French DJ Vincent Belorgey, better known as DJ Kavinsky, was found dead at his home in\u00a0Paris on Tuesday evening, French prosecutors confirmed on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
“An inquiry into the cause of death has been opened to \u200bdetermine the circumstances of the death, as first responders found \u2060no suspicious \u200belements at \u200bthe scene,”\u00a0they said in a statement carried by\u00a0the AFP news agency.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Belorgey\u00a0was previously reported dead by Paris daily Le Parisien. He would have turned 51 years old on Friday, July 31.<\/p>\n
The musician was best known for 2010 single Nightcall, which was\u00a0featured in Nicolas Winding Refn’s 2011 film Drive.\u00a0 Belorgey also performed the single at the closing ceremony of the 2024 Olympic Games<\/a> in Paris.<\/p>\n “With sudden loss of Kavinsky, France has lost one of her more unique voices,” French Culture Minister Catherine Pegard said in a\u00a0social media post.<\/p>\n “Simultaneously danceable and nostalgic, his music will continue to resonate across generations and borders.”<\/p>\n Who was Kavinsky?<\/p>\n A self-taught pianist from Saint-Denis in the Paris region, Kavinsky launched his career in the early 2000s, notably serving as a supporting act for Daft Punk and performing alongside other emerging names in the electro scene, such as SebastiAn.<\/p>\n However, the major turning point in his career was “Nightcall”\u2014 a synth-wave hit with a dark atmosphere and a slowed-down tempo \u2014 which featured on the soundtrack of Drive, the Hollywood thriller starring Ryan Gosling.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n “Kavinsky is a character I created because just putting my face on a record sleeve isn’t something that suits me,” Belorgey said in an interview back in 2007.<\/p>\n Belorgey described\u00a0“Kavinsky” as someone who died in a car crash before returning as an undead DJ with\u00a0blue skin and red eyes.<\/p>\n “Showing my own face holds absolutely no interest for me \u2026 When I’m making music, I have images in my head of films and television shows I liked when I was little. So I created this story that mixes all those memories together,”\u00a0Belorgey said.<\/p>\n Edited by: Darko Janjevic<\/p>\n