Popular US Singer Among 6 Killed in Helicopter Crash Over Rio de Janeiro
Oliver Tree, the quirky musician behind viral hits such as “When I’m Down” and “Miss You,” was killed in a plane crash over Rio de Janeiro on Sunday. He was 32.
Tree was among six passengers who died when two helicopters collided over the Brazilian city on the morning of June 14 and crashed in Rio’s western zone.
Rio de Janeiro’s Military Fire Department said one of the helicopters crashed on the parking lot of a car dealership, where several electric vehicles were parked, igniting a fire that was extinguished.
Officials said an investigation is underway to determine the cause of the collision.
Police said that Tree was on the list of passengers given to aviation authorities, but they have not been able to identify the bodies of those killed in the crash.
Born June 29, 1993 in Santa Cruz, California, Tree rose to fame following the release of his viral hit “When I’m Down” in 2017. While the song never charted, it was eventually certified gold by the RIAA after surpassing 500,000 units in the U.S.
Tree followed up with several more singles, including the platinum-certified tracks “Alien Boy” and “Hurt” as well as the gold-certified songs “Miracle Man” and “Let Me Down.” These songs preceded the release of Tree’s debut album “Ugly is Beautiful” in 2020.
His song “Life Goes On,” which was included on the deluxe edition of his debut album, reached No. 71 on the Billboard Hot 100 and went on to surpassed 1 million units in the U.S. alone.
“Life Goes On” helped Tree achieve international success as the track charted in several countries. Tree’s single “Miss You” with Robin Schulz also performed well internationally, peaking at No. 84 on the Billboard Hot 100 and receiving platinum certification. “Miss You” has also gone viral on social media and has been used in roughly 1.5 million videos on TikTok alone.
Overall, Tree released four studio albums. His latest album, “Love You Madly Hate You Badly“ came out on April 24. The artist, known for his signature haircut and eccentric music videos, was on his world tour when disaster struck.
Tree performed in Buenos Aires, Argentina on June 4, and published a video on his Instagram Saturday where he is playing soccer in a Brazilian neighborhood.
Argentine streaming channel Blender said that content creator Gaspar Prim Díaz — also known as Gaspi — was in one of the helicopters. Gaspi had more than 2.8 million followers on YouTube and was 23.
“Thanks for your art, your magic and your sensibility, every one of us will miss you,” Blender said on its X account.
Fernandes de Freitas, a tire repair worker, said he saw one of the helicopters in flames following the midair collision, and noticed that one of the passengers jumped out of the other aircraft, before it hit the ground.
“It was terrifying, absolutely horrifying,” De Freitas said.
Tree was slated to perform at Roadrunner in Boston on Aug. 5.
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Ramiro Barreiro contributed from Buenos Aires.
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