French music producer Kavinsky, known for Drive soundtrack hit Nightcall, dies aged 50
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- Kavinsky (Vincent Belorgey), the French electronic musician behind Nightcall, died at 50 after a suspected stroke, with a police source telling Le Figaro he'd complained of headaches before a concerned neighbour alerted emergency services.
- Parisian authorities confirmed "no suspicious elements" at his home while investigating the death.
- Nightcall, co-produced with Daft Punk's Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo and featuring Brazilian singer Lovefoxxx, has logged more than 500 million Spotify streams and 350 million YouTube plays after anchoring the opening credits of Nicolas Winding Refn's 2011 film Drive.
- Emmanuel Macron called Kavinsky "a source of French pride forever," while French culture minister Catherine Pégard said "France loses one of its most singular voices" and praised music that was "both danceable and nostalgic."
- Kavinsky performed Nightcall at the 2024 Paris Olympics closing ceremony backed by Phoenix and Angèle — a version that reached No. 3 on the French charts.
- His debut album OutRun reached No. 2 in France, built around a zombie-alter-ego concept involving a young man who crashes a Ferrari Testarossa in the 1980s and returns in the 2000s; The Weeknd appeared on a version of Odd Look, and Kavinsky said in 2022 the pair might collaborate on new music.
Why it matters: With Nightcall alone amassing more than 850 million combined Spotify and YouTube plays, the 50-year-old's death cuts short an artist who told interviewers in 2022 he had potential new music planned with The Weeknd — a collaboration now left unfinished, just two years after his Olympics closing-ceremony spotlight.
