French producer and DJ Kavinsky, born Vincent Belorgey, has died at the age of 50. He was found dead at his home in Paris on Tuesday evening, and the Paris prosecutor’s office has confirmed that an inquiry into the cause of death has been opened, though first responders reportedly found nothing suspicious at the scene.
Belorgey built his name on a sound that fused French house with the synth-driven scores of 1980s cinema, a style that would come to define an entire genre. That sensibility crystallised in 2010 with ‘Nightcall’, the track that became inseparable from Nicolas Winding Refn’s Drive a year later and went on to become one of the most sampled and covered records in modern dance music. His 2013 debut album OutRun cemented that cinematic, neon-lit identity, and he returned nearly a decade later with Reborn in 2022, leaning further into slower, theatrical synth-pop territory. In 2024, he brought ‘Nightcall’ to a global stage once more, performing it alongside Phoenix and Angèle at the closing ceremony of the Paris Olympics.
Tributes have poured in from across the French music establishment and beyond. President Emmanuel Macron called him a permanent source of French pride, while culture minister Catherine Pégard described him as one of the country’s most singular voices. His label, Because Music, released a statement mourning “a true original,” and longtime collaborator Jean-Michel Jarre shared a personal tribute on Instagram recalling their friendship. Elsewhere, The Weeknd posted his own message on Instagram story, calling Kavinsky’s death heartbreaking news and an inspiration to himself and countless others, and vowing to keep honouring his name and music. 
For anyone wanting to revisit his sound in its rawest form, his 2019 live set at The Playground, filmed for PLAYY. Records remains one of the clearest documents of what made his shows so hypnotic — full-throttle synths, minimal fuss, and that unmistakable OutRun world brought to life on stage.
