Rick Wright's Firing from Pink Floyd: Tax Debts, The Wall, and the Humiliation of Being Rehired as a Session Player

The most interesting thing about Rick Wright’s departure from Pink Floyd isn’t that he quit — it’s that he was flat-out fired during the recording of The Wall, then quietly rehired as a salaried session musician to play the tour. The official story was “creative differences,” but the real trigger was money. Wright had gone through an expensive divorce, racked up serious tax debts, and was in the middle of a personal financial mess. Roger Waters and David Gilmour, already frustrated with his lack of input on Animals and The Wall, used his financial unreliability as the final reason to push him out.

Wright was devastated. He had been a founding member, and being cut loose mid-project — and then offered