett, born Jan. 6, 1946, co-founded Pink Floyd with bassist Roger Waters, drummer Nick Mason, and keyboardist Richard Wright (1943-2008).

Barrett, who sang, played guitar, and was the chief songwriter of the band, would appear on two albums with Pink Floyd, including their 1967 The Piper at the Gates of Dawn and follow-up, A Saucerful of Secrets. The latter album Barrett couldn’t finish recording due to his increasingly erratic and unpredictable behavior, a sign of his deteriorating mental health, which was presumably brought on by extensive drug use.

In 1968, Barrett was dismissed from the band and led a mostly reclusive life until his death from pancreatic cancer on July 6, 2006, at the age of 60.

‘The Madcap Laughs’

Following his departure from Pink Floyd, David Gilmour and Roger Waters went on to co-produce, Barrett’s 1970 solo debut, The Madcap Laughs. Wright and Gilmour also co-produced Barrett’s follow-up, and final album, Barrett.

“Doing Syd’s record was interesting, but extremely difficult,” revealed Wright in 1996. “Dave [Gilmour] and Roger [Waters] did the first one [‘The Madcap Laugh’] and Dave and myself did the second one, but by then it was just trying to help Syd any way we could, rather than worrying about getting the best guitar sound. You could forget about that. It was just going into the studio and trying to get him to sing.”

“Shine On You Crazy Diamond”

As Pink Floyd was nearing the end of recording their 1975 album, Wish You Were Here, at Abbey Road Studios in London, Barrett gave a surprise visit to his former bandmates. Barrett, who had been fairly reclusive for several years after his dismissal from the band, walked in unannounced while they were mixing “Shine on You Crazy Diamond.”

Bookending Wish You Were Here, which was dedicated to Barrett, “Shine On You Crazy Diamond,” written by Gilmour, Waters, and Wright, is also the band’s nine-part tribute to Barrett.

“‘Shine on You Crazy Diamond’ is just completely about Syd,” said Waters in 2022.

Up until his Abbey Road visit, Barrett had cut off contact with the band and was removed from the music industry completely. His head shaven and slightly overweight, Barrett was nearly unrecognizable to his former bandmates, including his childhood friend Waters, who was moved to tears upon realizing it was him.

The Last Time Waters Saw Barrett

Despite the band’s and Waters’ numerous attempts to connect with their old bandmate over the years, Barrett’s family told them that it wasn’t a good idea to visit or reach out to him since he would get depressed every time he saw them.

“I read in a magazine, that he’s now going blind because of diabetes,” revealed Wright. “It’s terribly sad. We don’t see him, because apparently if he’s ever reminded of Pink Floyd and when he was in it, he goes into a depression for weeks on end. His mother asked us to stay away a few years ago. Apparently, most of the time he’s quite happy, or was, but our faces can trigger off a lapse.”

LSD

Wright also speculated that the deterioration of Barrett’s mental health may have partially been the result of taking too much acid, or LSD.

“Would it have always happened or was it because of a huge overdose of acid?” said Wright. “Who knows? I suspect it was a bit of both. All I know is one week he was fine and a week later he turned up again and was completely different. It’s just a terrible tragedy.”

Wright added that Barrett was “very influenced by a lot of people around him, who encouraged him to take trips” and that there were many casualties of the drug during this time. “It was wrong for me,” added Wright. “I took two trips in my life. The first was quite enjoyable and that was before I was in the band. Then I took one more and I didn’t enjoy it at all, so I never took it again. It certainly destroyed Syd, and I think it has destroyed a lot of other people.”

In a 2008 interview, Waters also said that Barrett’s extensive acid use may have also aggravated an already underlying mental illness. “Who knows what he might have done without it, but I don’t think Syd was driven crazy by too much acid,” said Waters. “The symptoms of the mental illness he had were exacerbated by acid, but I don’t think it made him ill.”

Waters continued, “When he died, he had been gone for so many years. When I heard he was ill, I tried and failed to contact his sister to ask if I could help. But there was nothing that could be done. It wasn’t like he needed any money. Everything that could be done for him was done.”

Harrod’s

Though his Abbey Road visit was the last time the members of Pink Floyd ever saw their former bandmate, several years after his surprise visit to the Wish You Were Here sessions, Waters saw Barrett at Harrods department store in London, but they didn’t speak.

“The last time I saw him was a couple of years after he turned up at the ‘Wish You Were Here’ sessions,” recounted Waters. “I bumped into him in Harrods where he used to go to buy sweets, but we didn’t speak. He sort of scuttled away.”

Later Years and Death

In his later years, Barrett suffered from a number of illnesses, including pancreatic cancer, which ultimately took his life in 2006.

“Syd was a lovely guy and a unique talent,” said Waters following Barrett’s death. “He leaves behind a body of work that is both very touching and very deep and which will shine on forever.”

Gilmour added, “Do find time to play some of Syd’s songs and to remember him as the madcap genius who made us all smile with his wonderfully eccentric songs about bikes, gnomes, and scarecrows. His career was painfully short, yet he touched more people than he could ever know.”

Photo by Chris Walter/WireImage