Oliver Tree Dead at 32 After Helicopter Collision in Rio de Janeiro

This one is gutting. Oliver Tree was killed this morning in a mid-air helicopter collision over Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He was 32 years old.

According to CNN Brasil, two helicopters collided around 9 AM local time on Sunday, June 14, while flying over the Recreio dos Bandeirantes neighborhood in Rio de Janeiro's Southwest zone. One helicopter crashed onto the premises of an electric vehicle dealership on Avenida das Américas, igniting roughly 20 cars on the lot. The other came down nearby. All six people aboard the two aircraft were killed.

The victims were identified by Rio de Janeiro's Civil Police as Oliver Tree Nickell, Lucas Brito Chaves, Lucas Vignale, Gaspar Prim (the Argentine content creator known online as "Gaspi"), and pilots Alexandre Souza and Charles Marsillac. Five passengers were aboard one helicopter, while the second aircraft carried only its pilot.

Authorities noted that the crash landing in a parking area, rather than the surrounding residential buildings, likely prevented an even greater tragedy. Firefighters also highlighted the extreme difficulty of battling the resulting blaze, citing the lithium-ion batteries in the electric vehicles, which release toxic gases and require three to four times the amount of water compared to a standard car fire.

The Brazilian Air Force, through its Center for Investigation and Prevention of Aeronautical Accidents (CENIPA), confirmed that investigators have been deployed to the scene. Brazil's National Civil Aviation Agency (ANAC) is also investigating the status of the aircraft and pilots involved.

A Life Cut Way Too Short

Born Oliver Tree Nickell on June 29, 1993, in Santa Cruz, California, Tree was one of the most uniquely creative artists of his generation. The bowl cut, the oversized fits, the genre-bending sound that pulled from electronic, pop, alternative, and everything in between. He was impossible to ignore and impossible to replicate. He had nearly 20 million followers across social media at the time of his death.

Tree started out in the San Francisco Bay Area producing dubstep tracks under the name "Tree," releasing his debut EP Demons in 2013 on R&S Records. He broke through internationally with "Life Goes On" in 2021 and "Miss You" in 2022, both of which became massive streaming hits. His second studio album, Cowboy Tears, dropped on February 18, 2022, followed by Alone in a Crowd on September 29, 2023.

His fourth and final studio album, Love You Madly Hate You Badly, was released on April 24, 2026, via his own Alien Boy Records label. The 17-track record was written and produced entirely by Tree and recorded over two years across seven continents and 82 countries. A feature-length documentary about the album's creation, including sessions in Antarctica, was reportedly in the works.

He wasn't just a musician. He was a vocalist, producer, writer, director, and performance artist who blurred the lines between pop, alternative, comedy, and action sports. There really wasn't anyone else doing what he was doing.

The World's First World Tour

Tree had been in the middle of his headlining "The World's First World Tour" in support of Love You Madly Hate You Badly. The run was ambitious on a level most artists never even attempt: 70-plus dates spanning more than 30 countries across all seven continents. The tour kicked off on May 30 in Mexico City at Pabellón Oeste and had already hit Santiago, Buenos Aires, and São Paulo, where Tree performed at Studio Stage on June 6.

He was scheduled to pick the tour back up with a European leg starting July 1 in Lisbon, Portugal, at Lisboa ao Vivo, with stops in Madrid, Barcelona, Rome, Milan, Vienna, Budapest, Prague, and more before heading to North America on July 28 in Nashville at Marathon Music Works. From there, the routing included Atlanta, Charlotte, Silver Spring, Philadelphia, New York's Terminal 5, Boston, Toronto, Chicago, and Minneapolis, among others. A London show at O2 Forum Kentish Town was set for September 27, with Australia, New Zealand, China, Japan, South Africa, and even Antarctica legs planned through the end of the year.

All of that is gone now.

His final Instagram story, shared Saturday night from a recording studio, showed him surrounded by other musicians. Less than 12 hours later, he was gone.

This is a developing story. Our thoughts are with Oliver's family, his team, and the families of all six victims.

Cover photo via Ticketmaster