Syd Barrett

Born Roger Keith Barrett in Cambridge, England Syd Barrett was one of five children by famed pathologist Arthur Max Barrett and his wife, Winifred. Both parents were music enthusiasts, and encouraged their children to pursue it, as well as other artistic endeavors. Barrett showed musical aptitude almost immediately, winning a piano competition with his sister at the age of seven, and later adding ukulele, banjo and guitar to his repertoire. He later attended the Cambridgeshire High School for Boys, where he befriended Roger Waters, as well as David Gilmour, a student at the nearby Perse School. During this period, Barrett also earned his nickname, "Syd," which was inspired by either his penchant for wearing a workingman's flat cap at Scout camp instead of his beret, or by local jazz bassist Sid Barrett.Barrett began playing in a variety of bands while a student at the Cambridge College of Arts and Technology. Following his father's death in 1961, Barrett moved to London to study at the Camberwell Art School, where he discovered Waters playing in Sigma 6 with college friends Nick Mason and Roger Wright. A dizzying array of lineup changes within Sigma 6, which soon changed its moniker to the Tea Set, ended with Barrett as their frontman. Shortly after joining, he suggested another name change for the group - The Pink Floyd Sound, which he concocted by combining the surnames of two blues singers, Pink Anderson and Floyd Council, that he had seen in the liner notes for a Blind Boy Fuller LP. The name was eventually shortened to The Pink Floyd before dropping the definitive article around 1967 and becoming simply Pink Floyd.Initially, Pink Floyd took a page from other British rock bands by borrowing heavily from American blues and R&B for its set list. But by 1966, Barrett had encouraged them to experiment with the duration of their songs, spinning lengthy, improvisational solos that hewed closer to jazz than traditional rock-n-roll. Their instrumental flights, accompanied by primitive but extremely powerful light shows, made Pink Floyd a leading player on the growing London Underground scene, which included such psychedelic acts as the Pretty Things, Pink Fairies, Soft Machine and Hawkwind. Barrett himself drew praise for his guitar playing, which utilized elements of dissonance, distortion and feedback to create the band's signature otherworldly sound. In doing so, his music had a tremendous influence on the psychedelic rock scene in England.After gaining a strong management team in Andrew King and Peter Jenner's Blackhill Enterprises, Pink Floyd recorded their first demo, a 1967 Barrett original that essentially summed up his approach to songwriter: "Arnold Layne" was a charming, well-crafted pop tune with lyrics about a transvestite who compulsively stole women's undergarments. The song earned Pink Floyd a concert with EMI, but its subject matter garnered the ire of numerous radio programmers who eventually banned it from the air altogether. Despite the radio blackout, the single rose to No. 20 on the British singles chart. It was immediately bested by its follow-up, "See Emily Play" (1967), which broke into the Top 10. The back-to-back successes boosted Pink Floyd to the forefront of the British rock scene, but their rise in popularity also marked the beginning of Barrett's mental decline, as well as his departure from the band.Though no specific diagnosis for Barrett's mental state was ever given, it was well known that he suffered from mood swings and symptoms that suggested either schizophrenia or bipolar disorder. Whatever condition Barrett had was worsened significantly by heavy use of LSD on a regular basis, either to escape the mounting pressure of media attention or to enhance the experimental aspects of his music. The effect of this regimen left him detached from reality: he would play the same chord - or none at all - in concert, or respond to interviewers' questions with a blank, mute stare. Reports vary as to his behavior in the studio during the recording of Pink Floyd's first album, Piper at the Gates of Dawn (1967), with some sources stating that he was cooperative, while others declaring that Barrett was impossible to reach through simple communication. Whatever the case, the members of Pink Floyd now faced a serious problem: how to contend with Barrett's deteriorating mental state while relying on him to provide the band with the majority of their songs, as he had done since their inception.A solution came in the form of David Gilmour, Waters and Barrett's old school friend, who had pursued his own rock ambitions with various bands since 1962. Initially, Gilmour's role was to perform Barrett's guitar parts on stage, but it soon became evident that Barrett was unable to even appear at a live performance. Pink Floyd attempted to adopt a scenario similar to that of the Beach Boys, which had brought Bruce Johnston aboard to perform Brian Wilson's vocals on stage while the mercurial songwriter worked on new material in the studio. However, it soon became apparent that Barrett was not pleased with this new arrangement, as evidenced by a new song, "Have You Got It Yet?" Though seemingly simple tune, Barrett constantly changed the melody and structure during rehearsals, making it impossible for the band members to follow him.Barrett was officially dismissed by Pink Floyd during the recording of their second album, A Saucerful of Secrets (1968), which featured the only studio recordings to feature all five members of the band. He went into seclusion for several years before emerging in 1970 with two albums of raw, folk-styled solo material. Both The Madcap Laughs and Barrett, released just months apart in 1970, featured major contributions from Gilmour, who took over production when sessions overseen by EMI executive Malcolm Jones fell apart due to Barrett's instability. Waters and Roger Wright also performed on the albums, as well as members of the U.K. experimental group, The Soft Machine. Response to both releases was tepid at best, and Barrett was unable to muster much promotion for the albums beyond a pair of scattershot radio appearances and a single live gig that saw Barrett abandon the stage after four songs.By 1972, Barrett was frequently seen wandering the London streets, usually en route to or from the Pink Floyd management office to pick up royalty checks. There was a brief tenure with a super group of sorts called Stars, which featured Twink of the Pretty Things and Pink Fairies and Jack Monck of Delivery, but his mood swings prevented the project from progressing beyond a few unfocused live shows. Barrett eventually returned to Cambridge to live with his mother, where he focused on painting large abstract canvases. In 1975, he dropped by Abbey Road Studios to watch Pink Floyd record tracks for their album Wish You Were Here, which focused in part on the band's sadness over Barrett's decline. His appearance was so drastically changed - at the time of the visit, he had gained a considerable amount of weight and sported a completely shaven head and eyebrows - that none of the band members initially recognized him. Save for a brief encounter between Waters and Barrett a few years later, it would be the last time any member of Pink Floyd saw him alive.Barrett would spend the next two decades in near-total seclusion, dismissing offers to play with or produce The Sex Pistols or The Damned, among others. His absence from the music scene elevated him to mythical levels, which generated a cult of admirers among rock fans and musicians alike. Performers like Pete Townshend, David Bowie and Paul McCartney sung his praises, while others, like Julian Cope and Robyn Hitchcock, borrowed heavily from his fragmented, surreal songwriting. Demand for unreleased material from Barrett generated the release of Opel (1988), which consisted of unreleased tracks and alternate versions of songs from his solo albums. Barrett himself was either unaware of or unable to participate in the revived interest in his career. He had developed type 2 diabetes in the 1980s, and relied heavily on his sister, Rosemary, for support as well as limited contact with the outside world. He did not attend Pink Floyd's induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996, preferring instead to garden and pursue photography. Barrett's self-imposed exile came to an end on July 7, 2006 when he succumbed to pancreatic cancer. His passing was celebrated at a tribute concert in London the following year, which, not surprisingly, featured performances by members of Pink Floyd. By Paul Gaita