Madonna Remembers William Orbit, the Producer Who Took Her Into a New Galaxy

William Orbit, the British producer and electronic musician whose work with Madonna reshaped her sound in the late Nineties, died on July 23 at age 69. Madonna responded on Saturday with a personal tribute that mapped the strange, fertile territory they explored together.

“I had an epiphany when I met you and started working with you,” she wrote. “I realized that music did not have to fit into categories or genres. So we created our own.” Orbit had already remixed tracks like “Justify My Love” and “Erotica” before their full-album partnership on Ray of Light, an album that moved her away from pop theatre and toward ambient-laced introspection. Its release coincided with the birth of her daughter Lourdes: “In many ways you were my Ray of Light – as was my daughter Lola.”

The pair won a Grammy for Best Pop Album in 1999, a moment Madonna recalled in a video post from the ceremony. They would go on to collaborate on Music and MDNA, but the core of their connection seems anchored in those late-night studio sessions she described as “church like,” waiting for ideas to “explode out of your keyboard or your guitar.”

Her message closed with a goodbye to “Billy Bubbles,” a nickname that underscored the intimacy of their working relationship. “Only you could inspire me to write a song like Drowned World or Swim. You were so otherworldly,” she wrote. “I was so lucky to have known you and fallen down the rabbit hole with you.”