Richard Wright, the Keyboard player who was responsible for much of Pink Floyd’s psychedelic sound passed away yesterday. Wright, who was one of the founding members of the band, died in his British home after a losing a battle to cancer.

According to a spokesperson for the Wright family, "The family of Richard Wright, founder member of Pink Floyd, announce with great sadness that Richard died after a short struggle with cancer. The family have asked that their privacy is respected at this difficult time." The spokesperson would not disclose what sort of cancer Wright had been suffering from.

Wright was there in 1965 alongside Syd Barrett, Roger Waters and Nick Mason when they formed Pink Floyd (then known as the Pink Floyd Sound) and even earlier, before Barrett came along, and the other members tried to play rhythm and blues as Sigma 6.

Aside from writing the keyboard and piano parts for Pink Floyd, Richard Wright was also the writer of two of the songs from The Dark Side of the Moon. The album shot the band to fame and is the record holder for the longest time spent on the Billboard 200 best albums chart, 741 consecutive weeks.

Wright left the band in 1978 due to frictions with Roger Waters, but he rejoined the band by 1988. He has released several solo albums, which are highly regarded among Pink Floyd fans, and was reportedly working on another album when the disease took him.

Wright is survived by children Ben, Jamie and Gala, as well as a grandson.