Today we'll tell you about musician Rick Wright.
Wright is the secret weapon of "Pink Floyd", a quiet, humble, and humble man, who is responsible for quite a bit of the band's so unique sound, and who co-wrote and performed some of its most beautiful melodies and compositions.
It's very hard to imagine what albums like "Meddle", "The Dark Side Of The Moon" or "Wish You Were Here" would have sounded without Rick Wright's divine touch, if at all!
(Photo: Gingerreject.tumblr.com)
So let's tell you 40 interesting facts about him:
1. He was born on July 28, 1943, as Richard William Wright.
2. He is an autodidact who already at the age of 12 while recovering from a severe fracture in his leg, taught himself to play the trumpet, guitar, and piano.
3. Wright later took piano lessons at a music school, where he also learned to play the trombone and saxophone.
4. Wright is a multi-instrumentalist of the toughest kind, because in addition to all the instruments listed above, later in his career he also played other instruments: violin, flute, bass guitar, cello, and even drums.
5. The main musical influence on Wright was jazz, and especially Miles Davis and John Coltrane.
6. In 1964, Wright began studying architecture at the college - "Regent Street Polytechnic" (now the University of the West Ministers), where he met Roger Waters, Bob Klose, and Nick Mason, with whom he formed the band "Sigma 6".
7. In "Sigma 6" he played mostly guitar, since the band's songs hardly included keyboards.
8. After the dissolution of "Sigma 6" in 1965, Mason, Waters, and Wright joined Syd Barrett and co-founded "Pink Floyd".
9. Wright was the most educated in the band, musically, and as such was responsible for, among other things, the equipment and tuning of the instruments at the beginning of the band's career.
10. In the years 1965-1966 the band performed in pubs and clubs in England and slowly gained an audience and recognition.
11. In 1967 "Pink Floyd" signed a recording contract with EMI and after releasing 2 singles, "Arnold Layne" and "See Emily Play" in March and June 1967, the band entered the studio to record their debut album - "The Piper at the Gates of Dawn", Which was released in August 1967.
12. At this point Syd Barrett was the dominant member of the band, but nonetheless Wright co-wrote two of the album's songs and sang solo on: "Astronomy Domine", and "Matilda Mother" while singing backing vocals on "Pow R. Toc H".
13. With Barrett's decline Wright's dominance in the band grew. When on the second album "A Saucerful of Secrets" released in June 1968, Wright participated in singing on 4 of the 7 album's songs, making this album the only one Wright sang more than any other member In a band.
14. In addition, Wright co-wrote 3 of the album's 7 songs, including "Remember a Day" and "See-Saw".
15. This trend has also continued in the albums "More" and "Ummagumma".
16. In the 1970 album "Atom Heart Mother", Wright co-wrote the album's theme song and also wrote and sang the charming song "Summer '68".
17. That same year Wright participated in Syd Barrett's second solo album - "Barrett" and also helped produce it.
18. Wright's big break as a musician came on the three albums: "Meddle", "The Dark Side Of The Moon", "And wish You Were Here", with Wright contributing greatly to the band's unique sound and compositions, while co-writing some of the band's iconic works Such as: "Echoes", "Shine On You Crazy Diamond", "The Great Gig in the Sky", "Us and Them" and more.
19. After the album "Wish You Were Here" Waters began to become more and more dominant in the band, pushing Wright aside, among other things.
20. As a result Wright and Nick Mason were not co-writers of the album "Animals" at all, and they serve there as studio session players.
21. Despite that, even on an album that apparently Wright did not make an official contribution to in writing, one can still hear his genius and influence on the band's sound, for example in a song like "Sheep".
22. Wright released his frustration with his own solo album, which he released a year later the album "Animals" in 1978. The album "Wet Dream" featured guitarist Snowy White and saxophonist Mel Collins, among others.
23. While working on the album "The Wall" Rick Wright experienced a difficult period, he went through a divorce proceeding from his wife Juliette and suffered from heavy cocaine addiction. Under these circumstances, he was not exactly available to work on the album. This eventually led to his dismissal by Roger Waters, even before the album was released.
24. As a result, Wright became the only band member to receive "employee" status in the band. It paid off for him because he became the only gainer among the band members from the grandiose tour that accompanied the album, since he received a fixed salary that was not dependent on the losses of that tour.
25. The line "I've got a grand piano to prop up my mortal remains" from the song "Nobody Home" refers to Rick Wright and his condition during the recording of the album.
26. Pink Floyd's only album in which Wright was not a band member was "The Final Cut" from 1983.
27. In 1984, Wright formed a band called "Zee" with Dave Harris of the New Wave band "Fashion". They released their only album named "Identity" that year.
28. In 1987, Wright participated in the work on the album "A Momentary Lapse of Reason" although he was not yet officially a member of the band.
29. He appeared after Gilmour and Mason in the credits of the album, in a smaller script and without his picture being included on the cover.
30. He returned to the band as a full member during the tour and ahead of the release of the 1988 live album "Delicate Sound of Thunder".
31. On the 1994 album "The Division Bell" he has already co-written five of the 11 songs.
32. In one of them, "Wearing the Inside Out", he sang solo alongside Gilmour. It was the first time since "Time" from the album "The Dark Side Of The Moon". It's an exciting song about Wright's drug addiction, the crash and loneliness that followed, and the deep depression he experienced after his divorce from his wife and his dismissal from the band by Waters.
33. In 1996 he releases his second solo album "Broken China". This is a concept album based on the story of his wife's struggle with depression. The album features singer Sinéad O'Connor in two songs.
34. David Gilmour played in an earlier version of the song that sealed the album "Breakthrough", but Wright changed his attitude towards the song, and Gilmour's contribution was abandoned. Despite this Gilmour performed the song with Wright during his 2001 "David Gilmour in Concert" performance.
35. In 2005 he reunited with other "Pink Floyd" members, David Gilmour, Nick Mason, and Roger Waters for a one-time reunion show as part of a "Live 8" charity show.
36. In 2006, Wright participated in Gilmour's solo album "On an Island". That same year he became a regular member of Gilmour's backing band.
37. That same year he wrote the song "Hazel Eyes" for singer Helen Boulding.
38. It is interesting to note that Wright's daughter Gala is married to bassist Guy Pratt who played with Pink Floyd" and with David Gilmour in live shows.
39. On September 15, 2008, Wright passed away after years of battling cancer, he was 65 at the time of his death.
40. After his death, in 2014, "Pink Floyd" released the album "The Endless River" which included recordings in which he participated from the period of "The Division Bell" album.