{"id":2140,"date":"2026-06-15T04:37:36","date_gmt":"2026-06-15T04:37:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=2140"},"modified":"2026-06-15T04:37:36","modified_gmt":"2026-06-15T04:37:36","slug":"santa-cruz-was-always-home-for-musician-killed-in-helicopter-crash-on-world-tour","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=2140","title":{"rendered":"Santa Cruz was always home for musician, killed in helicopter crash on world tour"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Even after \u201cLife Goes On\u201d singer-songwriter Oliver Tree left Santa Cruz to pursue a global music career, embarking on his first world tour just two weeks ago, he continued to regard the coastal town where he was born as his \u201cnest\u201d where he first learned true \u201ccreativity and authenticity.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u201cI\u2019ll always be a Santa Cruzean,\u201d Tree said during a 2021 interview with his hometown newspaper, the Santa Cruz Sentinel. Known for his genre-defying music, signature bowl hair cut and retro fashion style, and wholly original performance style, Tree also said about Santa Cruz: \u201cIt\u2019s my hometown, where I was born. But there\u2019s a world to go out and see, explore and conquer.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tragically, the 32-year-old musician and producer was killed Sunday morning in a helicopter crash in Rio de Janeiro \u2014 shortly after he began to pursue that dream of going out to explore the world, according to the Associated Press and The Guardian, citing several Brazilian media outlets. He was listed as a passenger on one of two helicopters that collided over the western part of the city, killing all six people on both aircraft, The Guardian said. An investigation into the cause of the accident is ongoing.<\/p>\n

Tree had planned his 70-date \u201cWorld\u2019s First World Tour\u201d to span more than 30 countries, starting in Mexico City on May 30 and ending in Beijing in October, with stops in Santa Cruz and Oakland on Aug. 21 and 22, respectively. The tour was to support his fourth studio album, \u201cLove You Madly, Hate You Badly,\u201d which was entirely self-produced. The tour was canceled in the wake of his death, The Guardian reported.<\/p>\n

Tree\u2019s tour included a June 6 performance in S\u00e3o Paulo, Brazil, but none in Rio de Janeiro. As recently as Saturday, he was posting content to social media from his time in Brazil, Variety reported.\u00a0<\/p>\n

According to TMZ, Tree recently recorded a short video in Brazil that showed him goofing around with a friend, digital content creator and influencer Iae Break. But Break was not a passenger on the fatal flight; TMZ said.<\/p>\n

Tree, a multi-disciplinary artist who also experimented in comedy, filmmaking and building \u201cthe world\u2019s biggest scooter,\u201d was born Oliver Tree Nickell in Santa Cruz in 1993. He called Santa Cruz the place where he first learned \u201cto make art \u2014 locking myself away and recording endless albums that would never see the light of day.\u201d He told the Santa Cruz Sentinel: \u201cPeople are very understanding in a place like Santa Cruz, so they welcome you to let the freak flag fly.\u201d<\/p>\n

In another interview with the newspaper, he acknowledged that he was a \u201cbedroom producer\u201d as a teen, using his laptop to make \u201crichly textured and sophisticated songs and soundscapes\u201d in the comfort of his Santa Cruz home.<\/p>\n

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\u201cTo be able to wake up every day and roll out of bed and get on the computer to make my own personal music, and work until 2 or 3 in the morning, that\u2019s my dream job,\u201d Tree said in 2020.<\/p>\n

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