David Roback of the dream-pop band Mazzy Star has died aged 61.
Roback co-founded Mazzy Star in California in the late 1980s. The producer and multi-instrumentalist had been active on the neo-psychedelic ‘Paisley Underground’ scene throughout that decade as part of the band Rain Parade before he founded the group Opal. After Opal’s original member Kendra Smith left the band, she was replaced by the musician Hope Sandoval. Roback and Sandoval would subsequently form Mazzy Star together.
Mazzy Star released their first album, She Hangs Brightly, in 1990. Its follow-up, So Tonight That I Might See, featured the band’s most recognisable song, “Fade into You”. They released two more albums, 1996’s Among My Swan and 2013’s Seasons of Your Day. Their last release was 2018’s Still EP, the band’s first new music since Mazzy Star’s drummer Keith Mitchell died in 2017.
Roback’s cause of death has not yet been announced. Listen to “Fade into You” below.