Albums: Wet Dream, Broken China, A Tree Full of Secrets, Volume 9: Rick Wright and Nick Mason Rarities (disc 17)

Richard William "Rick" Wright (28 July 1943 – 15 September 2008) was an English pianist, keyboardist, vocalist and songwriter, best known for his career with Pink Floyd.[1] Wright's richly textured keyboard layers were a vital ingredient and a distinctive characteristic of Pink Floyd's sound. Wright frequently sang background and occasionally lead vocals on stage and in the studio with Pink Floyd (most notably on the songs "Time", "Echoes" and the Syd Barrett compositions "Astronomy Domine" and "Matilda Mother").

Though not as prolific a songwriter as his bandmates Roger Waters and David Gilmour, he wrote significant parts of the music for classic albums.
The band’s phenomenal success put an increasing strain on their personal relationships and the creative tensions gave way to conflict. Solo albums were a safety valve and WRIGHT released Wet Dream in 1978.

By the time they came to record The Wall in 1979 Roger Waters was assuming control of the band. WRIGHT felt the full brunt of this when Waters threatened not to release The Wall unless WRIGHT left the band. WRIGHT spent the next two years as a paid employee, playing The Wall in America, Britain and Germany.

None of this was public knowledge until WRIGHT’s name was conspicuously absent from Pink Floyd’s 1983 album, The Final Cut. However, within months the band had imploded under the weight of the acrimony between the survivors. WRIGHT released his second solo album, as Zee with Fashion singer Dave Harris, in 1984 called Identity, which he now describes as “an experimental mistake”. WRIGHT rejoined Pink Floyd in 1987, after Gilmour and Mason had reconstituted the band, during the recording of A Momentary Lapse Of Reason. He arrived too late to contribute any songs but played on the world tour that confirmed Pink Floyd’s status as one of the world’s biggest drawing live attractions.

However on Pink Floyd’s most recent studio album, The Division Bell, the band returned to the co-operative principles that had got lost during the late ’70’s. WRIGHT co-wrote Wearing The Inside Out with lyricist Anthony Moore and co-wrote the music for Cluster One, What Do You Want From Me, Marooned, and Keep Talking with David Gilmour. More important, as WRIGHT says, “On this album the three of us actually played together. It’s like the Floyd again.” Millions of fans felt exactly the same way during Pink Floyd’s Division Bell world tour which played over 100 shows, culminating in their 14-night stint at LondonÃ.

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