David Rivkin, the Grammy-winning producer and engineer known professionally as David Z, died on Sunday, August 2, 2026, at a hospital in Burbank, California, from complications of an infection. He was 78. His death was first reported by the Minneapolis Star Tribune and confirmed by Billboard, Variety and Stereogum Billboard.

Widely described as an architect of the Minneapolis Sound — the fusion of funk, rock, pop and new wave that put the Minnesota city on the global music map in the late 1970s and early 1980s — David Z worked behind the console on records that sold in the millions and defined an era of American pop.

His fingerprints are on some of the most recognisable tracks of the period. He engineered and produced early demo recordings that helped launch Prince's career, and worked on the artist's earliest albums, including the 1978 debut For You, recorded in part at Minneapolis's Sound 80 studios Billboard. He worked on Lipps Inc.'s "Funkytown," which reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1980 — the chart that tracks the most-played songs in the United States across radio, streaming and sales. He co-produced Fine Young Cannibals' "She Drives Me Crazy," which topped the same chart in 1989 and earned a Grammy nomination for Record of the Year in 1990.

David Z's range extended well beyond the Twin Cities. He co-produced Jody Watley's solo hits "Looking for a New Love" and "Some Kind of Lover." He worked with Etta James, Buddy Guy, Jonny Lang and Al Green across blues, soul and rock — a producer's career that refused to stay inside one genre. In 2005, he won a Grammy Award for his production on James's album Blues to the Bone Billboard.

His family connections ran through the same music. His brother Bobby Z is the drummer for Prince & The Revolution, the band that backed Prince at his commercial and critical peak. Another brother, Stephen Rivkin, is a film editor whose credits include the Avatar series. In a statement announcing the death, Bobby Z remembered his brother as a "true rebel" Billboard.

The Minneapolis Sound community paid its own tribute. The Minneapolis Sound Facebook page wrote: "You were an important and essential part of the Minneapolis Sound, David and we will always appreciate U" Minneapolis Sound Facebook.

David Z is survived by his brothers Bobby Z and Stephen Rivkin, his children, and two grandchildren.