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Fact #161997

When:

Short story:

Syd Barrett officially leaves Pink Floyd, although he has long-since been replaced by David Gilmour.

Full article:

Roger Waters (Pink Floyd] : We had been managed by Blackhill Enterprises. When Syd flipped the band wanted to keep him but he wanted to add to two saxophone players and a girl singer. We said, "No!" Peter and Andrew thought it couldn't happen without Syd so they stuck with him and that's how Pink Floyd came to be managed by Steve O'Rourke.

Nick Mason (Pink Floyd] : It was getting harder to work with Syd, because we couldn't reach him. He was getting more absent every time, in both senses of the word. He would forget to appear at the gigs. When we were at a radio broadcast he left the studio without warning. He wasn't showing up at the rehearsals anymore. In a word, he wasn't in the band. This situation was gradually becoming more obvious and, one day, Rick, Roger and me, became aware that we couldn't keep playing live if Syd continued in Pink Floyd, since he didn't want to show up in public with us. The thought of breaking up with Syd disturbed us. But it ended up happening and we regret that.

Roger Waters : We had a big and final meeting at Ladbroke Road one day, which came down to me and Syd sitting in a room talking together, and I'd worked out what I thought was the only way that we could carry on together, which was for him to still be a member of the group, still earn his fair share of the money, but Syd not come in gigs at all, become a sort of Brian Wilsonfigure if you like, write songs and come to recording sessions.

By the end of the afternoon I thought that I'd convinced him that it was a good idea and he'd agreed, but it didn't really mean very much because he was likely to change his mind about anything totally, in an hour. He then went home, and I went to see (Pink Floyd's managers) Peter and Andrew and said that this was the end – if this didn't work then we were off, and I asked them to leave it alone for a bit, for all kinds of reasons, the main one being that they didn't see things the same way that I saw it.

Peter Jenner (co-manager, Pink Floyd] : When the split came there was never any question in my mind that I wouldn't go with Syd. I wasn't a very good businessman and that decision tells you a lot about me. But Syd was the genius in the band in terms of the music and I was going to stick with him.

Andrew King (co-manager, Pink Floyd] : The split with the Floyd was very complicated, scary and traumatic. I didn't think that the future lay with Syd rather than the band, partly because I never made the mistake of under-estimating Roger Waters, and partly because I'd seen Syd's problems unravel on the Tour of North America. But I did what I did and we went with Syd.

Roger Waters : They went round to see him and laid various numbers on him, so that was it. We never saw them again except at meetings to dissolve the partnership. We had to sort out who owned what, but that was the end, that day. They were managing Syd for a bit, and Peter Jenner spent about a year trying to make an album, and they did about four tracks all of which were an elbow except for one, and Peter finally gave up.
(Source : not known)