William Orbit, record producer for Madonna and Blur, dies aged 69

"We will miss him immensely, as will so many people whose lives he touched with his music, friendship and kindness," the statement said.

Orbit produced emblematic albums for names like Madonna, Blur and All Saints, in addition to maintaining a solo career. Her main work was on the album "Ray of Light", released by the pop singer in 1998, a work that redefined the American's career with sounds of trip-hop, techno and jungle, earning the American three Grammy awards the following year.

Born William Wainwright in London in 1956, Orbit began working with Madonna when she was searching for a new aesthetic. "William is a completely crazy genius," said the singer at the time of the album's release. "I'd come in with an idea, hum melodies or read lyrics, and leave it in the lab. We'd end up with eight-minute trance tracks and keep tweaking them until we had verses and choruses."

The two worked together after "Ray of Light." The Brit produced three tracks on Madonna's next album, "Music", from 2000, and the duo put together film themes - such as "Beautiful Stranger" in the feature film "Austin Powers: O Agente Bond Cama", from 1999, and the re-recording of "American Pie" for "Sobrou pra Você", a comedy released in 2000. In 2012, the producer returned to collaborate with the singer and was co-producer of six tracks on the album. "MDNA".

With the success of this partnership, Orbit became one of the most sought-after names in pop and rock at the turn of the century. The Brit produced the album "13", by the band Blur, and the hits "Pure Shores" and "Black Coffee", by the female group All Saints, in addition to collaborating with U2 on the song "Electrical Storm". The work with Blur also came at a time when the band wanted to change its aesthetic by moving away from the Britpop of its early career. Vocalist Damon Albarn, who was experiencing the end of his relationship with musician Justine Frischmann, even described Orbit's role in the studio as that of a psychiatrist. The album "13", with some electronic experiments, yielded hits such as "Tender" and "Coffee & TV".

He also maintained a solo career, beginning in 1987 with his self-titled album. Since then, and throughout the 1990s, Orbit released his best-known works - the "Strange Cargo" series of records. The producer also released an electronic reinterpretation of "Adagio for Strings", a classical work by Samuel Barber, on the British charts. His last album was "The Painter", from 2022.

Despite worldwide recognition in the late 1990s, commercial success came late for Orbit. Raised in north London, he dropped out of school at 16, lived in urban squats and worked odd jobs before entering the recording industry.

In the 1980s, he founded the electronic trio Torch Song and began operating his own recording studio. Remix work in the following years attracted the attention of Madonna's team, paving the way for the career-transforming partnership with "Ray of Light."