In the new edition of the Asian edition of Time Magazine, published tomorrow, Nick Mason pays tribute to his old friend and Pink Floyd founder Syd Barrett, who sadly passed away on July 7th.

Syd and Nick, 1967

He continues: "Thanks to Syd, by early 1967 we had a recording deal, two hit singles and had appeared on television. But that's when he began to disintegrate. On stage he was there physically but not musically. The rest of us were busy—and busy being in denial—so we didn't try to find out what the problem was: mental breakdown, overuse of LSD or finding himself in a commercial environment he never sought. To this day none of us knows. What we do know is that we lost a charismatic and inspiring leader."

Later in the tribute, he refers to the appearance at the Wish You Were Here sessions, a picture of which appears in Nick's book "Inside Out". "I never met him after that but he had been on our minds recently. David, Roger Waters and I were all moved by Tom Stoppard's new play Rock 'n' Roll, which in part deals with Syd as a fabulous young man and his transformation. It's the transformation people talk about now, but what I most remember is his brilliance. Shine on indeed."

The full tribute can be read through this link.

Our thanks to Dion Johnson from SydBarrett.org for the information on this tribute.