Oliver Tree Dies at 32 in Rio Helicopter Crash
Get the Culture newsletter
Daily culture — film, music, books, the trends and ideas worth your attention. Free.
- Oliver Tree died at age 32 in a helicopter crash in Rio de Janeiro's Southwest district on Sunday morning, per CNN Brazil.
- The crash involved two helicopters and left six people dead, according to CNN Brazil's reporting.
- Tree had been posting to social media from Brazil as recently as the day before the crash, and his representatives had not responded to comment requests at press time.
- Tree's TikTok following stood at 15.4 million, with his 2021 single "Life Goes On" featured in more than 3.7 million videos and "Miss You" in 1.5 million.
- The singer was mid-headlining tour for his fourth studio album "Love You Madly, Hate You Badly," which was entirely self-produced and launched May 30 in Mexico City with planned stops in China, Japan, Antarctica, New Zealand, and South Africa.
- Tree's mainstream breakthrough came via Whethan's 2016 track "When I'm Down" and his 2018 "Alien Boy" EP, whose self-directed double video "All That x Alien Boy" surpassed 50 million views.
Why it matters: Tree was 32 and mid-way through a self-produced, five-continent world tour when the crash killed him and five others, abruptly ending a career arc that ran from Bay Area dubstep producer to Atlantic Records signee to a 15.4-million-follower TikTok phenomenon. His death leaves the remaining dates — China, Japan, Antarctica, New Zealand, and South Africa — in limbo and cuts short a rare artist-led operation built around a fourth album he produced entirely on his own.
Ask SkimNews
