These 3 Musicians Had The Talent to Go The Distance, but Life Had Other Plans 

Acquiring fame in the music business seems nearly impossible. However, what is arguably more impossible is keeping oneself intact when they do acquire it. As we all very well know, there have been many celebrities whose lives and careers have gone down dark paths because of fame, and or major life events. It is a shame when this happens, and it is a shame that it happened to these three musicians, as they had the talent to go the distance, but life sadly had other plans.

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Syd Barrett

The story of Syd Barrett just might be one of the most tragic in rock ‘n’ roll history. For those of you who don’t know, Syd Barrett was one of the driving creative musicians during the early days of Pink Floyd. However, before the band became an international success, Barrett was unfortunately ousted from the band in 1968.

Pink Floyd kicked Barrett out of the band due to his Hallucinogen Persisting Perception Disorder and drug abuse. Following his exclusion, Barrett went on to live a life of seclusion and never rejoined Pink Floyd. The founding member of the band passed away in 2006 from pancreatic cancer.

Sandy Denny

Sandy Denny‘s folk-rock career was short, yet incredibly illustrious. During her career, Denny had a notable solo career and served a pivotal role in the band Fairport Convention. In addition to those achievements, Denny was also one of the few collaborators to join Led Zeppelin, which she did on their track “Battle Of Evermore”.

Tragically, Denny’s career and life were cut short in 1978 after she passed away at 38 years old from a traumatic mid-brain hemorrhage. Denny was well on her way to becoming a major popular force in the music business, and an icon in the folk-rock scene of the l970s and early 1980s.

Fred Neil

Unlike the other musicians on this list, Fred Neil‘s decision to leave his music career behind was completely on his own accord. Known for penning tracks such as “Everybody’s Talkin’”, “Sweet C—e”, and “That’s The Bag I’m In”, Fred Neil was a respected songwriter in the folk music scene. However, before his solo career took off, he decided to get out of the music business.

Neil left his career in the rear-view due to his reluctance towards commercial success and fame. After leaving the industry, Neil left New York, moved to Florida, and devoted his life to dolphin conservation(A pretty cool transition if you ask us). Neil focused on dolphin conservation up until he died in 2001, and only performed on a few instances following his departure from the music scene.

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