Sophie Xeon (1986-2021) *34

better known simply as Sophie (stylised SOPHIE), was a Scottish musician, record producer, singer, songwriter, and DJ. Known for a brash and "hyperkinetic" take on pop music, Sophie worked closely with artists from the PC Music label, including A.G. Cook and GFOTY, and produced for acts such as Charli XCX, Vince Staples, Kim Petras, Madonna, Nicki Minaj, and Namie Amuro.

Sophie, who initially remained anonymous and later came out as a trans woman, came to prominence with singles such as "Bipp" (2013) and "Lemonade" (2014), which were collected on the 2015 compilation Product. Sophie's debut album Oil of Every Pearl's Un-Insides followed in 2018, earning a nomination for the Grammy Award for Best Dance/Electronic Album. After Sophie's accidental death in 2021, Pitchfork called Sophie "the influential British producer who molded electronic music into bracingly original avant-garde pop". Sophie Xeon was born on 17 September 1986 in Glasgow, and grew up there. Starting at a very young age, Sophie's father would play cassettes of electronic music in the car and take Sophie to raves, and Sophie quickly became enamoured with the music. In an interview published by Lenny Letter, Sophie described that in childhood: "I spent all my time listening to those cassette tapes. I'd steal them from the car." After receiving a keyboard as a birthday gift, Sophie then began to create new music. At the age of approximately nine or ten years old, Sophie expressed a desire to drop out of school to be an electronic music producer (although Sophie's parents did not allow this, and Sophie continued in school). Sophie continued to create music throughout adolescence, even regularly announcing, "I'm just going to lock myself in my room until I've made an album." Sophie started to DJ weddings and birthdays as a child.