Memorial service for Oliver Tree on July 25 available to watch via livestream

Oliver Tree's family has announced that a memorial service and celebration of his life will take place on July 25. Since the physical venue has limited space for family members and close friends, the gathering will be made available to fans worldwide through a public livestream. The exact viewing details have not yet been released but will reportedly be announced soon. The service will be held at the UCSC Quarry Amphitheatre, an outdoor venue on the University of California Santa Cruz campus, the city where Oliver Tree Nickell was born and raised before passing away at the age of 32.

Tree died on June 14 in a helicopter crash in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Six people in total lost their lives in the accident: alongside Tree, passengers Lucas Vignale, Gaspar Prim and Lucas Brito Chaves, and pilots Alexandre Souza and Charles Marsillac. At the time, the artist was in the middle of what he called his world tour across all seven continents. His final performance took place on June 6 in São Paulo.

In an obituary released by his family, Tree is described as more than a musician: they call him a true artist in the broadest sense of the word, someone who saw the world as a stage for his performance art. The family writes that he blended his characters seamlessly with his real self, leaving audiences regularly wondering what was genuine and what was a joke. His recurring message was "Ugly Is Beautiful," a mantra he carried both on and off stage, with the goal of making everyone feel free to just be themselves.

Musically, Tree had built an impressive career. He started out as a teenager DJing under the name Kryph and signed to R&S Records at seventeen under the name Tree. After graduating from the California Institute of the Arts in 2017, he developed the Oliver Tree project, which extended beyond music into directing, acting and filmmaking. His debut album Ugly Is Beautiful reached number one on Billboard's Top Rock & Alternative Albums chart in 2020. His collaboration with Robin Schulz on Miss You reached number four on the Hot Dance/Electronic Songs chart in 2022, while Life Goes On that same year climbed to number seven on the Hot Rock & Alternative Songs chart. His most recent album, Love You Madly Hate You Badly, was released in April of this year through Atlantic Records.

Even before his death, Tree had spoken in interviews about his wish to establish an arts grant. He had also written that wish into his will. His family has now launched Dr. Oliver Tree's Extremely Epic Art Grant for Baby Geniuses, a foundation that provides financial support to young artists working in music, film, installation and performance art. True to Tree's vision, the money is intended for the actual making of art: it cannot be spent on equipment, education or personal expenses, but can be used to hire people or rent materials. Tree had said himself: "When I die, all the money is going to go back to artists. So I set up a foundation, it's called 'Dr. Oliver Tree's Art Grants for Baby Geniuses.' Hopefully it'll last for 100 years." The foundation aims to remain active for at least fifty to one hundred years. Donations can be made at olivertreefoundation.com.

Tributes from the music world poured in following his death. Post Malone dedicated his concert in Toronto to Tree and called him a "beautiful man," while Kid Cudi, KSI, Bebe Rexha and his ex girlfriend Melanie Martinez also publicly paid their respects. For fans who never got the chance to see Tree perform live, the July 25 livestream offers an opportunity to still say goodbye to one of the most distinctive artists of his generation.

Sources: NME, Billboard