Syd Barret was an English musician and painter who was born as Roger Keith Barrett on the 6th of January 1946, in the English University town of Cambridge.

He spent his youth in this town. One of his childhood friends over there was Roger Waters, he would later form the now almost legendary psychedelic Rock band “Pink Floyd” with him.

Unlike many others who later came to fame in music, Barrett’s parents, especially his mother, encouraged him from a young age on in his musical endeavors and seem to have been little disturbed when he chose directions, who were less than mainstream at that time.

Although in almost all later histories of the band Barrett is named as a founding member of the outfit, in fact the proto Pink Floyd had been playing since 1964 in various line-ups and under various names. Barrett joined them at a stage when the called themselves “The Tea Set”.

When sometime later it was found that there was already another band operating under that name, it was Barrett, (who in the meanwhile had changed his name from Roger to Syd, after a local Jazz bassist by the name of Sid Barrett), who came up with the name “The Pink Floyd Sound” which would later be shortened to the band's present name. The name was a combination of the given names of two lesser known American Blues performers, Pink Anderson and Floyd Council.

Pink Floyd started out playing mostly Rhythm and Blues covers, but soon integrated Jazz elements and their own version of budding psychedelia into their music, which gave them a truly unique character, earning them to the status of “House band” of the newly opened UFO club, one of the first psychedelic music venue of London city.

When also another main stage, The Roundhouse, contracted the band, their name in the local underground scene had risen enough to attract not only serious management, but also the attention of Joe Boyd, a major figure of the London music scene of that time. Which resulted, early in 1967, in the recording of the single Arnold Layne.

Arnold Layne did remarkably well in the English charts, resulting in a contract with record giant EMI, which released their first full length effort “The Piper at the Gates of Dawn”, which in the second half of 1967 instantly propelled the band to world fame.

In this period Barrett was the undisputed engine behind the Pink Floyd sound, being the author of their first three singles as well as of most of the material featured on the debut LP. However, Barrett’s place in the sun would be shortlived and already in the latter half of the year it was clear that there was storm brewing on his personal horizon.

By early 1968 his behavior had become so unpredictable and outrageous that the former genius had become a liability for the band: on many occasions Barrett just didn’t do any effort to play seriously during live gigs and sometimes he didn’t show up at all.

There are basically two versions trying to explain his more than weird behavior. The first theory starts from the assumption that Barrett was unable to bear the pressures of sudden fame and that this activated latent psychological disorders.

Others claim that heavy use of psychedelic drugs, mainly LSD, were to blame. It is certain that he increasingly used this king of drugs during that period, but then, others also did and didn’t show such extreme behavior (and anyway, it seem that his drug abuse has been greatly exaggerated in later versions).

Whatever might have been the case, very soon the band could no longer keep up with the totally unreliable Barrett. Only one track of his hand is still featured on Pink Floyds second album and soon after Syd was finally replaced in the band by David Gilmour.

Barrett did not yet completely disappear from view and embarked on a short lived solo career, producing two solo albums, “The Madcap Laughs” and “Barrett”, on which he was supported by Pink Floyd members and various old friends from the underground scene.

Although later on both albums would be highly acclaimed by lovers of the psychedelic genre, it seems that most of the songs date back to the heyday of Syd’s creative genius in 1966 and early 1967 and very few material was actually written at the time of recording the songs. Apart from a couple of short BBC radio appearances, Barrett only one time more played live, at 6 June 1970, only to walk of the stage after 4 not to well performed songs.

From now on it goes only downhill with the musical career of Barrett, although in 1972 he played a few gigs with Twink Alder and one with Nektar, he now rapidly faded from the public eye. A 1974 effort to get him back into the record studios failed as did several later efforts by well known punk musicians to get him on board as a producer. The long period until his death in 2006, Barrett spent in self-sought seclusion, only to often being disturbed by myth hunting journalists.

What remained of Barrett was indeed just a myth which became inflated larger and larger as the years passed. Many a romantic story, such as him living the simple live of a small time farmer in Scotland, have been proven utter fabrications.

In fact the long remainder of his days were spent in the cities of London, (for short periods), and his hometown of Cambridge. The only serious accounts we have about his later years, come from his sister Rosemary, who seemed to have been the only person with which he kept in close contact during all these years.

From her we get the picture of a rather strange person who had largely turned inwards, but by no means the psychotic schizophrenic that the press made out of him. After laying down his guitar for good, he returned to his original artistic endeavour, painting, which he seems to have performed with enthusiasm until shortly before his death.

Suffering from serious digestive disorders and diabetes, after 2000 his health gradually deteriorated until his death at age 60 in the year 2006. However, the hype has certainly not died with him and numerous commemorative events have been held since.

Rock ‘n Roll needs is heroes and without Syd having wanted it he was proclaimed one, a status he cannot even escape after death. Although his active career in music was short, Syd Barrett’s contributions are such that it is indeed worth remembering him, as it cannot be denied that he has been one of those who have shaped and put their stamp on the early psychedelic music.

To illustrate the far reaching influence the artist Syd Barret still has, at the time of this edit, October 2012, a small commemorative festival for him is in the making in, of all places, Beijing, China!

Gletscherwolf, November 2010 (Edit October 2012)