Who is Syd Barrett? Do you know? Biography Where is Syd Barrett buried?

Original taken from utvamu in Syd Barrett. The story of Madcap.

Syd Barrett can be called the most interesting person in the world of alternative music. He was a brilliant generator of ideas; many of the compositions created by Sid were simply not understood by listeners. He created extraordinary, non-standard music; perhaps the public was not yet ready to understand his work.

Pink Floyd - Julia Dream

Roger 'Syd' Keith Barrett, born January 6, 1946, was the fourth of five children raised by Dr. Arthur Max Barrett and his wife Winifred.

At the age of 11, Roger entered Cambridge High School. In addition to Barrett, several other future fellow musicians studied at Cambridge High School. Roger Waters studied two years older than Barrett, along with Storm Torgeson, Roger's friend who became friends with Sid, and later the designer of classic PINK FLOYD covers. Two years younger was the guitarist of the last PINK FLOYD line-up (and Waters personally), Tim Renwick, who retained memories of Sid as the leader of his Boy Scout patrol.

In 1957, the fashion for skiffle music broke out in England. Roger watched with interest his older brother Alan, who played saxophone in a skiffle group, and, inspired by his example, began to master the ukulele. Unlike other parents, the liberal-minded Barrett couple only encouraged the increased musical interest of their youngest son.

At the age of 14, Roger asked his parents to buy him a guitar. Without much delay, an acoustic instrument was purchased, and Barrett, along with Gordon and like-minded people, spent long hours in Winifred's living room, endlessly listening to the same THE SHADOWS or Buddy Holly records and trying to play along with them.

Occasionally, Barrett and his school friend John Gordon would open an impromptu jam session, with a guy named Clive Welham tapping out a vague rhythm with a pair of knives. It happened that Clive brought with him a classmate who, despite his fourteen years, was already an established guitarist. That guy's name was David Gilmour.

Syd Barrett - Terrapin

The last year of school was overshadowed by my father's illness. He died in December 1961 at the age of fifty-two. For Sid it was a terrible blow. This trauma served as the root cause of further mental disorder - this is how, using Floyd’s terminology, the first brick was laid in the wall of the future prophet of psychedelia.

By 1962, Cambridge, like most English cities, was in full swing. Among the more than a hundred bands based both in the city itself and on the university grounds was GEOFF MOTT AND THE MOTTOES, which included Syd Barrett.

To some extent, such activities helped Sid free himself from worries about his father’s death. The ensemble's repertoire consisted of standard numbers from the hit parade - such as, for example, songs by Cliff Richard and Chuck Berry. Sid's school friend Roger Waters often appeared there, riding his beloved old motorcycle. But he had yet to become seriously interested in music.

Barrett and his former schoolmate Bob Close arrived in London in the summer of 1964. By the age of nineteen, Close already had a reputation as a promising jazz guitarist and was now planning to study architecture at Regent Street Polytechnic College - the same place where Roger Waters had studied for the last two years.

Pink Floyd - Interstellar Overdrive Part 1

Meanwhile, Roger Waters, who entered the London Polytechnic College in September 1963, formed his own band, SIGMA 6. In it, he played lead guitar, and his fellow architecture students Rick Wright and Nick Mason played rhythm guitar and drums, respectively, and none of them had any idea how to play.

The Cambridges often met each other in the big city, so it was not surprising that Bob Close and Syd Barrett ended up in Waters' team. Bob Close, who had already played in several notable bands, took the guitar from Roger and handed him the bass. Rick Wright moved to the organ. Close played lead guitar, backed by Waters on bass and Barrett on rhythm guitar, while Mason played along on drums.

By spring it became clear that the first signs of discord appeared in the group. Bob Close, who did not find support from Sid's introverted personality, delved deeper into traditional jazz and found himself on opposite sides of the barricades. Bob left the band, leaving Sid as frontman.

Meanwhile, the group did not stand still, adopting the now historic name. The band performed for the first time as THE PINK FLOYD SOUND at the end of 1965 at the London club “Countdown”; the musicians received fifteen pounds sterling for the concert.

Syd Barrett - Bob Dylan Blues

On September 30, 1966, THE PINK FLOYD SOUND performed on the same stage with THE SOFT MACHINE at All Saints Church, and on the evening of October 15, 1966, John Hopkins and Barry Miles successfully presented the first British underground newspaper International Times, for which they organized an epoch-making performance with the participation of PINK FLOYD.

PINK FLOYD played crazy interpretations of famous songs and psychedelic blues such as "Cops And Robbers", on which Syd improvised like a man possessed, says Pip Carter. - When playing the guitar, he used the metal body of a Zippo lighter on the neck and working ball bearings to get a controlled feedback effect. Some of the techniques came from his style of playing the blues, others he came up with on the spot.”

On November 18, 1966, the group presented their show to a larger-than-usual audience at a concert at Hornsey College of the Arts. Seventeen-year-old Joe Gannon helped with lighting and created new slides. Gannon had ambitions to replace film with color slides projected onto the bare wall behind the band.

PINK FLOYD's light show left a deep and memorable impression on the audience. Since each of the musicians sought to be (and found themselves) in the shadow of the joint performance of the ensemble, they were rarely recognized by sight, both in everyday life and in creative activity.

Pink Floyd - Interstellar Overdrive Part 2

Like a smile from under a veil, a single face on the stage was nevertheless recognized and subsequently blossomed. “Sid was recognized,” Jenner says. - He was immediately singled out as a star. Everyone loved him."

On February 1, 1967, PINK FLOYD finally “turned professional,” putting aside their academic careers and focusing entirely on creative endeavors. The first priority for PINK FLOYD was the release of the record. PINK FLOYD went into the studio to record “Arnold Layne,” a song about a kleptomaniac transvestite.

PINK FLOYD not only released a record, their music also appeared in films. In chic documentary Peter Whitehead's "Tonite Let's All Make Love In London" included shortened versions of "Interstellar Overdrive" - ​​one was performed by PINK FLOYD in the frame, and in the background of the other - Allen Ginsberg reads his poem , which gave the film its title.

"Arnold Lane" not only allowed PINK FLOYD to crack the Top 20 on their first try, but also immediately helped them establish themselves as a name group. With the advent of fame, the group fell under various kinds pressing. There were a few weeks left before Sid's breakdown began, and for the short period that happened at that time, life seemed wonderful. Sid realized one of his most ambitious plans: on April 6, 1967, PINK FLOYD performed for the first time on Top Of The Pops, a British television show featuring the most popular ensembles. It was a great moment, but the tension of playing to non-hippie audiences grew, as did the pressure on the band to deliver more hits.

Syd Barrett - Baby Lemonade

On May 18, 1967, Sid's composition "Games For May" - with the same content, but in a slightly shortened form - under the new name "See Emily Play" became the next PINK FLOYD single.

"Emily" was completed on May 23 and, against Barrett's wishes, released on June 16. The song rose to number six on the charts over the next month. Critics who found "Arnold Lane" insufficiently psychedelic were satisfied. “See Emily Play” was a bona fide hit.

However, there was one bad sign. David Gilmour, on short term Returning from France and popping into the studio to watch the recording sessions for Emily, he was unpleasantly surprised when Syd “just looked right through me, barely aware that I was even there. Very strange..."

The success of "See Emily Play" forced PINK FLOYD to appear on national television on Top of the Pops as many times as the single remained in the weekly Top 10. Three times, as it turned out. For the first week, Sid appeared in the latest satin and velvet outfit, purchased from the fashionable Granny Takes A Trip shop on the King's Road. A week later, he appeared unshaven, and his elegant suit was dirty and wrinkled. Sid celebrated the third week of performances by appearing in the same suit, which he immediately changed to the sloppiest clothes he could get.

Pink Floyd - Arnold Layne

However, Sid's growing fame as a songwriter and innovative guitarist made him the star of the group. After "Emily" hit high on the charts, he was invited to take part in the Blind Date competition. By chance, he ended up on the same page as Jimi Hendrix, his favorite musician at the time.

The band were planning an extended gig to promote their anticipated debut album, and their final show at The Roundhouse was filmed for the TV special Man Alive. The world was at their feet.

On July 29, 1967, PINK FLOYD performed at the second event at Alexandra Palace, their name on the bill was second only to Eric Burdon and the new line-up of his band THE ANIMALS.

When PINK FLOYD's turn came, Barrett wasn't around. June found him in the dressing room, “sick-witted, sitting there, frozen like a stone sculpture.” She tried to shake him off while the others put on their stage costumes. "Sid!" - she shouted, “it’s June!” Look at me!" There was not even a shadow of understanding in his blank gaze.

Syd Barrett - Dark Globe

The audience's impatience grew, the director banged on the door with the words: “It's time! It's time to go on stage! “And we were trying to get Sid to come to his senses,” June recalls, “to get him to pull himself together so he could play. He could not speak and was in complete prostration. Roger and I brought him on stage, and on the way we put a guitar around his neck and moved him towards the microphone."

“That's when Roger had to give credit, he managed to get the other two musicians to get together and they played somehow. Peter and Andrew were on the verge of madness - they were tearing their hair out."

The managers' relief when Sid took up his white Stratocaster turned to horror: he played long, dissonant notes that had nothing to do with what the others were playing. For the most part, Barrett “just stood there with his head down.”

The next issue of Melody Maker reported that “Syd Barrett was suffering from “nervous exhaustion,” and the band had canceled all scheduled performances for the entire month of August. As a consequence they lost at least four thousand pounds."

Pink Floyd - See Emily Play

On August 5, 1967, the band's debut album, The Piper At the Gates Of Dawn, recorded at EMI Abbey Road studios in June of that year, appeared.

Even now, PINK FLOYD's debut album is a stunning work. Compared to the two singles released by August 1967 - and considering that five tracks on the disc were recorded before See Emily Play - Piper at the Gates of Dawn shows a surprising maturity. What really stood out about it - and also the link with subsequent works - was the instrumental performance. And not only in songs that are completely devoid of vocals (“Interstellar Overdrive”) and in those where words play a secondary role (“Take Up Thy Stethoscope And Walk,” “Astronomy Domine”), but also in songs that claim to express a meaningful message. On "Lucifer Sam," for example, the group's collaboration makes it feel bigger than it might otherwise be.

Waters told Q magazine in 1987: “As a songwriter, Syd was the one and only. I can never match his insight and perception. In fact, for a long time I would not even dream of being able to penetrate into the essence of things. But I will always hold Sid responsible for making the connection between his own unconscious and the collective unconscious of the group. It took me fifteen years to get anywhere close to this level. But what helped Sid see things the way he perceived them? It's like asking why an artist is an artist? An artist simply sees and feels things differently than most people. To some extent this is a blessing, but it can also be a curse. It brings great satisfaction, but it’s also a terrible burden.”

Syd was never able to recreate the magic of the first album. By August 1967, despite the furor that accompanied the album's release, there were persistent rumors that all was not well in the PINK FLOYD camp.

Sid's problem now appeared much more serious than it seemed at first glance. He suffered from nervous exhaustion, which forced the group to stop working for the rest of the month and cost them the loss of four thousand pounds.

Hoping to somehow get rid of the difficulties that had arisen at home, Andrew King organized a series of concerts in the United States in order to expose PINK FLOYD to a potentially vast American audience.

Pink Floyd - Apples And Oranges

“On the American tour, Sid began to seriously complicate our lives,” says Jenner. “That’s when it became clear that we had a serious problem.” The air of nonchalance disappeared after a disastrous concert at the Cheetah club, where the silence of Barrett's guitar provided food for conversation. Holding the bar, he stood staring into space, his right hand hung with a whip. After Syd couldn't make a sound, Waters and Wright took over vocals.

PINK FLOYD tried to somehow smooth out the situation, but the outbursts continued, and the musicians' patience was wearing thin. On a flight to England, Waters and Mason decided that something had to be done.

Barrett's last major concert with the band was on December 22, 1967, at a show at Kensington's Olympia called "Christmas On Earth Continued". Sid's arms hung listlessly at his sides as PINK FLOYD struggled to perform their part without his active participation.

King: “Terrible things happened on stage. In fact, no one played anything except Roger Waters, who repeated the same rhythmic pattern on the bass guitar over and over again, while everyone else stood there, confused, just not knowing what to do.”

Syd Barrett - Lost Diamond

Nick Mason: “We doubted whether we could do it without Sid. And we made peace with what can be called a damn maniac. We didn’t choose the expressions, but I think that’s what he was.”

Waters: “We got to the point where we had to tell Sid to leave; we respected him as a songwriter, but he was useless live. He developed so many ideas that we did not understand many things. He detuned the guitar and strummed on loose strings. When we left the stage, we fell off our feet because we played without a soul.”

David Gilmour: “At Christmas they just asked if I wanted to come to them? I said: Yes."

Waters, Mason and Wright agreed that a natural replacement for Syd would be Dave Gilmour, who had returned to London and was living on benefits after a year working in France.

Pink Floyd - Paint Box

Mason: “We were practicing old things with him with the idea that we would play with five players. Then Sid came along with new material. The song was called 'Have You Got It Yet?', but because he kept making changes, we couldn't rehearse it."

Waters: “This was truly the behavior of a mad genius. What’s interesting is that I didn’t get it one bit. I was there for about an hour while he sang, “Well, it’s got it,” and I sang, “No, no.” Terrible!"

As a quintet, PINK FLOYD played five shows and then decided it was pointless: Barrett's appearances were ruining the flow of the show.

Waters and Mason, in a personal meeting, bluntly told Peter Jenner that they had decided to take Dave into the group and give him seven pounds a week. They told him straight out that Sid had gone crazy and they couldn't continue playing with him.

Gilmour: “The idea was to let me play and sing on the records while Syd strummed his stuff next to me. The other option was for him to stay home and write material instead of going on stage every night and crashing shows. Because of things like this, the group died."

Barrett was obsessed with the idea that he was ending his life as a failure. The whole world could have been at his feet, but he couldn't do it right choice. He simply could not do anything for a long time, changing his decisions halfway, losing motivation. The same was his change of mood - paranoid trance and sadness, and a moment later - already radiant, charming and cheerful.

Syd Barrett - Octopus

Although Barrett's musical contributions to the group ended in January, the split in the group was not reported in print until April 6. He left the ensemble when work on the second album “A Saucerful Of Secrets” was a quarter completed. In connection with his life crisis and departure from the group, Sid’s composition “Jugband Blues”, which closes the album, appears in a completely different light. In addition, he plays on Rick Wright's "Remember A Day" leftover from the Piper recordings and possibly another of his compositions "See Saw", as well as on Waters' "Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun".

During the period of work on the second album, Syd Barrett had already completely withdrawn into himself and, in fact, both he and Dave Gilmour were equally responsible for the guitar parts.

Dave became his replacement in the group, however, he was the only one with whom Sid subsequently maintained a normal relationship for a long time.

In March 1969, the unpredictable Barrett hinted at Abbey Road studios that he wanted to record an album. The rumor reached the ears of EMI's Malcolm Jones, a former rock musician then in his early twenties. Jones was responsible for both contracts with DEEP PURPLE and Marc Bolan, as well as the creation of a new progressive label, Harvest Records (to which PINK FLOYD themselves would move). A Barrett fan himself, Malcolm was enthusiastic about the idea. He immediately organized a meeting with him, at which Barrett appeared as the former charismatic Sid.

Released in the early days of 1970, The Madcap Laughs received favorable reviews.

At the end of 1970, his second solo album, Barrett, was recorded at EMI's Abbey Road studios and released in November. Dave Gilmour and Rick Wright took part in its recording. With the exception of the fun, evocative first PINK FLOYD album "Baby Lemonade" and "Gigolo Aunt", the record suffers from Syd's increased inability to perform or even write songs clearly.

The group, meanwhile, was moving along its own path of development. Loneliness life path identity in a cruel and heartless world would become an overarching theme in almost all of Roger's subsequent lyrics for PINK FLOYD. The first lines were written for three passages that did not yet have a concrete embodiment (they ended up in a completely different form on “Wish You Were Here” and “Animals”). One of them was a sad reflection on the disintegration of Syd Barrett's personality ("Shine On You Crazy Diamond"), the other two (then called "Raving and Drolling" and "Gotta Be Crazy") were accusatory tirades against a social order that abandons its children "empty, hungry and stoned."

In 1975, Barrett, plump and with a haircut, unexpectedly appeared at Abbey Road Studios in London, where Pink Floyd were recording the album Wish You Were Here, the title song of which was dedicated to Barrett.

Syd Barrett - Love Song

In 1988, the collection “Opel” was released, containing previously unreleased songs by Barrett, recorded between 1968 and 1970.

Since the early 1980s, Barrett has barely appeared in public and has lived in extreme seclusion at his mother's house, painting and gardening.

Syd Barrett - Golden Hair

On 7 July 2006 he died at his home in Cambridgeshire, aged 60. The cause of death, as the musician's relatives told the Guardian newspaper, was complications caused by diabetes.

There are many controversial reasons for Syd Barrett's nervous breakdown and gradual withdrawal. He is often considered a victim of LSD, but in reality everything is much more complicated. From an early age, he was unusually attractive and knew how to win people over, and his penchant for anarchy for the time being remained in the shadows. The key to his complex inner world may be short biography, published in 1967 in Disc and Music Eco. It conveys to us Sid's strong beliefs about the need for absolute freedom: he hated criticizing others and despised those who hindered or criticized him. He liked to say that all the “average people” (producers, engineers, executives, etc.) were bad people.

Very few people have had such a profound impact on rock music as Syd Barrett. He was ahead of his time. His lyrics were original and inventive, extending far beyond the usual themes of love and sex. He started out borrowing from early sixties guitar themes, but very quickly developed his own distinctive style. He was a great improviser. It's a pity that Sid's recorded legacy consists of only three albums and several unfinished compositions. The adult world turned out to be too cruel and unrealistic for Madcap.

Syd Barrett - Wined and Dined

Pink Floyd is considered one of the most successful bands in the history of rock music. One of its founders was Syd Barrett, whose biography is presented in this article.

Parents

Barrett Seed was born in January 1946 in Cambridge. His family was middle class and lived in a house on Glisson Road, in a prosperous area. Roger, as his parents called him, was the third of five children of Arthur Max Barrett, a relative of the famous British feminist Elizabeth Garrett Anderson. The boy's father was a member of the Cambridge Philharmonic, played the piano and loved classical music. Roger's mother, Winifred, also shared his interests.

Childhood

Already at a young age, the future rock star showed interest in music. However, playing the piano gave the guy much less pleasure than drawing. Nevertheless, he was delighted when he was given a ukulele. This instrument was soon replaced by a banjo, and at the age of 14, Roger’s parents bought him a Hofner acoustic guitar.

A year later, Barrett Seed began playing electric guitar and designed an amplifier. He and his older brothers attended Morley Memorial Junior School. The teacher there was the mother of his future comrade and like-minded person Roger Waters. In 1957, Barrett Seed transferred to Cambridgeshire School for Boys. There he met Roger Waters.

Sid

Regarding the rock star name there is interesting legend. According to her, Roger began to be called Sid at the age of 14 in honor of the famous jazz double bassist. Syd Beat Barrett was also from Cambridge. He enjoyed great popularity among his fellow citizens, and his name was practically a household name among music lovers.
There is another version. According to it, when Barrett was 13 years old, he arrived at scouting camp wearing a flat cap, which in those years meant he belonged to the working class, that is, to the “seeds.” By the way, as Roger’s sister later recalled, at home he did not allow himself to be called by a street nickname, and he did not like it at all.

The first musical group

A month before Barrett would have turned 16, his father died of cancer. By that time, he lived alone with his parents, since his brothers and sisters had gone to different places. educational institutions. In order not to experience financial problems, Mrs. Barrett rented out empty rooms to tenants, and in the living room she allowed concerts of the group Geoff Mott and The Mottoes, in which her son played, to be held. So she hoped to distract him from sad thoughts about his beloved father.
Barrett's first band did not last long, as the second leader of the group, Jeff Mott, left him and moved to The Boston Crabs.

Studying at the University

In September 1962 Roger (Syd) Barrett joined the art department at Anglia Ruskin University. There he met David Gilmour, who was called Fred in the youth crowd. The young people became interested in the music of The Beatles, which had a strong influence on their subsequent work. For some time, Barrett even performed Beatles songs at student parties and picnics. A year later, he and his friend Libby Gosden accidentally found themselves in a rural club in Cambridgeshire, where they heard The Rolling Stones perform. After the concert, Barrett had the opportunity to chat with Mick Jagger in a bar, and he made a lasting impression on him.

The beginning of a creative journey

Since 1963, Barrett Syd and Gilmour began giving joint acoustic concerts and writing their own songs. For example, during this period the composition Effervescing Elephant was born, which was later included in his solo album Barrett. In addition, during the summer the future rock star played in the group Those Without, and the guy spent the next holidays performing as part of The Hollerin' Blues. In 1964, Barrett and Gosden attended a Bob Dylan concert. This event inspired Sid to write the song Bob Dylan Blues.

Study in London

Despite his passion for rock music, Syd Barrett, whose biography interests many of his fans, sought to take a strong position in society. To do this, he decided to enter the London College of Art. It turned out that the interview was scheduled for the same day when the Beatles, whom Barrett adored, were to perform in Cambridge. Despite the desire to see his idols, he went for an interview. It soon became known that one of the applicants accepted into the painting department was named Syd Barrett.

"Pink Floyd"

In 1965, Roger Waters, Richard Wright and Nick Mason, who were classmates at the Faculty of Architecture of the London Polytechnic Institute, decided to create a musical group. They also recruited their Cambridge friend, Syd Barrett, into their ranks. By the time he joined the group, it was called The Tea Set. It was Sid who had the honor of renaming it the Pink Floyd Blues Band.

That same year, the band had the opportunity to record their first album for free. It included three songs by Barrett. Over time, the musical style of the group began to change, and the role of its ideological leader began to increasingly pass to Sid. In early 1967, Barrett began an affair with Jenny Spiers, who later married one of the Stars musicians, Jack Monk.

The Piper at the Gates of Dawn

This band's first studio album was recorded during the first half of 1967. The life story of Syd Barrett during this period can hardly become a good example for young people, since he was under the influence of drugs almost all the time. Nevertheless, the album was successful and made the group one of the leaders in the field of British rock music.

Beyond Pink Floyd

Photos of Syd Barrett taken in the second half of the 1960s may seem comical. However, at that time he did have a zombie look due to his constant drug use. There were regular reports of his outlandish antics, which delighted the unsuspecting public and horrified his comrades. Then the musicians decided that Sid should no longer appear on stage, and his job was to sit at home and write songs for Pink Floyd. However, this plan failed. The audience saw Barrett's last concert with the group on December 22, 1967 at music show at Kensington's Olympia Hall. In April 1968, it was officially announced that Syd was leaving Pink Floyd. Barrett tried to start a solo career, but he failed.

Outside the music

Barrett made attempts to return to active touring and writing rock compositions until 1975. However, they were not successful. Disillusioned with everything and everyone, he gave up his long hair and gained a lot of weight as he sought solace in pork chops from the refrigerator. The musician moved into his mother's house, where he lived on the money received for each reissue of Pink Floyd albums that contained his songs. Barrett Seed died in 2006.

Look at the photo? Who do you see? Beautiful young man? Englishman?

Yes, he's handsome. He is sociable and friendly, and at the same time extremely lonely. His soul is bottomless, his ideas are bright, his consciousness is limitless, but we really don’t know anything about him. He is the conductor of a non-existent orchestra. He placed the stars in the sky. He is an artist and wrote our world, he is a poet, he created us.

Smile at him, this man gave you the whole world, and took nothing for himself in return.

Don't you like rock? Not interested in music? Spend a little time, turn on the first Pink Floyd album, it's better to hear it once.

Times pass, people change...

"Who is Syd Barrett?"

Many people today will not be able to answer this question.

Syd Barrett is the founder of Pink Floyd. Close...

Syd Barrett is the greatest poet and artist! Even closer...

Syd Barrett is a man who has had such an influence on music that no other musician has ever achieved. A genius who abandoned everything at the peak of fame. Legend!

But during his lifetime, despite the popularity of his work, not many people loved him and were really interested in him.

In 1965, Syd Barrett, Roger Waters, Nick Mason, Richard Wright and Bob Close teamed up to form The Pink Floyd Sounds, which later became Pink Floyd. The first (The Piper at the Gates of Dawn) and part of the second (A Saucerful of Secrets) Pink Floyd album is the work of Sid.

Having released several hits, the group quickly became popular, with singles storming the charts. Crowds of fans, concerts, alcohol, drugs, broken strings, vibrant lives...

A great mystic and hoaxer, a brilliant poet and talented composer, artist, sad young man seeking the truth...

Drugs and rock always went hand in hand, and more and more often Sid began to turn to LSD in his wanderings into the depths of consciousness.

More and more he withdrew into himself, hiding from fame, looking for new rabbit holes... Just a little more... The radiance of the purity of naked perception is breathtaking, and Sid takes another step... then another...

It becomes more and more difficult for the group to play with Sid, his eyes are dim, he does not see people, he is led by his stars. During performances, he loses the rhythm, or takes it with him... He plays crazy solos, and sometimes even turns around and leaves the stage.

Misunderstandings lead to a breakdown in relations and in 1968 Sid left Pink Floyd.

On May 14, 1968, he began recording his first solo album, which was never released. The record company refused to allow Sid to continue working on it.

On April 11, 1969, work began on the album "The Madcap Laughs". In the recording of which Sid was assisted by The Soft Machine. Despite the conflicts and misunderstandings between Sid and the group, the album was released in 1970. Former Pink Floyd colleagues took an active part in the recording of the next album, and in the same 1970 the album “Barrett” was released.

Shortly before his release, Sid returned to Cambridge, settled in his parents' house, closed the doors and windows and began to draw.

Years passed outside the window, the world was in rock fever, the Rolling Stones, the Beatles and the Sex Pistols died down, Metallica, Muse and Radioheads appeared. Pink Floyd released "The wall" and " The dark side of the moon".

Sid drew and read a lot. I loved to sit in the garden and think. He loved to eat delicious food and walk to the store. He was nice and smiling with neighbors and acquaintances. Probably even mowed the lawn at home. Simple quiet life. And everyone forgot about him, once a decade some journalist came to him, but immediately found himself outside the door.

And everything went on as usual. The world forgot about Barrett, Barrett lived in his own world.

On June 5, 1975, Pink Floyd recorded the album Wish You Were Here, dedicated to Syd Barrett, at Abbey Road Studios. Ironically, during the recording of the song Shine On You Crazy Diamond, Sid suddenly appeared in the studio and witnessed the recording of the song dedicated to him. Appearance he shocked the group. Sid no longer looked like himself. He had gained noticeable weight and had his hair cut short. After this short meeting he disappeared and was never heard from again.

On July 7, 2006, at first, quietly, almost in a whisper, the chilling news sounded around the world: “Syd Barrett has died.”

What has changed in the world? What changed?! Is everything the same? No.

Death is always a tragedy. Sid died, the world became quieter, the world became dim. The star went out, the wind died down.

He died quietly, in his bed, on a full moon. They say it's diabetes.

"Who is Syd Barrett?" - we will never know... we can only guess...

He gave us the whole world, he wanted us to see what he saw, so that we could hear what he heard... Thank you, Sid.. We hear you.

Like a supernova, this musician flashed brightly and quickly burned out, leaving behind the main psychedelic band of all time, “Pink Floyd”. Roger Keith Barrett was born in Cambridge on January 6, 1946. The nickname "Sid", the origin of which varies, appeared in his adolescence, when the young man had not yet made a serious choice between painting and music. Subsequently, the second hobby nevertheless came forward, and in the early 60s Barrett found himself in the ensemble “Geoff Mott and the Mottoes”. When the group broke up in 1962, Sid began playing Beatles songs at various parties, but a year later he began writing his own songs. Around the same time, Barrett gave acoustic concerts with David Gilmour, and after moving to London (where he entered Camberwell College of Arts) he became friends with another of his fellow countrymen, Roger Waters. The bassist had his own team, which changed names like gloves, but when Syd became a member of it (at the stage of “The Tea Set”), he ousted Waters from the role of leader and gave the ensemble the final name “Pink Floyd”.

"The Madcap Laughs", of course, did not become a sensation, but it still made its mark on the British charts - the release took the last line in the Top 40. The sessions for the second album took place more compactly (from February to July 1970), and Sid's partners this time were Gilmour, Wright and "Humble Pie" drummer Jerry Shirley. Colleagues no longer "sank" Barrett, but actually helped pull things out, and as a result, "Barrett" turned out to be more charming (though still not particularly focused). And although the record did not reach the chart heights, listeners remembered it for such songs as “Baby Lemonade”, “Gigolo Aunt” and “Effervescing Elephant”. Unfortunately, Sid didn’t last long, and after participating in the short-lived “Stars” project and a failed attempt to record another album, the musician found himself left out of show business. In the mid-70s, he went to his mother in Cambridge and led a reclusive life. It is rumored that he returned to his original name Roger and drawing, and also took up gardening.

In 1988, a collection of early Opel scraps was released, and in 1996, Barrett, as a member of Pink Floyd, was inducted (albeit in absentia) into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. As for his health, it left much to be desired - Roger suffered from stomach ulcers and diabetes, and in the end he was overcome by cancer, which caused the death of the “crazy diamond”. Syd Barrett died on July 7, 2006.

Syd Barrett (English Syd Barrett, real name Roger Keith (Kiss) Barrett (English Roger Keith Barrett) (January 6, 1946 - July 7, 2006) - member and one of the founders of the English rock band Pink Floyd. One of the founders of the psychedelic trend in rock music.

Barrett is responsible for the name Pink Floyd, as well as much of the band's early material, including its first singles (Arnold Layne and See Emily Play) and its first album, The Piper at the Gates of Dawn. Stunning success, a frantic touring rhythm and the use of psychedelics (LSD, Mandrax) led to nervous breakdowns and personality decomposition against the background of progressive schizophrenia, inability to further concert activities and, as a consequence, leaving the group. As a result, on the band's second album, A Saucerful of Secrets, Syd's creative contribution consisted of only one song (Jugband Blues), and David Gilmour took his place.

In 1968, Barrett began his solo career. On May 14, 1968, he began work on his first album, which was never released, since the management of the Harvest company, where Sid recorded, found the material incomprehensible to the listener. However, some recordings from there were later included on such albums as The Madcap Laughs and Opel. Later, on April 11, 1969, Sid began recording his first record, later called The Madcap Laughs. Work progressed very slowly, and the album was released only in 1970. During the recording of the album, Barrett was assisted by The Soft Machine and several other musicians. Barrett himself played guitars and sang. However, the musicians of The Soft Machine refused to participate in the recording of some songs on the album, since Barrett played very inconsistently and did not keep the overall rhythm. As a result, the album was completed with the help of former bandmates Roger Waters and David Gilmour. At the same time, some of the material was left as is: for example, in the song “If It’s In You” Barrett’s false start during the recording session was preserved, and in the song “Feel” the voices from the sound control panel were preserved.

In the work on the second album, called Barrett, Sid was helped by Pink Floyd members Richard Wright and David Gilmour with Jerry Shirley. The songs for this album were recorded using two main methods. The first was that the arrangers first recorded the musical accompaniment, which was then overdubbed with Barrett's vocals and his acoustic guitar parts. These songs were distinguished by a particularly monotonous rhythm; some critics sarcastically compared them to the work of a wind tunnel. The second method repeated the recording of the first album - the arrangers overdubbed their parts with Barrett's already recorded vocals and guitar. Accordingly, these songs had a jagged rhythm and tempo. The most striking example was the song Wolfpack, where the chords change in an unpredictable chaotic order.

Barrett did not wait for the release of his second album and at the end of 1970 went home to Cambridge, where he has since led the life of a quiet recluse. He tried several times to resume his musical activities: he joined the group Stars (and gave several concerts), which, however, soon broke up; during 1972-1973 also gave several concerts. Several other groups and performers (T-Rex, Twink) have the mysterious A. Syd and Crazy Dimond as co-authors of their songs. It is possible that Sid could have recorded during 1972-1974. as a session musician. In 1974, Peter Jenner managed to invite Sid to the studio, but after a few days the recordings stopped because Sid did not show up in the studio.

In 1975, Barrett, plump and with a buzz cut, unexpectedly appeared at London's Abbey Road Studios, where Pink Floyd were recording the album Wish You Were Here, the title song of which was dedicated to Barrett.

In 1988, the Opel compilation album was released, containing previously unreleased songs by Barrett recorded between 1968 and 1970.

Since the early 1980s, Barrett has barely appeared in public and has lived in extreme seclusion at his mother's house, painting and gardening. Barrett is rightfully considered one of the most interesting and mysterious personalities in the history of rock music.

On 7 July 2006 he died at his home in Cambridgeshire, aged 60. The cause of death, as the musician's relatives told the Guardian newspaper, was complications caused by diabetes.