Legendary electronic musician William Orbit has died aged 69

Seminal producer William Orbit died at his home on July 23, his friends and family have confirmed in a statement shared via Instagram on August 7.

“We are deeply saddened by his passing,” the statement reads. “He will be greatly missed by us and by so many whose lives he touched through his music, friendship and kindness.”

Orbit is best known for his work on Madonna’s 1998 album ‘Ray of Light’, for which he received three GRAMMY Awards including Best Pop Album, Best Dance Recording. He later received an award for Best Song Written for Visual Media for Madonna’s ‘Music’ album track ‘Beautiful Stranger' in 2001.

With a career spanning four decades and 200 million record sales, Orbit had collaborated and created remixes for the likes of Blur, U2, All Saints, Kraftwerk, Sugababes, Queen and P!nk.

Born in London in 1956, Orbit began his career as part of synth-pop outfit Torch Song throughout the ‘80s alongside Laurie Mayer and Grant Gilbert, later turning his hand at electronica, releasing his groundbreaking solo album ‘Strange Cargo’ in 1987

In the ’90s, Orbit co-founded his progressive house-specialising imprint Guerilla Records, which hosted releases from Leftfield, Felix da Housecat and Orbit’s group Bassomatic.

Orbit continued to define dancefloors at the turn of the Millennium, garnering a UK Top 4 hit in 1999 with his ethereal and emotive rendition of Samuel Barber’s ‘Adagio For Strings’; the track later featured on his 2000-released album 'Pieces in a Modern Style'.

Orbit's most recent studio album, 'The Painter', was released in 2022 and featured collaborations with Katie Melua, Beth Orton, Natalie Walker, Polly Scattergood, Georgia and Gloria Kaba.

Megan Townsend is Mixmag's Deputy Editor, get in touch with her here.