Rick Wright's Firing During 'The Wall': Waters' Rationale and Band Reaction

The interesting thing about Rick Wright’s firing in 1979 isn’t just that Roger Waters pushed him out—it’s that David Gilmour and Nick Mason went along with it, even though they disagreed. Waters said Wright had stopped contributing creatively, that his keyboard parts were minimal, and that he wasn’t invested in the band anymore. Gilmour later admitted he and Mason should have fought harder to keep him, but at the time they were tired, the sessions were tense, and Waters had already taken control.

Waters’ official reasoning was that Wright wasn’t pulling his weight and that the band could finish The Wall without him as a member. He also didn’t want Wright on the tour, though Wright eventually came back as a salaried session musician to avoid losing money on the production. Gilmour and Mason initially tried to keep Wright in the band, but Waters threatened to scrap the entire project if Wright stayed—so they gave in.

Mason, in his memoir, recalled that firing Wright felt like “kicking a man when he’s down,” since Wright was already struggling with personal issues. Gilmour later said it was one of the band’s worst decisions, and that he “shouldn’t have been so passive.” The firing effectively ended any pretense of Pink Floyd as a democracy, and it created a rift that never fully healed—even after Waters left and Wright returned for the