MADONNA has paid tribute to William Orbit, calling the late producer her “ray of light” and recalling the creative jolt he sparked when they made some of her most celebrated work.

Orbit – born William Wainwright – died at home on July 23, aged 69. His death was announced on August 7, with no cause shared.

In a post on Instagram, Madonna wrote that working with Orbit brought an “epiphany”, telling him: “I realized that music did not have to fit into categories or genres. So we created our own.” She added: “Your music gave me a magic carpet to fly on,” describing a period that was “sad and joyful”.

Sharing a clip of their Grammy acceptance for ‘Ray Of Light’, Madonna said Orbit pushed her into unfamiliar territory: “I say in ways I’d never sung before,” she wrote, adding that she used words without worrying whether they made sense. She also linked the era to motherhood, saying her daughter Lola was born around that time.

Madonna remembered Orbit’s presence in the studio in intimate detail, writing that it could feel “church-like” as she waited for ideas to “explode out of your keyboard or your guitar”. She credited him with inspiring tracks including ‘Drowned World’ and ‘Swim’, and ended her message: “Goodbye Billy Bubbles… I was so lucky to have known you.”

Orbit’s late-90s partnership with Madonna helped propel him to stardom, earning him three Grammys: two connected to the 1998 album ‘Ray Of Light’ and one for the song ‘Beautiful Stranger’. He first entered Madonna’s orbit through remixes of ‘Justify My Love’ and ‘Erotica’, before sending her a cassette of instrumental tracks in 1997 that led to him producing ‘Ray Of Light’.

His techno and trip-hop-influenced approach reshaped Madonna’s sound and helped rejuvenate her career, with ‘Ray Of Light’ going on to sell over 16million copies worldwide. Earlier this year, Orbit said he’d written a “successor” to the album and had received “nil response” from Madonna after reaching out, while stressing there were “zero hard feelings” and praising her for making his career.