ALTHOUGH PINK Floyd's performance at Live 8 in 2005 prompted speculation about a reunion, the death from cancer of the band's keyboard player Rick Wright, at the age of 65, puts paid to that notion.
Wright was one of its founding members and in the early years, was regarded as one of its creative forces, even if the spotlight followed the erratically brilliant Syd Barrett. Wright was born in northwest London and met bandmates Nick Mason and Roger Waters while studying architecture at the Regent Street polytechnic.
They formed a band called the Architectural Abdabs, but when Barrett joined, they changed their name to Pink Floyd, in honour of US bluesmen Pink Anderson and Floyd Council.
Barrett's compositions such as See Emily Play and Arnold Layne became the band's calling cards, and he wrote 10 of the 11 songs on their 1967 debut album, The Piper at the Gates of Dawn. Wright sang lead on some tracks. Barrett was eased out of the band in 1968 following a deterioration in his mental state and was replaced by guitarist David Gilmour.
As the band's music began to move away from pop towards extended instrumental pieces, Wright co-wrote the 12-minute title track of their second album, 1968's A Saucerful of Secrets, and contributed to other songs.
For 1969's Ummagumma, he devised the four-part instrumental piece Sysyphus. He was prominent among the songwriting credits for 1971's Meddle, co-writing the epic Echoes. Wright wrote The Great Gig in the Sky and Us and Them for 1973's The Dark Side of the Moon. The album sold 20 million copies and spent 741 weeks in the US charts.
He contributed to the band's elegy to Syd Barrett, Shine On You Crazy Diamond, from Wish You Were Here (1975), but his relationship with Waters hit rock bottom during sessions for Waters's bombastic project, The Wall. Waters threatened to scrap the project if Wright stayed on.
Wright was back for the band's first album without Waters, A Momentary Lapse of Reason (1987) and co-wrote five songs from The Division Bell (1995).
In 1996, he released his second solo album Broken China, with vocals by Sinéad O'Connor. At the time of his death, he was working on a new album. "He was such a lovely, gentle, genuine man and will be missed terribly by so many who loved him," said Gilmour.
Wright is survived by his wife Millie and their son Ben. He also had two children with his first wife, Juliette Gale. He divorced his second wife Franka in 1994.
• Richard William Wright: born July 28th, 1943; died September 15th, 2008