Monday, Richard Wright, the keyboardist and one of the founding members of psychedelic rock band Pink Floyd died of cancer.

Pink Floyd is one of my favorite bands of all time and I think Wright’s death is a big deal. A couple years ago, I saw Roger Waters (bassist/lyrics/vocals of PInk Floyd) in concert as he performed the entire Dark Side of the Moon album, my favorite album of all time. The show lacked the other Floyd members, but they still needed two keyboardists just to cover for Wright in concert. When I learned of his death, I came back to my apartment and immediately threw on “The Great Gig in the Sky”, a beautiful song about death that Wright wrote for the 1973 masterpiece album. His brilliant keys will also be remembered in songs like “Sheep”, “San Tropez” and “Us and Them.” Even though all PInk Floyd fans know the band will probably not reunite for another tour or album after their historic Live 8 performance a few years ago, now we know even if they did, it would be sadly incomplete.