RIP RICHARD WRIGHT

Pink Floyd keyboardist and founding member Richard Wright died yesterday at the age of 65. The cause was cancer. There are only a few deaths of rock stars that we’d mention on the Easy Star news ticker, but obviously, thanks to DUB SIDE OF THE MOON, Easy Star owes a big debt to Wright’s talent. His most important single contribution to the Pink Floyd songbook is “The Great Gig In The Sky,” which is pretty ironic, considering that the subject of that song is death. He was a key songwriter in the band’s early days, but over time was pushed to the side as Roger Waters took more control in the ‘70s. By THE FINAL CUT, Wright was out of the group. He returned for the band’s albums without Waters in the late ‘80s and ‘90s and also played on all of David Gilmour’s solo records. Rest in peace.