Madonna has penned an emotional tribute to late musician and producer William Orbit, describing him as an inspiration in a transitional moment in her life and “otherworldly.”
“Only you could inspire me to write a song like Drowned World or Swim,” Madonna said in a Saturday social media post about Orbit, who produced her 1998 album Ray of Light and wrote many of its tracks with her, including “Drowned World/Substitute for Love” and “Swim.” “You were so otherworldly. So singular.”
Orbit died July 23rd at 69 years old with his family announcing his death Friday. He left a legacy of having advanced the genre of electronic music through his groups Torch Song and Bassomatic and producing bands and artists like Blur, U2, No Doubt, Ricky Martin, P!NK, and more.
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But it was his work with Madonna that earned him some of his loftiest recognition as Ray of Light took home four Grammys in 1999. In her salute to Orbit, the Queen of Pop credited the producer with changing her perspective on making music.
“I had an epiphany when I met you and started working with you,” Madonna wrote. “I realized that music did not have to fit into categories or genres. So we created our own. You pressed a magic button inside of me and I fell into a galaxy of unrealized dreams. Your music gave me a magic carpet to fly on and I visited many places. Sad and Joyful”
Orbit, she said, gave her the inspiration to reimagine a part of her arsenal that made her a global megastar — her voice. “I sang in ways I’d never sung before,” Madonna recalled. “I used words without caring if they made sense or not.”
Madonna said she was starting a new chapter, her daughter having recently been born, and choosing to walk a new musical path in the late 1990s. “You were right by my side with your crooked teeth and your genius, way of hearing music,” she wrote about Orbit. “The studio was often church like and I would sit in silence, waiting for your ideas to explode out of your keyboard or your guitar and then I would run with them.”
The pop megastar ended her tribute to Orbit by saying, “The years passed and I moved on to make music with other people, but I have never forgotten you or the magical time we spent together.”