News

Celebrated choreographer and one-time Pink Floyd collaborator Roland Petit has died in Geneva, Switzerland. He was 87.

Petit formed his ballet company, Les Ballets de Paris de Roland Petit, in 1947, and would go on to work on a number of big Hollywood productions, including “Hans Christian Andersen” (1951), “Daddy Long Legs” (1955) “The Glass Slipper” (1955) and “Anything Goes” (1956).

But Floyd fans probably best know Petit for the project he staged with live music by the band in late-1972 and early-1973.

Suggested to him by his then-10-year-old daughter, “The Pink Floyd Ballet” was performed by Les Ballet de Marseille in November 1972 in Marseille and January 1973 in Paris, with Petit serving as artistic director and choreographer.

The band provided live renditions of “One of These Days,” “Careful With That Axe, Eugene,” “Obscured by Clouds/When You’re In” and “Echoes.”

Petit had lived in Switzerland for more than a decade. He’s survived by his wife, ballerina Zizi Jeanmaire, and his daughter, Valentine Petit.

YouTube offers some clips of the Pink Floyd Ballet performances.

John Alldis, who conducted the choir on Pink Floyd’s “Atom Heart Mother” (1970), died Monday. He was 81.

Alldis was the man who stepped in for composer Ron Geesin, when he nearly came to blows with a horn player while recording “Atom Heart Mother.” (Hear Geesin’s account of the incident.)

Alldis’s work with Floyd was a tiny sliver of his long career, which began with The John Alldis Choir in 1962.

Read more at the Telegraph.

Peter Christopherson, one third of prolific album cover design team Hipgnosis, has died. He was 55.

Christopherson worked on covers for Floyd’s “A Nice Pair” (1973), “Wish You Were Here” (1975), and “Animals” (1977).

In addition to his design work, Christopherson was a musician, and a member of bands Throbbing Gristle and Psychic TV.

Singer-songwriter Lesley Duncan, who counted backing vocals on Pink Floyd’s “Dark Side of the Moon” album among her many credits, died Friday. She was 66.

In addition to appearing on “Dark Side” and albums by Elton John, Alan Parsons Project, Dave Clark 5, Dusty Springfield, Ringo Starr, Donovan and many other others, her “Love Song” appeared on John’s “Tumbleweed Connection” (1971).

Duncan released five solo albums during her career as well.

Actor Richard Todd has died of cancer at age 90. He died in his sleep at his home in Grantham, England, yesterday.

Todd appeared in more than 70 films and TV episodes from 1937 to 2007, but he’s probably best know as Royal Air Force pilot Guy Gibson in the film “The Dam Busters.”

It’s this 1955 movie that’s playing on Pink’s TV in scenes from “Pink Floyd The Wall” (1982).

Todd was a real-life veteran who fought with the British 6th Airborne Division and took part in the D-Day landings of 1944.

He also starred in “The Longest Day” (1962), which re-enacts the D-Day landings.

Todd was Ian Fleming‘s first choice to play the role of James Bond in the first Bond film “Dr. No.” Scheduling conflicts meant  he had to pass up the role, which went to Sean Connery.

Eric Woolfson, co-founder of The Alan Parsons Project, has died of cancer in London. He was 64.

Parsons was perhaps best known as the engineer of Pink Floyd’s “Dark Side of the Moon” when he started his collaboration with Woolfson in the early-’70s.

The two went on to record 10 albums together.

Read the BBC’s story about him.

Roger “The Hat” Manifold, whose place in Pink Floyd lore was secured when he agreed to be interviewed by Roger Waters during the making of “Dark Side of the Moon,” died Oct. 31.

Manifold, who’s heard on “Dark Side” telling the story of how he nearly got into fisticuffs with a rude driver (“Give him a short, sharp, shock …”), was a roadie for a number of bands, including the Floyd. His nickname came from his habit of wearing a top hat while working.

Services were held yesterday in West Norwood, London.