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Wish You Were Here (1975) was almost equally successful and included a nine-part suite Shine on You Crazy Diamond as a tribute to Barrett. Part of it was sung by Wright but it was to be his last lead vocal until 1992, when the group re-formed without the dominant presence of Waters.

On both Animals (1977) and The Wall (1979), Wright’s influence was much diminished, and he was fired during the recording of the latter by Waters, who was now calling all the shots as de facto leader.

By then Wright had a heavy cocaine addiction and when he refused to return early from his summer holiday to finish the album, it was the final straw. Waters claimed there was no alternative but to dismiss him from the group, although Gilmour and Mason later claimed they had opposed his sacking. Wright finished the album and continued to perform live with the band as a hired hand on a fixed wage.

By the time of the 1983 studio album, The Final Cut, Michael Kamen and Andy Bown were employed to produce the keyboards rather than Wright. It was the only Floyd album on which he did not appear. Two years later in 1985 Waters announced his own departure and effectively declared the band dead. Gilmour and Mason, however, asserted their right to the name and after a bitter legal battle released the 1987 album A Momentary Lapse of Reason under the Pink Floyd name without Waters but with Wright back on keyboards, initially as an employee but restored soon to full status as a band member. When the band recorded material for the 1992 classic-car racing film La Carrera Panamericana, it featured the first Floyd material co-written by Wright since 1975.

Pink Floyd at the Rainbow, 1972

Shrill shrieks, notes and even at one time the sepulchral tones of Malcolm Muggeridge reverberate around the hall

• Light and sound: Pink Floyd at the Albert Hall

Multimedia

• Listen to Pink Floyd sing Comfortably Numb

• Listen to Pink Floyd sing Goodbye Blue Sky

• Watch a Pink Floyd interview - 1971 Australian tour

Related Links

• Times Obituary: Syd Barrett

• Pink Floyd’s album cover artist reveals lighter side of the moon

Another studio album, The Division Bell, followed in 1994, with Wright playing a full role, and it topped both the British and American charts.

After that band members concentrated on solo projects, until 2005 when Wright, Mason and Gilmour reunited with Waters for a one-off performance at the London Live 8 concert — the first time all four had shared a stage together in 24 years.

Away from the Floyd, Wright released the solo albums Wet Dream (1978) and Broken China (1996), and the album Identity (1984) as half the duo Zee with Dave Harris.

Wright was married three times and is survived by his wife, Millie, and three children, two of them from his first marriage.

Rick Wright, rock musician, was born on July 28, 1943. He died of cancer on September 15, 2008, aged 65