Syd Barrett

Roger Keith Barrett was born on January 6, 1946 in Cambridge, England. The young Roger was actively encouraged in his music and art by his parents, Max and Winifred – at the age of 7 he won a piano duet competition with his sister – and he was to be successful in poetry contests while at Cambridge High School.

He knew Roger Waters from primary school and met David Gilmour as a teenager, so their paths were to cross many times before the formation of Pink Floyd. Roger Barrett acquired the nickname 'Syd' around the age of 14, in a reference to local drummer Sid Barrett, hence the 'Syd' spelling for differentiation, although Roger himself rarely used it.

After a stint at Cambridge School of Art, Syd moved to London to attend Camberwell Art College, and eventually hooked up with Roger Waters, who was attending Regent Street Polytechnic.

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