Pink Floyd founder dies

Syd Barrett, Pink Floyd founding member, guitarist, singer and lyricist, has died at the age of 60

Barrett founded the band in 1965 and was one of its biggest songwriting talents in its early days.

But his behaviour became erratic, and he split with the band in 1968.
He has since lived reclusively in Cambridge.

A spokeswoman for Pink Floyd said: "He died very peacefully a couple of days ago. There will be a private family funeral."

In recent years Barrett reverted to his birth name, Roger Keith Barrett.
He created Pink Floyd with old friend Roger Waters, and became a huge star at the age of 21.

But he could hardly perform during his final days with the band, because he was taking so much LSD.

When his drug-fuelled behaviour became too much, the band drafted in Dave Gilmour as guitarist, and decided not to pick Barrett up for gigs.

Waters wrote the song Shine On You Crazy Diamond, with the lyrics "Remember when you were young, you shone like the sun. shine on you crazy diamond. now there's a look in your eyes, like black holes in the sky" about the star.

At Live 8, when Pink Floyd reunited without Barrett last year, Waters sang Wish You Were Here, which was originally a tribute to Barrett.

Barrett is thought to have named the band after two little-known bluesmen Pink Anderson and Floyd Council, as his record collection was found to include their recordings.