On Thursday 23 July, the music world lost the legendary William Orbit. Branded by Madonna as her very own “madman genius”, the English producer shared his mad vision with plenty of notable acts, shaping the sound of the 90s and early 00s pop world, from Blur to All Saints.

The news dropped last Friday (7 August), with Orbit’s team sharing a statement on his official Instagram. “It is with profound sadness that the family and friends of William Orbit announce that William passed away at home on 23 July 2026,” the announcement read. “We are deeply saddened by his passing. He will be greatly missed by us and by so many whose lives he touched through his music, friendship and kindness.”

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While Orbit was born in the London borough of Hackney on 15 December 1956, his work would take him far and wide. His first shot at working with the Queen of Pop, Madonna, in 1998 pushed Madonna’s sound into a new age and catapulted him to acclaim; Ray of Light was covered in his signature electronica fingerprint, and it went on to bag four Grammy awards.

At the time, Madonna wasn’t quiet about her appreciation of Orbit’s “genius”. In fact, in a July 1998 edition of Keyboard magazine, she said: “William is a complete madman genius. 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… We really put our noses to the grindstone.”

The following year, Orbit would also see aiding Britpop unit blur on their 1999 record, 13. Once again, the pairing was electric, helping churn out come of Blur’s stand-out cuts, like Coffee & TV and Tender. Again, a year later, he would crack another killer record with All Saints, with their 2000 sophomore release, Saints & Sinners topping UK charts.

Outside of his collaborative work, Orbit also released 12 studio albums in his own right, including 1995’s Pieces in a Modern Style, a record that gave classical pieces the Orbit treatment, transforming them into experimental, electro-ambient creations.

In light of the loss, Orbit’s collaborators have been keen to share their love. Madonna in particular shared a moving post in honour of her “madman” Orbit: “I had an epiphany when I met you and started working with you – I realised that music did not have to fit into categories or genres… So we created our own…”

“You pressed a magic button inside of me and I fell into a galaxy of unrealised dreams. Your music gave me a magic carpet to fly on and I visited many places. Sad and Joyful. I sang in ways I’d never sung before. I used words without caring if they made sense or not. In many ways you were my Ray of Light…”

“Only you could inspire me to write a song like Drowned World or Swim. You were so otherworldly. So singular. The years passed and I moved on to make music with other people, but I have never forgotten you or the magical time we spent together… Goodbye Billy Bubbles. I was so lucky to have known you and fallen down the rabbit hole with you.”

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Elsewhere, All Saints’ Nicole Appleton also shared a post in memory of Orbit. “So very sad today to hear about the passing of the wonderful William Orbit,” she writes. “I absolutely love the music he made with Madonna and felt so lucky when he worked with All Saints. We were fortunate enough to work with him on many occasions and on many songs. In the studio, he made me feel so confident, comfortable and always brought the best out in me. He was a treasure in the music industry and we had the most amazing times in the studio and socially.”

On Orbit’s official post, other artists have also reached out to share their love. Spice Girls export Mel C, who worked with Orbit on her 1999 debut solo record, Northern Star, called it an “honour to have worked with this great man”. Elsewhere, DJ Fatboy Slim called Orbit a “trailblazer and a gentleman” that the music world owed “a debt of gratitude”.

Back in 2022, William Orbit joined MusicTech’s My Forever Studio podcast to reveal his signature production techniques, particularly those surrounding his use of delay in synthesis. “I think in milliseconds now. Milliseconds are very important,” he said.

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