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Quotes: "Stay out of the road, if you want to grow old."

Group Members:

Pink Floyd were an English rock band who earned international recognition for their psychedelic rock music in the late 1960s, and for their progressive rock music from the 1970s onward. Their work is marked by the use of philosophical lyrics, sonic experimentation, innovative album art, and elaborate live shows. One of rock music's most critically acclaimed and commercially successful acts, the group have sold over 200 million albums worldwide, including 74.5 million certified units in the United States, making them one of the best-selling music artists of all time.

Pink Floyd were formed in 1965, and originally consisted of university students Roger Waters, Nick Mason, Richard Wright, and Syd Barrett. The group were a popular fixture on London's underground music scene, and under Barrett's leadership released two charting singles, "Arnold Layne" and "See Emily Play", and a successful debut album, The Piper at the Gates of Dawn. In 1968, guitarist and singer David Gilmour joined the line-up. Barrett was soon removed, due to his increasingly erratic behaviour. Following Barrett's departure, bass player and singer Roger Waters became the lyricist and dominant figure in the band, which went on to achieve worldwide critical and commercial success with the concept albums The Dark Side of the Moon, Wish You Were Here, Animals, and The Wall.

Wright left the band in 1979, and Waters in 1985, but Gilmour and Mason (rejoined by Wright) continued recording and touring under the name Pink Floyd. Waters used legal means to try to keep them from using the name, declaring Pink Floyd a spent force, but the parties reached an out-of-court settlement allowing Gilmour, Mason and Wright to continue as Pink Floyd. The band again enjoyed worldwide successes with A Momentary Lapse of Reason (1987) and The Division Bell (1994), and Waters continued as a solo musician, releasing three studio albums. Although for some years relations between Waters and the remaining three members were sour, the band reformed in 2005 for a final one-off performance at Live 8.

Nick Mason and Roger Waters first met while studying architecture at the Regent Street Polytechnic in London. The pair first played together in a band formed by Keith Noble and Clive Metcalfe, with Noble's sister Sheilagh. Fellow student Richard Wright joined later, and the band became a sextet, taking the name Sigma 6. Waters initially played rhythm guitar before switching to bass, and Wright's girlfriend was a regular guest artist. The band performed initially during private functions, rehearsing in a tearoom in the basement of Regent Street Polytechnic. They played songs by The Searchers, and also material written by fellow student Ken Chapman, who became their manager and songwriter.

In September 1963 Mason and Waters moved into the lower flat of Stanhope Gardens, owned by Mike Leonard, a part-time tutor at the Regent Street Polytechnic. Leonard was a designer of light machines (perforated discs spun by electric motors to cast patterns of lights on the walls)[nb 1] and for a time played keyboard alongside them, using the front room of the flat for rehearsals. Mason later moved out of the flat, while accomplished guitar player Bob Klose moved in. Sigma 6 changed their name on several occasions, from the Megadeaths, to the Architectural Abdabs, and then to The Tea Set.

In a period when everyone was being cool in a very adolescent, self-concious way, Syd was unfashionably outgoing; my enduring memory of our first encounter is the fact that he bothered to come up and introduce himself to me.

Metcalfe and Noble left to form their own band, but in 1964 Klose and Waters were joined at Stanhope Gardens by Syd Barrett. Then aged 17, Barrett had arrived in London in late 1963, to study at Camberwell College of Art. Waters and Barrett were childhood friends; the bassist had often visited Barrett as he played guitar at his mother's house.