Syd Barrett

Roger Keith ("Syd") Barrett (born January 6, 1946 in Cambridge, England, died 7th July 2006 in Cambridge, England) was a British singer-songwriter and guitarist. Best remembered as one of the founding members of the group Pink Floyd, Barrett was active as a rock musician for only a few years, before problems forced him into obscurity, but he has been remarkably influential. Pink Floyd (originally called both "Tea Set" and "The Pink Floyd Sound", then later "The Pink Floyd") was formed in 1965. Barrett acquired the nickname "Syd" at the age of 15, a reference to an old local Cambridge drummer, Sid Barrett. Syd changed the spelling in order to differentiate himself from his namesake. He named the band after two obscure bluesmen, Pink Anderson and Floyd Council. While the band began by playing cover versions of American R&B songs (much in the same vein as contemporaries The Rolling Stones, The Yardbirds, and The Kinks), they carved out their own style of improvised rock and roll by 1966, which drew as much from improvised jazz as it did from British pop-rock, such as that championed by The Beatles. In that year, a new rock concert venue, the UFO, opened in London and quickly became a haven for British psychedelic music. Pink Floyd became their most popular attraction, and, after making appearances at the rival Roundhouse, became the most popular musical group of the so-called "London Underground" psychedelic music scene.