Syd Barrett Leaves Family $2.25 million

Rock 103 Memphis ^ | November 13, 2006 | WENN Staff

[mcg2000]

The former Pink Floyd star died from cancer in July at the age of 60.

Late Pink Floyd star Syd Barrett left his brother and two sisters a $2.25 million estate in his will.

The former singer/songwriter died from cancer in July at the age of 60. His family was forced to write Barrett's will for him, because he was considered incapable himself under the Mental Health Act.

Barrett left the legendary band in 1968 after suffering an LSD-induced breakdown.

[mcg2000]

1968 Pre-Breakdown



1975 Post-Breakdown

[ArcadeQuarters]

Cancer? The original announcement said he died from complications of diabetes.

[Screamname]

His family was forced to write Barrett's will for him, because he was considered incapable himself under the Mental Health Act.

Wow, and coincidentally they got the money.

[Rembrandt_fan]

Nothing sinister going on. Barrett's family took care of him for decades. He was, I understand, very childlike.

[AmericaUnite]

Got to show these pics to my 13 yr old "metal" drummer.

[mcg2000]

“Roger worked in a variety of styles — though he admired no one after the impressionists — and you could say he came up with his own type of conceptual art. He would photograph a particular flower and paint a large canvas from the photograph. Then he would make a photographic record of the picture before destroying the canvas. In a way, that was very typical of his approach to life. Once something was over, it was over. He felt no need to revisit it."

- Rosemary Barrett (sister)

[Screamname]

I realy don`t think this guy was as mentally ill as people believe. When he was in Pink Floyd, it seems he just took too many drugs, especially LSD which basically makes you act schitzo. Then when he left them, he put out solo albums and then seems to have quit the music biz in favor of painting and gardening. I really don`t think the guy was as nuts as people believe.

I mean doing that music thing is not for everybody, it is very stressful in a lot of ways. You`re under a contract and have to coninually put out new material, tour, you have liberals all around you constantly, especially back then in the `60`s and `70`s. He could have just quit because he hated it. There are tons of musicians who did that, who played for a few years then completely disappear.

[Screamname]

Yeah, read this, I got this from his bio on Wikipedia:

"After Syd died, his sister, Rosemary Breen, spoke to biographer Tim Willis for The Sunday Times. She insisted that Syd neither suffered from mental illness nor received treatment for it at any time since they resumed regular contact in the 1980s. She allowed that he did spend some time in a private “home for lost souls” — Greenwoods in Essex — but claimed there was no formal therapy programme there. Some years later, Syd apparently agreed to sessions with a psychiatrist at Fulbourn psychiatric hospital in Cambridge, but Mrs. Breen claimed that neither medication nor therapy was considered appropriate in her brother's case. As to how Syd spent his time, his sister denied he was a recluse. Syd, she said, took up photography, and sometimes they went to the seaside together. "Quite often he took the train on his own to London to look at the major art collections — and he loved flowers. He made regular trips to the Botanic Gardens and to the dahlias at Anglesey Abbey, near Lode. But of course, his passion was his painting", she said."

[zip]

ping

[j_k_l]

So, so you think you can tell Heaven from Hell, blue skies from pain.

Can you tell a green field from a cold steel rail? A smile from a veil?

Do you think you can tell?

And did they get you to trade your heroes for ghosts? Hot ashes for trees?

Hot air for a cool breeze?

Cold comfort for change?

And did you exchange a walk on part in the war for a lead role in a cage?

How I wish, how I wish you were here.

We're just two lost souls swimming in a fish bowl, year after year,

Running over the same old ground.

What have we found? The same old fears.

Wish you were here.

[Cheapskate]

Cheers to Ya Syd!

[tfecw]

Also, and as you mentioned, Syd continued making music after he got tossed from floyd. Syd wasn't with floyd during their superstar years. He was long gone before they really hit it big. So i'm not sure if your theory of him leaving the band (or forcing them to toss him) because he didn't like the biz makes any sense.

[dmz]

Awesome that you can make detailed psychological analyses from a wikipedia entry.

[killerw]

Also, and as you mentioned, Syd continued making music after he got tossed from Floyd. Syd wasn't with Floyd during their superstar years. He was long gone before they really hit it big. So i'm not sure if your theory of him leaving the band (or forcing them to toss him) because he didn't like the biz makes any sense.

Once when we were on the “Momentary Lapse of Reasoning” tour, I asked David if they ever saw Sid. He said no, but they sent him a regular check although they didn't have to. I ask him if they ever saw Roger. He said the only time he had any contact with Roger was when a royalty check with Roger's name on it came across his desk to be signed every month.

[LIConFem]

Shine on, you crazy diamond!

[bigdcaldavis]

That bottom pic...ever heard of the story about Syd visiting Floyd in the studio while they were recording the Wish You Were Here album? They noticed a fat guy with a shaved head and shaved eyebrows getting up and brushing his teeth then sitting back down and repeating that process. Finally, Rick Wright said "Good God! It's Syd! How did you get like that?" Syd simply responded "I've got an extra-large fridge in my kitchen, and I've been eating a lot of pork chops." Roger Waters admitted that he was in tears when he saw Syd like that.

IIRC, at the time they were in the middle of recording the song "Shine on You Crazy Diamond".

[fish hawk]

Could have been 20,000,000 + if not for drugs and live style. 2.25 million is a lot more than I will ever see in my lifetime but let's face it , it is nothing in todays world.