Guru Josh dead: 90s rave artist behind 'Infinity' dies in Ibiza aged 51

Josh, real name Paul Walden, was known for the hit ‘Infinity’

Guru Josh entered the UK rave scene with his hit 'Infinity' (guru-josh.com)

Guru Josh, the 90s rave artist known for his hit ‘Infinity’, has died aged 51.

Guru Josh, real name Paul Walden, died in Ibiza on Monday, his agent Sharron Elkabas told the Guardian. The cause of his death has not been disclosed.

Walden, born in Jersey, began studying dentistry as a young adult and spent time in the US before moving to London to focus on a music career.

He gained notoriety in 1990 when his debut single ‘Infinity (1990s … Time for the Guru)’ reached number 5 in the UK charts. He enjoyed further success with singles ‘Freaky Dreamer’, ‘Holographic Dreams’ and ‘Whose Law (Is it anyway?)’ and later made music as part of the Guru Josh Project.

Earlier this year Walden told the Guardian he had been playing in a rock band called Joshua Cries Wolf and gigging in London pubs until one night in 1988 when “somebody popped an ecstasy tab in my mouth” and he started playing house music.

Walden said the song ‘Infinity’ was created when a friend of his commissioned him to create white labels for a club night of the same name. Walden used the saxophone player from his previous band to create the now-iconic sound on the track.

“We pressed up to 500 copies and 480 people threw it in the bin. Everybody said: ‘You’ve got a saxophone on it, you’re nuts – you can’t do that,’ But [Hacienda DJ] Mike Pickering played it and the rest is history,” he told the newspaper.

Walden moved to Ibiza where he worked as an artist and ran a promotions company. In 2008 his track ‘Infinity’ enjoyed renewed success when it was remixed by German artist DJ Klaas and released, reaching the number one spot in countries across Europe and selling around six million copies.