Oliver Tree, the musician and comedian behind viral pop hits like “Miss You” and “Life Goes On,” has died, reports the Associated Press.Tree was reportedly on board one of two helicopters that collided mid-air this morning in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
One of the helicopters crashed into several electronic vehicles in a car dealership’s parking lot, igniting a fire that was later extinguished, according to local police and fire departments.All six people aboard were killed, including DJ and producer Lucas Brito Chaves, the YouTuber known as Gaspi, and independent director and screenwriter Lucas Vignale.
Tree was 32.A mainstay on the internet, Tree was impossible to miss, thanks in large part to his infamous bowl cut and go-to outfit: a gaudy sweatsuit straight out of an ’80s workout video and a pair of bold, red sunglasses.Although he had been making music for over 15 years, he didn’t find crossover success until the late 2010s with singles like “Hurt,” “Cash Machine,” and “Let Me Down” leapfrogging each other in popularity.
Once Tree dropped “Life Goes On,” he never looked back, with the track becoming platinum in under two years, only to be surpassed by “Miss You” going 2x platinum in five countries shortly afterwards.Born Oliver Tree Nickell on June 29, 1993, in Santa Cruz, California, he started releasing music under the name Tree in 2010.Three years after putting out his first-ever EP, Demons, he went viral with the single “When I’m Down” — earning him a record deal with Atlantic.
His official debut as Oliver Tree arrived in 2017 with “Welcome to LA” alongside his soon-to-be signature look.As he rolled out his major label debuts, the 2018 EP Alien Boy and the 2020 album Ugly Is Beautiful, Tree embraced increasingly gaudy visuals that courted memes, often at his own expense.Tree went on to release three other studio albums: 2022’s Cowboy Tears, 2023’s Alone in a Crowd, and Love You Madly Hate You Badly from thi...