British producer William Orbit has passed away

On Thursday evening news circulated on Twitter that William Orbit had died. Then people said that it wasn’t true and was part of some weird hoax, resulting in those who had tweeted that he had died, deleting their tweets. But today it was announced on William Orbit’s official Instagram page via his family that he has indeed passed away.

William Orbit is probably best known for his work on Madonna’s critically acclaimed and widely lauded album Ray of Light, which marked a HUGE comeback for Madonna which changed the trajectory of her career and also Orbit’s.

For many years William Orbit was an ‘If you know, you know’ name. Somebody who big artists often sought out to remix their songs based on some obscure work of his that they or their A&R had heard. He was your favourite remixers remixer. But after his work on Madonna’s Ray of Light in 1998 which sold 15 million copies, won 4 Grammys and a bunch of VMAs — everybody knew his name, resulting in him working with popular UK acts such as All Saints and Blur for their albums Saints & Sinners and 13 respectively. I bought that All Saints album purely because he produced songs on it. And Orbit’s sound would go on to shape pop through 1999 and 2000 and beyond, off the back of just how good his work with Madonna was. Everybody was wanting to do slightly swoony pop with guitars, blips and bloops. Putting out songs which intersected pop, dance and rock in a way that managed to feel avant garde, but incredibly accessible.

William Orbit | Rankin

It’s werid how life works out sometimes. Because despite Orbit being pretty quiet on the music front for so long, he was put back into the topic of conversation in 2025 as a result of the release of Madonna’s remix album Veronica Electronica and again very recently upon the release of her fifteenth studio album Confessions II — with fans talking about how great it would be if we got a Ray of Light II. But the truth is that Ray of Light is an album which is always being spoken about. Not just because of how good and transformative Orbit’s work is on was, but because the DNA of his productions has carried through into albums of Madonna’s that he wasn’t even a part of — including Confessions II. Do you know how bad of a bitch you have to be to not only work with Madonna, but produce one of her most highly regarded albums?

To make such a mark with a piece of work that people don’t stop talking about it, thinking about it, can’t hear another song without being reminded of it is nothing short of remarkable. Bitch. Ray of Light isn’t even my favourite Madonna album. Not by a long shot. Yet, even I get sucked into conversations about it.

Ray of Light may have felt like somewhat of a curse for William at times, between how he struggled to find his footing after it and never got to work on another album with Madonna again in a similar capacity, which must burn you creativity — knowing that there is probably still unfinished business, yet it feels one-sided on his part. But Ray of Light truly was a gift, as was Orbit himself. For the past 20 years people have been holding his work in the highest of regards — deservedly so — and people will continue to do so forever more, as will I. Now, excuse me whilst I buss it sadly in Orbit’s honour to “Runaway Lover”.