Pink Floyd Legend / Co-founder Syd Barrett Dies At 60

NEW YORK (Top40 Charts) - Pink Floyd founding member Syd Barrett has died, a spokeswoman for the band said today. She said: "He died very peacefully a couple of days ago. There will be a private family funeral." It has been reported that he died last Friday from complications related to diabetes.

A statement from Pink Floyd said: "The band are naturally very upset and sad to learn of Syd Barrett's death.
Syd was the guiding light of the early band line-up and leaves a legacy which continues to inspire."

Born Roger Keith Barrett on 6 January 1946, Barrett was one of the most influential and enigmatic artists to emerge from the music scene in the 1960s.
Barrett was born in Cambridge, England, to a well off middle class family, the youngest of five siblings. His father Arthur Barrett was a prominent pathologist and both he and his wife Winifred encouraged the young Roger (as he was then) in his music. 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 left Pink Floyd in 1968 and, apart from a short solo career, had lived as a recluse in Cambridge.
After leaving Pink Floyd, Barrett distanced himself from the public eye. However, at the behest of EMI and Harvest Records, he did have a brief solo career, releasing two mercurial solo albums, 'The Madcap Laughs' and 'Barrett.'
The 60-year-old passed away at his home in Cambridge following complications related to his diabetes.