William Orbit. Photographed by Danny Clifford when we last met for dinner. Being with William put power into my brain. I always drove home with more ideas than I arrived with. That's the effect truly creative people have on you.
Today, I was deeply saddened to hear of William Orbit's passing.
Like so many people, I admired his extraordinary talent. His work with Madonna on Ray of Light, Blur, All Saints and countless others changed the landscape of modern music. He wasn’t simply a producer; he was an innovator. A man who could hear sounds and possibilities long before the rest of us.
But that’s not really what I want to remember today.
I want to remember William
This photograph was taken when we last met for dinner in London.
Spending time with William was rather like plugging your brain into the National Grid. You left feeling energised. Ideas came at you from every direction. Conversations rarely travelled in a straight line because William’s mind certainly didn’t. It bounced effortlessly from music to technology, from philosophy to complete madness, before somehow arriving back exactly where it started.
He was warm.
He was kind.
He was wonderfully friendly.
He was frantic in the most charming way imaginable.
And above all, he was one of those rare people who seemed completely unencumbered by the ordinary rules the rest of us live by. His imagination didn’t have boundaries.
I’ve joked over the years that there are only a handful of people I’ve ever felt the need to wear a crash helmet around.
William Orbit was one of them.
Zak Starkey is another.
Keith Moon would certainly have qualified.
Not because they were reckless, but because their minds travelled at a hundred miles an hour and you simply had to hang on and enjoy the ride.
William had that gift.
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He overflowed with ideas, passion, humour and an infectious enthusiasm for creating something new. You never quite knew where the conversation was heading next, but you knew it would be interesting.
As a photographer, I’ve been fortunate enough to spend time with many remarkable people over the last five decades.
Very few possessed the kind of restless creative energy that William carried with him.
The world has lost a truly original thinker.
My sincere condolences go to his family, his friends and the countless musicians whose lives he touched through his extraordinary talent.
Thank you, William.
The music you created will live on.
But so will the memories of the wonderfully eccentric, endlessly curious man behind it.
Rest in peace, my friend.
Danny Clifford
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