Today we celebrate the legacy of Pink Floyd founder Syd Barrett on what would have been his 77th birthday.

He was the principal songwriter behind the band’s debut – 1967 masterpiece The Piper at the Gates of Dawn – and a handful of strong early singles that helped define the psychedelic age. His creative genius was derailed by a drug-fueled psychological collapse, forcing his 1968 removal from the group he helped form. Though Barrett helmed Pink Floyd for barely two years out of their three-decade career, his specter haunted the band for the remainder of their existence and his presence is felt in some of their finest work.

By the end of his life, he had reverted to his birth name, Roger, and settled into his role as an amateur painter and local eccentric in his native Cambridge, England. Syd Barrett, the rock icon, died long before pancreatic cancer claimed his physical body on July 7th, 2006.