Syd Barrett Biography

Roger Keith Barrett, popularly known as Syd Barrett, was an English singer, musician, and painter. Best known as a founding member of the famous band Pink Floyd, he served as its lead singer, guitarist and songwriter. He is also credited for naming the band. He wrote most of the songs in the band’s debut album ‘Piper at the Gates of Dawn’. In fact, his LSD-inspired lyrics became a craze in London during the late 1960s. He was dismissed from Pink Floyd in 1968 due to his drug-induced erratic behavior. During his short-lived solo career, Barrett released two intriguing and influential albums, ‘The Madcap Laughs’ and ‘Barrett’. However, they were not commercially successful. He then formed the band Stars, which was a short-lived one. Despite possessing a lot of potential, he was active in the music industry for less than ten years. He eventually became a recluse, living in Cambridge with diabetes and mental illness. After he left Pink Floyd, the band featured his mental illness as a theme on its later albums and songs like ‘The Dark Side of the Moon’ and ‘Shine On, You Crazy Diamond’. Barrett died on July 7, 2006 from pancreatic cancer at the age of 60.