Richard Wright of Pink Floyd Has Died at 65

Richard Wright, one of the founding members of Pink Floyd has succumbed to cancer at the age of 65. Wright, who met fellow Pink Floyd members Roger Waters and Nick Mason in college, was seen as the group's dominant musical force in their early days.

"Rick's keyboards were an integral park of the Pink Floyd sound," said Joe Boyd, a prominent record producer who worked with Pink Floyd early in its career.

Wright wrote "The Great Gig in the Sky" and "Us and Them" for the album "Dark Side of the Moon" and later worked on the group's epic compositions such as "Atom Heart Mother," "Echoes" and "Shine on You Crazy Diamond."



But tensions grew among Waters, Wright and fellow band member David Gilmour. The tensions came to a head during the making of "The Wall" when Waters insisted Wright be fired. As a result, Wright was relegated to the status of session musician on the tour of "The Wall," and did not perform on Pink Floyd's 1983 album, "The Final Cut."

When Waters left Pink Floyd in 1985, Wright began recording with Mason and Gilmour again, releasing the albums "The Division Bell" and "A Momentary Lapse of Reason" as Pink Floyd. He also released the solo albums "Wet Dream" (1978) and "Broken China" (1996).

In July 2005, Wright, Waters, Mason and Gilmour reunited to perform at the "Live 8" charity concert in London — the first time in 25 years they had been onstage together.

Floyd inflatable pig is recovered

A giant inflatable pig which floated away during a Roger Waters concert at the weekend has been recovered in tatters in California.

The pig, which measured the width of two buses, was found by two families on their driveways in La Quinta.

They will split the $10,000 (£5,090) reward offered by the Coachella music festival, from where the pig was lost.

The inflatable pig bore the image of a ticked ballot box for US presidential hopeful Barack Obama on its underbelly.

Prototype pig

The animal's flanks carried the slogans "fear builds walls" and "don't be led to the slaughter", with a cartoon of Uncle Sam holding two meat cleavers.

Former Pink Floyd star Waters said "that's my pig" as it drifted away during Sunday's gig.

The inflatable appeared at the Coachella festival in California Enlarge Image

Coachella spokeswoman Marcee Rondan said: "It wasn't really supposed to happen that way."

The pig was tethered to the ground with ropes and floated away as Waters was playing Pink Floyd song Pigs on the Wing.

Pink Floyd had used inflatable pigs during their concerts in the past, and the lost animal was the same prototype as all the others, according to Ms Rondan.

The two families who found what was left of the inflatable have also decided to share four life tickets to the Coachella festival that were offered as part of the reward.