Pink Floyd mourn keyboardist Wright

Pink Floyd guitarist David Gilmour paid tribute to his "musical partner and friend" Richard Wright.

Gilmour said the band's keyboardist, who died of cancer at 65, was "gentle, unassuming and private but his soulful voice and playing were vital, magical components of our most recognised Pink Floyd sound.

"Like Rick, I don't find it easy to express my feelings in words, but I loved him and will miss him enormously. I have never played with anyone quite like him," he said.

Wright played the keyboard with the guitar group and wrote music for classic albums The Dark Side Of The Moon and Wish You Were Here.

In the early days of Pink Floyd, Wright was seen as the group's dominant musical force.

The Great Gig In The Sky, and Us And Them were his best-known compositions.

"Without Us And Them and The Great Gig In The Sky, what would The Dark Side Of The Moon have been?" Gilmour said.

"Without his quiet touch the album Wish You Were Here would not quite have worked. In my view all the greatest PF moments are the ones where he is in full flow."

London-born Wright mastered the trombone, saxophone, guitar and piano in his teenage years, and had hoped to emulate Miles Davis and John Coltrane, before enrolling in architecture at the Regent Street Polytechnic.

There he met fellow band mates Roger Waters and Nick Mason, and they went on to form the Pink Floyd Sound in 1965.