Syd Barrett No Pauper

Often portrayed as a poverty-stricken recluse who spent three decades holed up in a Cambridge house inherited from his mother, Syd Barrett has reportedly left about £1.7 million to his siblings.

The once drug-troubled Pink Floyd founder, who split the band before it became one of the world’s biggest acts, has left the money to be divided between his two brothers and two sisters, according to documents made public May 16th.

His brother Alan receives £425,000, while brother Donald and sisters Rosemary Breen and Ruth Brown receive £275,000 each.

Rosemary, who cared for him during the last few years of his life, also receives the proceeds of selling the house (£310,000) and the £119,000 worth of memorabilia that was auctioned after his death.

The documents also revealed that Barrett, who started the band in Cambridge with Roger Waters in 1965, had suffered from deteriorating mental health in his later years.

His brother Alan reportedly had to authorise the will under the Mental Health Act.

Barrett wrote the hit singles "Arnold Layne" and "See Emily Play" and most of The Piper At The Gates of Dawn, the 1967 debut album that launched four decades of Pink Floyd.

His heavy use of hallucinogenic drugs seemed to take its toll and, amid reports of increasingly erratic behavior, he quit the band a year after the album was released.

He returned in 1970 and recorded two solo albums, The Madcap Laughs and Barrett, but the comeback ended when his psychological problems worsened.

He died of pancreatic cancer at age 60 last July.