I am saddened to report the unexpected death of founding Pink Floyd member Richard Wright after a short battle with cancer at the age of 65.

PINK FLOYD: Remembering Richard Wright

Richard Wright, one of the founding members and keyboard player of Pink Floyd, died yesterday in England at the age of 65 from cancer. His spokesman says, "The family has asked that their privacy is respected at this difficult time." He is survived by his third wife Millie, whom he married in 1996, and their son Ben. He has two children from his first wife. His daughter Gala is married to Guy Pratt, a session musician who has played bass for Pink Floyd following the departure of Roger Waters. Wright is the second member of Floyd to die. Syd Barrett died in 2006.

Wright was born on July 28th, 1943 in England. He met Floyd members Roger Waters and Nick Mason at the Regent Street Polytechnic College of Architecture. His keyboard work was a central part of the Floyd sound, and he sang lead on such early Floyd recordings as "Astronomy Domine" and "Matilda Mother." Two of his songs -- "The Great Gig in the Sky" and "Us and Them" -- are among Floyd's classics. But in the late '70s, during the recording of The Wall, he had a falling out with Waters and was forced to resign, only to be hired back as a paid employee. He was re-instated as a full-time member when David Gilmour and Mason resurrected the band in 1987 for the A Momentary Lapse of Reason album and tour. Wright also recorded two solo albums -- Wet Dream in 1978 and Broken China in 1996. He last played with Floyd at their 2005 reunion at Live 8 in London's Hyde Park. In recent years, he played on Gilmour's On an Island album and tour, and is featured on Gilmour's new C-D and D-V-D, Live in Gdansk, in stores next Tuesday.

Gilmour has issued a statement saying, "No one can replace Richard Wright. He was my musical partner and my friend. In the welter of arguments about who or what was Pink Floyd, Rick's enormous input was frequently forgotten. He was gentle, unassuming and private, but his soulful voice and playing were vital, magical components of our most recognized Pink Floyd sound. I have never played with anyone quite like him. The blend of his and my voices and our musical telepathy reached their first major flowering in 1971 on 'Echoes.' In my view, all the greatest Pink Floyd moments are the ones where he is in full flow. After all, without 'Us and Them' and 'The Great Gig in the Sky', both of which he wrote, what would The Dark Side of the Moon have been? Without his quiet touch the album Wish You Were Here would not quite have worked. In our middle years, for many reasons he lost his way for a while, but in the early '90s, with The Division Bell, his vitality, spark and humor returned to him and then the audience reaction to his appearances on my tour in 2006 was hugely uplifting and it's a mark of his modesty that those standing ovations came as a huge surprise to him (though not to the rest of us). Like Rick, I don't find it easy to express my feelings in words, but I loved him and will miss him enormously."

I hope you were able to catch my special tribute to Richard earlier tonight during the "Loop Thinks Pink" Monday nights at 10pm. More to come in the coming weeks.

(See Richard Wright's last performance with Pink Floyd during "Wish You Were Here" live at Live 8 in 2005 here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lLDv-etHBEY)