Syd Barrett
Background information
Birth name	Roger Keith Barrett
Born	6 January 1946 Cambridge, England
Died	7 July 2006 (age 60) Cambridge, England
Genre(s)	Psychedelic rock Psych folk Space Rock
Occupation(s)	Musician Singer-Songwriter
Instrument(s)	Guitar, Vocals, Bass, Slide guitar, Ukelele, Mandolin, Banjo
Years active	1964 - 1974
Label(s)	Harvest/EMI
Associated acts	Pink Floyd Stars

Roger Keith "Syd" Barrett (6 January 1946 – 7 July 2006) was an English singer, songwriter, guitarist, and artist. He is best remembered as a founding member of Pink Floyd. He was active as a rock musician for about ten years before going into seclusion, from which he never publicly emerged for over thirty years, until his death in 2006.

Contents 1 Early years 2 Musical career 2.1 Pink Floyd years (1965–1968) 2.2 Solo years (1968–1972) 2.3 Later years (1972–2006) 2.3.1 Wish You Were Here sessions 2.3.2 Compilations 2.3.3 Beyond the music 3 Musical influence 4 Mental illness 5 Syd Barrett in popular culture 6 Discography 6.1 Singles with Pink Floyd 6.2 Albums with Pink Floyd 6.3 Compilations with Pink Floyd (featuring his work) 6.4 Solo albums 6.5 Appears On 6.6 Solo compilations 6.7 Solo live recordings 6.8 Solo singles 7 Filmography 8 References 9 External links 9.1 General links 9.2 Fansite links

Early years

Barrett was born in Cambridge, England to a well-off middle-class family. His father, Arthur Max Barrett, was a prominent pathologist, and both he and his wife, Winifred, encouraged the young Roger (as he was known then) in his music. Barrett acquired the nickname "Syd" at the age of 14, a reference to an old local Cambridge drummer, Sid Barrett. Syd Barrett changed the spelling in order to differentiate himself from his namesake. His father died of cancer on 11 December 1961, less than a month before Barrett's 15th birthday. He attended Cambridgeshire High School for Boys, now known as Hills Road Sixth Form College in Cambridge and enrolled in Camberwell art school in South London in 1964 before forming his first band in 1965. During this pre-Floyd time he wrote such tunes as "Effervescing Elephant" to play at local parties.

Musical career

Pink Floyd years (1965–1968)

Starting in 1964, the band that would become Pink Floyd underwent various line-up and name changes such as "The Abdabs", "The Screaming Abdabs", "Sigma 6" and "The Meggadeaths" (not to be confused with Megadeth). In 1965, Barrett joined them as "The Tea Set", and when they found themselves playing a concert with a band of the same name, Barrett came up with the name "The Pink Floyd Sound" (later "The Pink Floyd"). He devised the name "Pink Floyd" by juxtaposing the first names of Pink Anderson and Floyd Council whom he had read about in a sleeve note by Paul Oliver for a 1962 Blind Boy Fuller LP (Philips BBL-7512): "Curley Weaver and Fred McMullen, (...) Pink Anderson or Floyd Council—these were a few amongst the many blues singers that were to be heard in the rolling hills of the Piedmont, or meandering with the streams through the wooded valleys".

While Pink Floyd began by playing cover versions of American R&B songs (in much the same vein as contemporaries The Rolling Stones, The Yardbirds and The Kinks), by 1966 they had carved out their own style of improvised rock and roll, which drew as much from improvised jazz as it did from British pop-rock, such as that championed by The Beatles. In that year, a new rock concert venue, the UFO, opened in London and quickly became a haven for British psychedelic music. Pink Floyd, the house band, was their most popular attraction, and, after making appearances at the rival Roundhouse, became the most popular musical group of the so-called "London Underground" psychedelic music scene.

By the end of 1966 Pink Floyd had gained a reliable management team in Andrew King and Peter Jenner. The duo soon befriended American expatriate Joe Boyd, who was making a name for himself as one of the more important entrepreneurs on the British music scene. Boyd produced a recording session for the group in January 1967 at Sound Techniques in Chelsea, which resulted in a demo of the single Arnold Layne. King and Jenner took the song to the recording behemoth EMI, who were impressed enough to offer the band a contract, under which they would be allowed to record an album. The band accepted. By the time the album was released, Arnold Layne had reached number 20 on the British singles charts (despite a ban by the BBC) and a follow-up single, See Emily Play had done even better, peaking at number 6.

These first two singles, as well as a third (Apples and Oranges), were written by Syd Barrett. Barrett wrote most of the Floyd's early material, and was the principal visionary/author of their critically acclaimed 1967 debut album, The Piper at the Gates of Dawn. The album's title was taken from the mystical "Pan" chapter of The Wind in the Willows. Of the 11 songs on Piper, Barrett wrote eight and co-wrote another two. He was also an innovative guitarist, with extended techniques he was exploring the musical and sonic possibilities of dissonance, distortion, feedback, the echo machine, tapes and other effects; his experimentation was partly inspired by free improvisation guitarist Keith Rowe. One of Barrett's trademarks was playing his Fender Esquire guitar by sliding a Zippo lighter up and down the fret-board through an old echo box to create the mysterious, otherworldly sounds that became associated with the group. Barrett was known to have used Binson delay units to achieve his trademark echo sounds.

The Piper at the Gates of Dawn was recorded intermittently between January and July 1967 in Studio 2 at Abbey Road Studios. At that same time at Abbey Road the Beatles were recording Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band in Studio 1 and the Pretty Things were recording S.F. Sorrow. When Piper was released in August of that year, it became a smash hit in the UK, hitting #6 on the British album charts (the album was not nearly so successful in the USA). However, as the band began to attract a large fanbase, the pressures on Barrett contributed to his experiencing increasing psychiatric illness.

Barrett's behaviour became increasingly unpredictable, partly as a consequence of frequent experimentation with psychedelic drugs such as LSD. Many report having seen him on stage with the group, strumming on one chord through the entire concert, or not playing at all. At a show at The Fillmore West in San Francisco, during a performance of Interstellar Overdrive, Barrett slowly detuned his guitar. The audience seemed to enjoy such antics, unaware of the rest of the band's consternation. Before a performance in late 1967, Barrett apparently crushed Mandrax and an entire tube of Brylcreem into his hair, which subsequently melted down his face under the heat of the stage lighting, making him look like "a guttered candle". Nick Mason later disputed the Mandrax portion of this story, stating that "Syd would never waste good mandies".

Following a disastrous abridged tour of the United States, David Gilmour (a school friend of Barrett's) was asked to join the band as a second guitarist to cover for Barrett as Barrett's erratic behavior prevented him from performing. For a handful of shows David played and sang while Barrett wandered around on stage, occasionally deigning to join in playing. The other band members soon tired of Barrett's antics and, in January 1968, on the way to a show at Southampton University, the band elected not to pick Barrett up. They attempted to retain him in the group as a songwriter, much as The Beach Boys had with Brian Wilson, but this proved impractical.

There are many stories about Barrett's bizarre and intermittently psychotic behavior — some are known to be true. According to Roger Waters, Barrett came into what was to be their last practice session with a new song he had dubbed "Have You Got It, Yet?". The song seemed simple enough when he first presented it to his bandmates, but it soon became impossibly difficult to learn: while they were practising it, Barrett kept changing the arrangement. He would then play it again, with the arbitrary changes, and sing "Have you got it yet?". After more than an hour of trying to "get it", they realised they never would and that they were simply bearing the brunt of Barrett's rather obtuse sense of humour.

Barrett did not contribute any material to the band after A Saucerful of Secrets was released in 1968. Of the songs he wrote for Pink Floyd after Piper, only one ("Jugband Blues") made it to the band's second album; one became a less-than-successful single ("Apples and Oranges"), and two others ("Scream Thy Last Scream" and "Vegetable Man") were never officially released. Barrett supposedly spent some time outside the recording studio, waiting to be invited in (he also showed up to a few gigs and glared at Gilmour). Barrett played slide guitar on "Remember a Day" (which had been recorded during the Piper sessions) and (according to a 1993 Guitar World interview with Gilmour) also played on "Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun". His main contribution to the album, "Jugband Blues," is often seen by Pink Floyd fans as Barrett's admission that his days in the band were probably numbered ("It's awfully considerate of you to think of me here/And I'm most obliged to you for m-making it clear/that I'm not here", the song opens). In March 1968 it was officially announced that he was no longer a member of Pink Floyd.

Solo years (1968–1972)

After leaving Pink Floyd, Barrett distanced himself from the public eye. However, at the behest of EMI and Harvest Records, he did have a brief solo career, releasing two mercurial solo albums, The Madcap Laughs and Barrett. Much of the material on both albums dates from Barrett's most productive period of songwriting, late 1966 to mid 1967, and it is believed that he wrote few new songs after he left Pink Floyd.

The first album, The Madcap Laughs, was recorded in two distinct sessions, both at Abbey Road Studios: a few tentative sessions took place between May and June 1968 (produced by Peter Jenner), while the bulk of the album was recorded between April and July 1969. The record was produced first by Malcolm Jones, a young EMI executive, and then by David Gilmour and Roger Waters. In "The Making of the Madcap Laughs" by Malcolm Jones, he states "when Dave came to me and said that Syd wanted him and Roger to do the remaining parts of the album, I acquiesced." A few tracks on the album feature overdubs by members of the band Soft Machine. Barrett also played guitar on the sessions for his close friend and Soft Machine founder Kevin Ayers' debut LP Joy of a Toy, although his performance on "Religious Experience" was not released until the album was reissued in 2003.

The second album, Barrett, was recorded more sporadically than the first, with sessions taking place between February and July 1970. This effort sounds more polished than the first, but Barrett was arguably in a worse state. The album was produced by David Gilmour and featured Gilmour on bass guitar, Rick Wright on keyboard and Humble Pie drummer Jerry Shirley.

Despite the numerous recording dates for his two solo albums, Barrett undertook very little musical activity between 1968 and 1972 outside the studio. On 24 February 1970, he appeared on John Peel's BBC radio program Top Gear playing five songs - only one of which had been previously released. Three would be re-recorded for the Barrett album, while the song Two of a Kind was a one-off performance (the song appears on the 2001 compilation The Best of Syd Barrett: Wouldn't You Miss Me?) with the lyrics and composition having since been credited to Richard Wright. Barrett was accompanied on this session by David Gilmour and Jerry Shirley who played bass and percussion, respectively.

Gilmour and Shirley also backed Barrett for his one and only live concert during this period. The gig took place on 6 June 1970 at the Olympia Exhibition Hall, London, and was part of a "Music and Fashion Festival". The trio performed four songs, playing for less than half an hour, and because of poor mixing, the vocals were inaudible until part-way through the last number. At the end of the fourth song, Barrett unexpectedly but politely put down his guitar and walked off the stage.

Syd Barrett made one last appearance on BBC Radio, recording three songs at their studios on 16 February 1971. All three came from the Barrett album, and were presumably aired to encourage people to buy the record. At this stage, though, Barrett seemed to have little interest in recording music, and even less interest in performing it live. After this session, he would take a hiatus from his music career that lasted more than a year.

Later years (1972–2006)

In 1972, Barrett formed a short-lived band called Stars with ex-Pink Fairies member Twink on drums and Jack Monck on bass. Though the band was initially well received, one of their gigs at the Corn Exchange in Cambridge proved to be disastrous (Monck describes just how disastrous it was in a TV interview in 2001 for the BBC Omnibus series documentary 'Crazy Diamond'). A few days after this final show, Twink recalled that Barrett stopped him on the street, showed him a scathing review of the gig they had played, and quit on the spot.

In August 1974, Peter Jenner convinced Barrett to return to Abbey Road Studios in hope of recording another album. However, little became of the sessions, which lasted three days and consisted of blues rhythm tracks with tentative and disjointed guitar overdubs (the only titled track is If You Go, Don't Be Slow). Once again, Barrett withdrew from the music industry. He sold the rights to his solo albums back to the record label, moved into a London hotel and when the money ran out he walked back to Cambridge to live in his mother's basement. Further attempts to bring him back (including one endeavor by The Damned who wanted him to produce their second album) were all fruitless. Until his death, Barrett still received royalties from his work with Pink Floyd from each compilation and some of the live albums and singles that had featured his songs; Gilmour has commented that he (Gilmour) "[made] sure the money [got] to him all right".

Wish You Were Here sessions

Syd Barrett had one noted reunion with the members of Pink Floyd in 1975 during the recording sessions for Wish You Were Here. Barrett attended the Abbey Road session unannounced, and watched the band record "Shine On You Crazy Diamond" — as it happened, a song about him. By that time, Barrett had become quite overweight, had shaved off all of his hair, including his eyebrows, and his ex-bandmates did not at first recognise him (one of the photographs in Nick Mason's book Inside Out: A Personal History of Pink Floyd appears to have been taken that day; it is captioned simply: Syd Barrett, 5th June 1975). Eventually, they realised who he was and Roger Waters was so distressed that he was reduced to tears. A reference to this reunion appears in the film Pink Floyd The Wall (1982), where the character 'Pink,' played by Bob Geldof, shaves off his eyebrows (and body hair) after succumbing to the pressures of life and fame.

In an interview for the 2001 BBC Omnibus documentary 'Syd Barrett: Crazy Diamond" (later released on DVD as The Pink Floyd and Syd Barrett Story), the story is told in full. Rick Wright spoke about the session, saying: "One thing that really stands out in my mind, that I'll never forget; I was going in to the "Shine On" sessions. I went in the studio and I saw this guy sitting at the back of the studio, he was only as far away as you are from me. And I didn't recognise him. I said, 'Who's that guy behind you?' 'That's Syd.' And I just cracked up, I couldn't believe it... he had shaven all his hair off... I mean, his eyebrows, everything... he was jumping up and down brushing his teeth, it was awful. And, uh, I was in, I mean Roger was in tears, I think I was; we were both in tears. It was very shocking... seven years of no contact and then to walk in while we're actually doing that particular track. I don't know – coincidence, karma, fate, who knows? But it was very, very, very powerful". In the same documentary, Nick Mason stated: "When I think about it, I can still see his eyes, but... it was everything else that was different". In that same interview, Roger Waters has said: "I had no idea who he was for a very long time". David Gilmour stated : "None of us recognised him. Shaved...shaved bald head and very plump". In the 2006 'definitive edition' DVD release of The Pink Floyd and Syd Barrett Story in the UK/Europe the director John Edginton's interviews with Barrett's former Floyd colleagues are included unedited, with far more detail of their feelings and actions during Syd Barrett's tragic breakdown and withdrawal from the band. This 2 dvd set is due for US (Region 1) in September 2007

Compilations

In 1988, EMI Records released an album of Barrett's studio outtakes and previously unreleased material recorded from 1968 to 1970 under the title Opel. The disc was originally set to include the unreleased Barrett Pink Floyd songs "Scream Thy Last Scream" and "Vegetable Man", which had been remixed for the album by Malcolm Jones. However, the two songs were pulled (reportedly by the remaining members of Pink Floyd) before Opel was finalized.

In 1993 EMI issued another release, Crazy Diamond, a box set of all three albums, each loaded with further out-takes from his solo sessions that illustrated vividly Barrett's inability or refusal to play a song the same way twice.

EMI also released The Best of Syd Barrett: Wouldn't You Miss Me? in the UK on April 16, 2001, and in the United States on September 11, 2001. This was the first time his song "Bob Dylan Blues" was ever officially released, taken from a demo tape that David Gilmour had kept after an early 1970s recording session.

A number of bootleg LPs, CDs and other recordings of Barrett's live and solo material exist.

For years the "off air" recordings of the BBC sessions with Syd's Floyd circulated, until an engineer who had taken a tape of the early Floyd (on Top Gear) gave it back to the BBC - who played it in a tribute to the late John Peel on their website, airing the first Peel program (Top Gear) in its entirety (which featured 1967 live versions of Flaming, Set the controls for the heart of the sun & Reaction in G (brief minute and a half snippet of this instrumental)

Beyond the music

According to a 2005 profile by a recent biographer Tim Willis, Barrett, who had reverted to using his original name of Roger, continued to live in his late mother's semi-detached home in Cambridge, and had returned to his original art-form of painting, creating large abstract canvases. He was also said to have been an avid gardener. His main point of contact with the outside world was his sister, Rosemary, who lived nearby. While reclusive, it was his physical health that prompted most concern, being afflicted with stomach ulcers and type two diabetes.

Although Barrett had not appeared or spoken in public since the mid-1970s, time did little to diminish interest in his life and work; reporters and fans still travelled to Cambridge to seek him out, despite his attempts to live a quiet life, and many photos from the 1980s to his passing in 2006 of Barrett being annoyed by paparazzi when walking or biking to the store had been published in various places. A planned screen biography entitled Crazy Diamond, which was to have been produced by Ridley Scott and directed by former Pink Floyd collaborator Peter Medak from a script by Ted Shuttleworth, was held up by rights issues and shelved indefinitely.

Apparently, Barrett was not happy being reminded about his past as a musician and the other members of Pink Floyd had no direct contact with him. However, he did go to his sister's house in 2002 to watch the BBC Omnibus documentary made about him – reportedly he found some of it "too noisy", enjoyed seeing Mike Leonard (of Leonard's Lodgers) again (who he called his mentor), and enjoyed hearing "See Emily Play" again.

Barrett died on July 7, 2006 at his home in Cambridge at the age of 60. He succumbed to pancreatic cancer.

In 2006, his home, located in St. Margaret's Square, was placed on the market, and reportedly attracted considerable interest. After over 100 viewings, many by fans, his house was sold to a French couple who bought the house simply because they liked it and reportedly knew nothing about Barrett. His other possessions were auctioned for £120,000.

In his will, he left approximately £1.25 million to his two brothers and two sisters. This income was largely aquired via royalties from Pink Floyd compilations and live recordings to features songs he had written whilst with the band.

Musical influence

Many artists have acknowledged Barrett's influence on their work. Paul McCartney, Pete Townshend, Marc Bolan, and David Bowie were early fans; Jimmy Page, Brian Eno, and The Damned all expressed interest in working with him at some point during the 1970s. Bowie recorded a cover of "See Emily Play" on his 1973 album Pin Ups. Townshend called Barrett legendary.

Barrett's decline had a profound effect on Roger Waters's songwriting, and the theme of mental illness would permeate Pink Floyd's later albums, particularly 1973's Dark Side of the Moon and 1975's Wish You Were Here.

Wish You Were Here (1975) was a conscious tribute to Barrett with the song "Shine On You Crazy Diamond" being devoted to him. Other artists that have written tributes to Barrett include his contemporary Kevin Ayers, who wrote "Oh Wot a Dream" in his honour (Barrett provided guitar to an early version of Ayers' "Singing a Song in the Morning"). Barrett fan Robyn Hitchcock has covered many of his songs live and on record, and has paid homage to his forebear with the songs "The Man Who Invented Himself" and "(Feels Like) 1974". The Television Personalities' track "I Know Where Syd Barrett Lives" from their 1981 album And Don't the Kids Love It are further tributes.

Mental illness