David Roback, producer and Mazzy Star co-founder, has died, a rep for the band confirmed to Billboard. He was 61 years old.
The California-born Roback played in bands throughout the mid-’80s, including Rain Parade and Opal, before co-founding the seminal West Coast band Mazzy Star alongside Hope Sandoval in 1989. The alt-rock group unveiled their debut album, She Hangs Brightly, in 1990, before going on to release three more records and two EPs.
Mazzy Star’s best-known song, “Fade Into You,” was produced and co-written by Roback. The track reached No. 3 on the Alternative Songs airplay chart in 1994 and has sold 1.1 million downloads in the U.S., according to Nielsen Music/MRC Data. It also reached the top 20 on Pop Songs and No. 44 on the Billboard Hot 100.
The group’s album So Tonight That I Might See, which features “Fade Into You,” peaked at No. 36 on the Billboard 200 and has sold 1.3 million in the U.S. Mazzy Star charted two more albums on the Billboard 200 with Among My Swan in 1996 and Seasons of Your Day, the group’s final project, in 2013.
Roback’s cause of death is unknown at press time.