Oliver Tree, the American singer, director and internet provocateur behind the dance crossover Miss You and the viral hit Life Goes On, has died at the age of 32. Brazilian authorities named him among six people killed when two helicopters collided over Rio de Janeiro on the morning of Sunday, June 14, according to reporting from the Associated Press, CNN Brasil and The Hollywood Reporter.
What happened in Rio de Janeiro
The two aircraft collided in midair over Recreio dos Bandeirantes, a coastal neighborhood in the western zone of Rio de Janeiro, at around 9 a.m. local time, according to El País. One of the helicopters came down on a car dealership where electric vehicles were parked, and the impact sparked a fire that engulfed roughly 20 cars, the Associated Press and El País reported. Firefighters and investigators rushed to the site as smoke rose over the district.
All six people aboard the two helicopters were killed, according to Rio’s fire department and Civil Police. The Aviation Safety Network listed the aircraft involved as a Bell 206 JetRanger and an Aérospatiale AS350 Écureuil, two of the most common helicopter types used for charter and sightseeing flights in the city. City officials said foreign nationals were among those on board one of the aircraft, without giving further details at the time.
Oliver Tree among the victims
Oliver Tree, whose full name was Oliver Tree Nickell, was named among the dead by the Civil Police of Rio de Janeiro. The identification was first reported by the Brazilian outlet O Dia and confirmed by CNN Brasil. The other five victims were identified as Lucas Vignale, Gaspar Prim and Lucas Brito Chaves, along with the pilots Alexandre Souza and Charles Marsillac. According to those reports, five people were traveling in one helicopter while the second carried only its pilot.
Brazil’s Air Force, through its accident investigation arm CENIPA, was called in to collect evidence and examine the wreckage, CNN Brasil reported, while the national civil aviation agency ANAC said it was reviewing the status of the aircraft and the pilots. The cause of the collision had not been established. The Hollywood Reporter said it had reached out to the singer’s representatives, who had not commented at the time of publication.
Who was Oliver Tree?
Born on June 29, 1993, in Santa Cruz, California, Oliver Tree built a career that sat somewhere between pop music and performance art. He first broke through on Vine in 2016 with an alter ego named Turbo, defined by a bowl cut, oversized 1980s clothing and a deadpan, often absurd online persona. His debut single When I’m Down arrived that year and led to a deal with Atlantic Records in 2017.
Over the next decade he released a steady run of albums for Atlantic, including Ugly Is Beautiful (2020), Cowboy Tears (2022), Alone in a Crowd (2023) and his most recent record, Love You Madly, Hate You Badly, which arrived in April 2026. He directed many of his own videos, leaning into a theatrical style built on memes and internet trolling that constantly blurred the line between sincerity and satire. The clip for Life Goes On has drawn more than 460 million views on YouTube, while Miss You has passed 380 million. In 2020 he set a Guinness World Record for the largest rideable scooter.
A dance music crossover
Although he was often filed under alternative pop, Oliver Tree’s biggest commercial moment came from the dance world. Miss You, his collaboration with the German DJ and producer Robin Schulz, grew into one of the most played electronic crossover singles of recent years and carried his voice to club and festival audiences well beyond his original fan base. The track helped cement his place on dance charts and tied him to the wider electronic scene that he kept circling back to across his career.
A tour cut short
Oliver Tree was in Brazil as part of the world tour supporting Love You Madly, Hate You Badly. He had performed in São Paulo on June 6, and The Hollywood Reporter reported that his next scheduled date was Lisbon on July 1. Those remaining plans are now in question following his death.
Fans react to the news
News of the crash spread quickly across social media, where fans and fellow artists posted tributes through the day. Because Oliver Tree had spent years building a career on elaborate pranks, fake retirements and online stunts, some followers initially reacted with disbelief and openly hoped the reports were untrue. As Brazilian authorities confirmed the identities of those on board and major outlets picked up the story, the scale of the tragedy became clear.
Oliver Tree leaves behind a catalogue that ran from scrappy internet experiments to arena scale pop, shaped by an artist who treated his entire public life as one long piece of performance. He was 32.
Sources: Associated Press, The Hollywood Reporter, CNN Brasil and France 24.
Cover photo: Jjipop, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (cropped).