David Roback, Mazzy Star co-founder, dies at 61 (original) (raw)

David Roback performs on “Late Night With Jimmy Fallon” in 2013. Photo: Lloyd Bishop / NBCUniversal Photo Bank

David Roback, the shadowy multi-instrumentalist, producer and co-founder of the dream pop group Mazzy Star, and a key figure on the 1980s Paisley Underground scene in Los Angeles, died Monday, Feb. 24. He was 61.

His death was confirmed by Mazzy Star’s publicist. No cause was given.

Roback formed Mazzy Star in 1989 with singer Hope Sandoval, gaining critical acclaim for its three early albums: 1990’s “She Hangs Brightly,” which was recorded primarily at Hyde Street Studios in San Francisco; 1993’s “So Tonight That I Might See,” which launched the hit “Fade Into You”; and 1996’s “Among My Swan.”

Before that group, Roback was a member of the neo-psychedelic bands Rain Parade and Opal, which he formed with singer Kendra Smith while studying art at UC Berkeley. Along with acts like the Bangles, the Three O’Clock and the Dream Syndicate, they formed a micro-scene known as the Paisley Underground.

A producer and guitar player, Roback’s sonic signatures were reverb-drenched chords, languid rhythms and haunting vocals, with echoes of the Velvet Underground and the Doors.

Reticent to the core, Roback shunned fame and did everything he could to avoid the spotlight, rarely granting interviews and barely speaking when the opportunity came.

Despite his modest aspirations and sleepy sound in an era when bands like Nirvana and Pearl Jam ruled the airwaves, Mazzy Star became a platinum-selling act with “So Tonight That I May See.” Its breakout single, “Fade Into You,” was heard in movies including “Starship Troopers,” “Burlesque” and “Chasing Mavericks,” as well as on television series such as “Gilmore Girls” and “True Blood.”

Not that it registered with Roback, the eternal outsider.

“I was fairly different from the other kids, I didn’t get on with them,” he told the Guardian in 2013, in a typically labored exchange. “We didn’t have many common interests. My hobbies were psychiatry and history. … I’d psychoanalyze my friends.”

Mazzy Star was known for its low-key concerts, which were marked by dim lighting, quietly strummed guitars and whisper-quiet vocals.

“They were quite different,” Simon Raymonde of the band Cocteau Twins, which Mazzy Star supported on tour in 1990, told Uncut. “David was quite serious, quite thoughtful, didn’t say an awful lot. I quite liked him. Hope was super shy. There was often a bit of tension between them. Sometimes she’d just storm off stage. I didn’t get the impression that she particularly enjoyed the live thing. It was never dull, that’s for sure.”

David Roback and Hope Sandoval of Mazzy Star perform on “Late Night With Jimmy Fallon” in 2013. Photo: Lloyd Bishop / NBCUniversal Photo Bank

Roback moved to Norway in 1997, and Mazzy Star took a 17-year break before releasing 2013’s “Seasons of Your Day,” which came a year after the duo reunited for a performance at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival — although they claimed they never broke up.

“I was always working with David,” Sandoval told Uncut. “I think we thought maybe we’d release something, but we weren’t really so preoccupied with it. We were working on other things.”

During that time, Roback also worked with British singer Beth Orton on her 1999 “Central Reservation” album, and with Scottish folk guitarist Bert Jansch. He also wrote and produced songs for actress Maggie Cheung in the 2004 film “Clean.”

David Roback was born April 4, 1958, and raised in Los Angeles. He attended Palisades High School and formed a band with his brother, Steven, and Susanna Hoffs, who would later go on to front the Bangles.

“Peace and love David Roback… my first musical partner and my very dear friend,” Hoffs tweeted on Tuesday, Feb. 25. “You will be eternally missed.”

Roback and Sandoval played only a handful of shows together after the death of longtime drummer Keith Mitchell in 2017. The following year, Mazzy Star released its final EP, “Still.”

Peace and love David Roback…
my first musical partner and my very dear friend. You will be eternally missed. 💔 pic.twitter.com/mO1MnLDCOG

— Susanna Hoffs (@SusannaHoffs) February 25, 2020

I love a lot of Mazzy Star songs but I don’t know what I would do without Fade Into You. RIP David Roback. Thank you for the music 💔💙

— SLEIGH BELLS (@sleighbells) February 25, 2020

RIP Dave https://t.co/wCYBfm1Btz

— anton newcombe (@antonnewcombe) February 25, 2020

This is awful. From Rain Parade to Clay Allison to Rainy Day to Opal to Mazzy Star, I’ve loved everything he’s ever been a part of. Have you ever listened to Opal’s ‘Happy Nightmare Baby’ LP? You should. RIP David Roback. https://t.co/6iMTrvH2jk

— Carl Newman (@ACNewman) February 25, 2020

oh no! Terrible, sad news. Rain Parade, Opal, Mazzy Star. We've lost a great one. Safe travels, David. https://t.co/inbW2g9Ctn

— colin meloy (@colinmeloy) February 25, 2020

RIP David Roback. Rain Parade, Opal and Mazzy Star all amazing bands. This one opened my ears in the mid 80s https://t.co/hQKXIIepR0

— Andy Bell (@Andybebop) February 26, 2020