A key figure of the French touch house scene, Kavinsky wrote "Nightcall", the track made famous by the film 'Drive', performed at the Paris 2024 Olympic closing ceremony alongside Angèle and Phoenix.
French DJ Kavinsky has been found dead at his Paris home, according to local authorities. The body of the 50-year-old, whose real name was Vincent Belorgey, was discovered on Tuesday evening.
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Kavinsky was a leading figure of the house music movement, 'French touch', alongside Daft Punk, Justice, Cassius and DJ Mehdi.
The Paris prosecutor's office said that "an investigation to establish the causes of death" had been opened, noting that no suspect was found at the scene on Tuesday evening.
"France has lost one of its most distinctive voices", French Culture Minister Catherine Pégard said in a message on social media network X. "Both danceable and nostalgic, his music will go on crossing generations and borders."
One of his most popular tracks was Nightcall, the dark, slow-tempo synthwave hit included on the soundtrack of Drive (2011), Nicolas Winding Refn's Palme d'or winning neon-noir thriller starring Ryan Gosling. The track enjoyed a new lease of life during the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
The DJ performed at the Stade de France alongside Belgian singer Angèle and pop-rock band Phoenix, who reworked Nightcall for the occasion during the Olympic closing ceremony.
A self-taught pianist born in Seine-Saint-Denis, Kavinsky launched his career in the early 2000s, opening in particular for Daft Punk and sharing the stage with other emerging names on the electronic scene, such as SebastiAn. Kavinsky would have turned 51 on 31 July.
