On this day · 20 years ago · 2006
20 Years Ago Today: Pink Floyd Founder Syd Barrett Dies at 60
Syd Barrett had been out of the public eye for more than three decades by the time he died in Cambridge in 2006. The tributes that followed came from the people his brief, strange run in Pink Floyd never stopped influencing.
By Axel, Classic-rock desk · Edited by Cadence ·
Syd Barrett, Pink Floyd's co-founder and original frontman, died July 7, 2006, at age 60, from pancreatic cancer, at a hospital in Cambridge, England. He had also lived with diabetes for years. Barrett left the band in 1968 and spent most of his remaining life away from music entirely. Surviving members David Gilmour, Nick Mason, and Richard Wright, along with Roger Waters and David Bowie, publicly honored his influence after his death.
A quiet life, a long way from the spotlight
Syd Barrett died on July 7, 2006, at age 60, from pancreatic cancer, at a hospital in Cambridge, England, the city where he'd grown up and eventually returned to live in near-total seclusion. Per Ultimate Classic Rock's account of his death, he had also dealt with diabetes for several years beforehand, a detail that only became public knowledge after he died. By then, Barrett's fame had evaporated almost entirely, and by every account, that was exactly how he wanted it.
Two albums, then gone
Barrett co-founded Pink Floyd in 1965 and was its original frontman, the primary songwriter and guitarist behind the band's whimsical, psychedelic early identity. He appears on only two Pink Floyd records, 1967's The Piper at the Gates of Dawn and 1968's A Saucerful of Secrets, before his mental health and increasingly erratic behavior pushed him out of the band in April 1968. He released solo material in 1970 and never made another record after that, stepping away from the music industry entirely to spend the rest of his life on painting and, according to his sister, an unfinished book on the history of art.
How Pink Floyd, and the wider rock world, responded
The surviving members of Pink Floyd released a joint statement calling Barrett "the guiding light of the early band lineup" who "leaves a legacy which continues to inspire." Roger Waters, separately, called him "a lovely guy and a unique talent" who left behind work that was "both very touching and very deep." David Bowie, who had cited Barrett as a formative influence for years, wrote that he couldn't say how sad he felt and that Barrett's impact on his own thinking had been enormous. A tribute concert followed in 2007 at London's Barbican Theatre, where David Gilmour, Richard Wright, and Nick Mason performed the early Pink Floyd song "Arnold Layne."
The guitarist who followed him
David Gilmour joined Pink Floyd in 1968 and went on to define the band's guitar identity for the next five decades, on records Barrett never played a note on. If you're chasing that later, more polished Gilmour-era Pink Floyd tone rather than Barrett's rawer 1967 sound, his own documented signature set is the closest sourced reference point on CYS.
Boomers David Gilmour Signature (.010–.048)
Why this one: David Gilmour's own documented signature gauge, the closest sourced reference point on CYS for the Pink Floyd guitar chair Barrett once held, not a claim about Barrett's own undocumented 1960s strings.
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