William Orbit, producer of Madonna's Ray of Light and All Saints' Pure Shores, dies aged 69
Family of music legend confirm the passing of legendary pop and indie producer
William Orbit, the producer of Madonna's Ray of Light album, has died aged 69, his family have confirmed.
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Born William Wainwright, the producer became well-known in the 1990s for his Strange Cargo series of ambient albums that proved a heavy influence on pop and electronic music.
His 1999 album Pieces in a Modern Style, which included his solo No. 4 hit, his take on Barber's Adagio for Strings, went to No. 2 in the UK.
But Orbit was best-known for his collaborations with the likes of All Saints, especially Pure Shores which featured on The Beach soundtrack, and Blur - Orbit producing the band's 1999 album 13.
He was also behind U2's song Electrical Storm.
His masterpiece perhaps was 1998 album Ray of Light, which included hits Frozen and Drowned World (Substitute for Love) as well as its title track, and is considered one of Madonna's best works and helped reignite her career in the late nineties.
The pair went onto collaborate on the 1999 hit Beautiful Stranger, and he also produced songs on her 2012 album MDNA.
The statement posted on Instagram on August 7 said that he had died on July 23.
"He will be greatly missed by us and by so many whose lives he touched through his music, friendship and kindness," the statement added.
After his 1990s breakout, he went onto produce for the likes of Katie Melua, Pink and Britney Spears, while continuing to release music under his own name, most recently the 2022 album The Painter.
As his last album's title eludes to, Orbit was also a prolific artist.
He was known to have struggled health problems after becoming successful in the 2000s, and admitted in a Guardian interview in 2022 to have overcome a drug addiction.
“Fortunately, once the drugs were out of my system, I finally got back to being normal – and out I was," he said.
Madonna said of him: “I’d come to him with an idea of where I wanted to go musically, hum melodies or read lyrics, and then leave him alone in the laboratory.
"Sometimes he’d go in the direction I wanted and sometimes he’d swerve off somewhere else entirely.
"We’d end up with trance tracks that were eight minutes long and then keep adding and subtracting until we had real verses and choruses. We really put our noses to the grindstone.”