Timeline Kavinsky

French electronic musician and synthwave pioneer, born Vincent Belorgey, whose track Nightcall became a defining piece of 2010s popular culture after it was featured in the opening credits of Nicolas Winding Refn's film Drive (2011). He created the fictional persona of Kavinsky — a mysterious driver who crashed his Ferrari Testarossa in 1986, died, and returned as a zombie twenty years later to make electronic music. Alongside Daft Punk and Justice, he was one of the key figures of the French electronic music scene.

All

Person

Event

Conflicts

Disaster / crisis

Science

Culture

Companies

Countries

Dashed left edge = started before this timeline · Dashed right edge = still ongoing

Kavinsky 11

1975 Kavinsky born in Seine-Saint-Denis Born Vincent Pierre Claude Belorgey in Seine-Saint-Denis, the working-class departement northeast of Paris. Learned piano at a local youth centre, where his first instruments were a melodica, a Casio synthesiser and a Roland TR-808 drum machine.
1990 – 2000 Acting and Friendship with Dupieux Met future filmmaker and musician Quentin Dupieux as a teenager. Began his career as an actor, appearing in Dupieux's experimental medium-length film Nonfilm (2002) and later in his feature Steak (2007).
2006 Teddy Boy EP — Kavinsky Is Born Released the Teddy Boy EP on the French label Record Makers, introducing the fictional Kavinsky persona: a zombie driver who crashed his Ferrari Testarossa in 1986 and returned from the dead to make electronic music. The sound — pulsing synthesisers inspired by 1980s movie soundtracks, arcade games and sports cars — helped define what would become known as synthwave.
2007 – 2008 1986 EP and Daft Punk Tour Released the 1986 EP, recorded entirely on a vintage Yamaha DX7 synthesiser. Opened for Daft Punk on their Alive 2006/07 tour, introducing his music to stadium-sized audiences.
2010 Nightcall Released Nightcall, co-produced with Daft Punk's Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo and featuring vocals from Lovefoxxx of the Brazilian band CSS. The moody, slow-burning track told the story of the zombie Kavinsky returning to find his girlfriend has moved on.
2011 Drive Nicolas Winding Refn used Nightcall for the opening credits of his film Drive, starring Ryan Gosling. The song and the film became inseparable in popular culture. Kavinsky later said watching the opening credits was 'one of the best moments of my life. I was a kid in Disneyland.'
2013 – 2021 Hiatus Retreated from public life for nearly a decade after OutRun, releasing no new music. The long silence only added to the mystique of the Kavinsky persona.
2013 OutRun — Debut Album Released his debut album OutRun, a concept album named after the Sega arcade game and built around the Kavinsky crash mythology. It reached number two on the French album charts. Collaborated with The Weeknd on a version of Odd Look.
2022 Reborn Returned with his second album, Reborn, after a nine-year hiatus. 'I want people to talk to me about something other than Nightcall now,' he told Mixmag.
2024 Paris Olympics Closing Ceremony Performed at the closing ceremony of the 2024 Paris Olympics, bringing his synthwave sound to a global audience of billions.
2026 Kavinsky dies in Paris Found dead at his home in Paris, three days before his 51st birthday. Authorities found no suspicious elements at the scene; he had been complaining of headaches for several days and is believed to have suffered a stroke. The Weeknd paid tribute, calling him 'an inspiration to so many.'