Pink Floyd founder member Richard Wright dies after cancer battle

founder member Richard Wright died yesterday aged 65.
His family said he had succumbed after 'a short struggle with cancer'.
The self-taught pianist formed the band with bassist Roger Waters and drummer Nick Mason in 1965 at the Regent Street School of Architecture in London.

Musical force: Pink Floyd's Richard Wright has died at the age of 65 after a short struggle with cancer

With Dave Gilmour on guitar, they enjoyed huge success, peaking in 1973 with The Dark Side Of The Moon, which has sold more than 34million copies and is one of the most successful rock LPs of all time.
Wright wrote the track The Great Gig In The Sky for the album.
The Dark Side of the Moon is in the Guinness Book Of Records for being in the charts longer than any album - 591 consecutive weeks in the Billboard Top 200.
Wright also wrote Us And Them for the album. The two were cited by Gilmour last night as its key tracks.
'Without Us And Them and The Great Gig In The Sky, what would The Dark Side Of The Moon have been?' he said.
Gilmour said Wright was 'gentle, unassuming and private, but his soulful voice and playing were vital, magical components of our most recognised Pink Floyd sound'.
He added: 'I loved him and will miss him enormously. I have never played with anyone quite like him.'

Pink Floyd Band members in 1972: From left to right, Roger Waters, Nick Mason, Dave Gilmour and Richard Wright, boarding a plane for their tour of Japan

In the early days of Pink Floyd, Wright was seen as the group's dominant musical force.

'In my view, all the greatest Pink Floyd moments are the ones where he is in full flow,' Gilmour said. Wright mastered the <trombone, saxophone, guitar and piano as a teenager and had hoped to emulate jazz greats Miles Davis and John Coltrane.
But instead he joined Waters and Mason to form what was originally called The Pink Floyd Sound.
The Londoner, who married three times, pursued a solo career for several years after falling out with Waters but returned to record and tour with the band after Waters quit.
Gilmour said: 'It's a mark of his modesty that standing ovations came as a huge surprise to him.'