In Rock music terms, he's the cult hero to beat all cult heroes, the man who had it all but who crumbled before our very eyes, an enigma from beginning to end.
Born Roger Keith Barrett on January 6th, 1946, in Cambridge, England, Syd Barrett's three abiding passions in life as a teenager were music, religion and painting.
Music became the fulcrum of his existence and before long he founded a band that became known as Pink Floyd. Original material for the band was initially a problem, but Barrett proved adept at writing innocent melodies, occasionally nonsensical lyrics and sometimes rather more profound ditties (including music set to James Joyce's Golden Hair).
He subsequently emerged as leader of the band, a leading day-glo light in London's psychedelic scene where taking acid was de rigeur. In 1967, Pink Floyd scored hits with the singles Arnold Layne and See Emily Play, two classic slices of psychedelia. Shifting up a gear or three in terms of profile and success, Barrett quickly became more and more withdrawn as the pressure of his new-found pop star status began to impact upon his fragile psyche. Indulging in illegal chemical substances added to his problems, and his increasingly unstable behaviour irked his more professional and ambitious band mates. His position in Pink Floyd became untenable when they went to the US to appear on the influential Dick Clark coast-to-coast television show and he refused to mime ("Syd wasn't into moving his lips that day"). Leaving Pink Floyd in 1969, Barrett went to work on solo projects - The Madcap Laughs and Barrett (both in 1970). Although both albums were hailed as the work of a fragile master craftsman, Barrett had had enough of the fame game and quietly slipped into a reclusive state. Every few years, a new compilation album is released (the latest is this year's Wouldn't You Miss Me? The Best Of Syd Barrett), but still Barrett sits back and ignores the hoopla and hype. Cambridge is still his home, and there he remains, living quietly, painting prolifically and listening to classical music - a cracked genius with a legacy that has inspired countless rock bands and a man bigger in commercial terms now than ever.
