A major figure in the electro scene, Mr. Zdar fell out of a window in an accident in Paris on Wednesday night.
20 June 2019 | New York Times
Philippe Zdar, a French music producer who worked with Kanye West, the rock band Phoenix and other artists died on Wednesday night after accidentally falling through the window of a building in Paris. He was 52.
Anthony Ferrat, his booking agent, confirmed the death.
Mr. Zdar, who was born Philippe Cerboneschi, was one half of Cassius, an electro act he formed in the mid-1990s with Hubert Blanc-Francard. They had previously produced tracks together for the French rapper MC Solaar.
Cassius was a major player in “French Touch,” an electronic music movement that found global success in the 1990s and 2000s. Cassius did not have the kind of hits that other groups in the scene, like Daft Punk, recorded, but its debut album, “1999,” released that year, was seen as a touchstone of the genre.
The band’s first album in three years, Dreems, is to be released on Friday.
Mr. Zdar was still in demand as a D.J. and remixer — he was to play SummerStage in Central Park in New York on Sunday — but in recent years he had become as known for producing other people’s music as for making his own.
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