Philippe Zdar, Electronic Music Star of House Duo Cassius, Dies in Paris Fall at 52

The Grammy-winning DJ and producer accidentally fell from high window in Paris, his agent says

philippe zdar
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Philippe Zdar, Grammy-winning electronic music pioneer star and half of the French House duo Cassius, died Wednesday after falling from a sixth-story window in Paris, Agence France-Presse reported. He was 52.

His agent Sebastien Farran told AFP that Zdar “suffered an accidental fall from a high floor of a Paris building” on Wednesday evening. The police are investigating the incident, the AFP reported.

Zdar, a DJ and producer who has worked with Kanye West, Pharrell, Cat Power and the Beastie Boys’ Mike D, was in Paris to play at the Olympia concert hall on Friday to coincide with the release of the new Cassius album, “Dreems.”

He won a Grammy Award in 2009 for his work on the band Phoenix’s acclaimed alternative album “Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix.”

Zdar, né Philippe Zdar Cerbonesci, joined Hubert Blanc-Francard (a.k.a. Boom Bass) in 1989 to form Cassius, which became an influential group in the Paris electronica scene known as French Touch.

In 1999, the duo released their first album, a mix of hip-hop, house and funk called “1999” that yielded the chart hit “Cassius 1999.”

Online tributes for Zdar quickly poured in. “Awful news about Phillipe Zdar, what an unbelievably lovely man with an incredible legacy,” DJ Calvin Harris tweeted, adding that he was “mesmerized” by “Cassius 1999” when he was 15.

American DJ The Black Madonna called Zdar as “a visionary and tectonic force who shaped the geography of modern dance music.”

 

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