Singer Oliver Tree (32) dies in Rio helicopter crash

American musician Oliver Tree, 32, died on Sunday morning when two helicopters collided over the western part of Rio de Janeiro, and police in Rio said his name was on the passenger list. The news that the music world did not want to hear came on June 15, when Brazilian authorities confirmed that six people had been killed in the crash.

The collision happened at around 9 a.m. local time. According to police, the two helicopters collided in mid-air, and one of them came down on the parking lot of a dealership where electric vehicles were on display, starting a fire. At the time of writing, the bodies had not yet been formally identified, but authorities said Tree was among those on board.

The six victims also include Argentine YouTuber Gaspar Prim Diaz, 23, better known to his audience as Gaspi. Both performers, each in his own field, had a large online following running into the millions, which is why the news traveled around the world within hours.

Who was Oliver Tree and why did he matter here?

Oliver Tree was one of those names that crossed over from internet culture onto major stages. Audiences came to know him through songs like “Alien Boy”, “Life Goes On” and “Miss You”, while his unmistakable look, the hair, the sunglasses and the deliberately over-the-top stage performances, made him a figure hard to confuse with anyone else. The generation that grew up on short-form video will remember him precisely for that blend of music and performance.

Audiences in the region had the chance to see him live. Tree performed at the EXIT festival in Novi Sad, an event that has been bringing global names to Serbia for years, so for many people here his death is not the loss of some distant performer but of someone whose concert they watched from the front row. That is exactly why social media on Sunday evening filled up with clips from those shows and with farewell messages.

What comes next after the crash

Brazilian aviation authorities said an investigation is under way. “The cause of the collision has not yet been established and the investigation is ongoing,” officials said, adding that they will work to determine how two helicopters ended up on the same flight path over a densely populated part of the city.

For now a string of questions remains open, from who exactly was on board to why the aircraft came so close together. As the formal identification of the bodies and the first findings of the investigation are awaited, one thing is certain: in a single day the music scene lost a performer who had only just turned 32 and who had fans across several continents.

Did you ever see Oliver Tree perform live at one of his shows in the region?