David Roback death: Mazzy Star co-founder dies aged 61

Producer and multi-instrumentalist co-founded the band with Hope Sandoval in 1989

Hope Sandoval and David Roback in a promotional image for Mazzy Star (Press image)

Mazzy Star’s co-founder David Roback, a producer and multi-instrumentalist who also played in bands such as Rain Parade and Opal, has died aged 61.

The cause of death has not yet been announced.

Roback was a major figure in the LA neo-psychedelia revival of the Eighties and Nineties. He quit Rain Parade after co-founding the band and releasing one album, before founding Opal with Dream Syndicate’s Kendra Smith in the mid-Eighties.

Mazzy Star was then co-founded with Hope Sandoval in 1989. The West Coast band released their debut album, She Hangs Brightly, the following year, and went on to release a further three albums and two EPs.

Roback co-wrote and produced Mazzy Star’s best-known song, “Fade Into You”, which reached number three on the Alternative Songs chart in 1994, as well as number 44 on the Billboard Hot 100.

The band’s last album, Seasons of Your Day, was released in 2013, while an EP, Still, came out in 2018.