Fans Mourn Famed Electronic Music Artist, Killed in Tragic E-bike Accident in SOHO
Georgios Smaragdis, 44, who was knocked from his e-bike and run over by a box truck in SOHO on May 1 was a revered figure in the electronic musical subgenre known as synthwave where he was known as “George” and the stage name “Staradia.” But much of his past remains a mystery as he always avoided publicizing his personal life.
| 05 May 2025 | 04:34
The 44 year-old e-biker who was struck and killed in Soho on May 1 when he skidded under the wheels of a tequila delivery truck on Broome St. was identified as Georgios Smaragdis, who was revered as an artist in the electronic music genre known as synthwave
Smaragdis who resided in the Clinton Hill neighborhood in Brooklyn, went by the name “Starcadian” and was being mourned by friends and fans as news of the tragic accident spread on social media.
“George still had so much left to share with the world,” posted Jonathan Brooks on a facebook memorial site. “Such an awful waste. Nothing will ever stop me listening though!”
Smaragdis called his music “movies for the ear.” He lists Greek as his native language on his Linked in page which said he graduated with a Masters in Fine Arts from the Pratt Institute in 2008. He released his first critically acclaimed album, “Sunset Blood” on Halloween in 2013 and frequently collaborated with a co-producer Rob O’Neil on that and other productions.
An accident video viewed by Straus News on the date of the tragic accident showed a driver in a parked Mercedes Benz, later identified as a 43 year-old-male, on the northeast side of Broome St. opening the driver side door and Smaragdis, unable to stop, was jolted from the bike by the collision. He hit the ground and was subsequently run over by the rear wheels of a tequila delivery truck.
Smaragdis and the delivery truck were both proceeding west down Broome St. when he was struck by the truck shortly before the intersection with Centre St. Police discovered him lying in the roadway shortly after the accident at 10:13 a.m. with serious head trauma injuries. He was rushed to Bellevue Hospital by EMS but was not able to be saved, and was pronounced dead shortly before 11 a.m.
The 54-year-old driver of the 2014 Cub Cadet box truck remained at the scene as did the driver of the Mercedes Benz. No arrests were made, but police said the investigation is continuing. A source close to the investigation told Straus News that the driver had passed drug and alcohol tests. The e-biker and the truck both appeared to be operating legally at the time of the incident, according to the video viewed by Straus News.
Synthwave is an electronic music microgenre, also known as retrowave and futurewave that is based on the music associated with the soundtracks from action films, science fiction films, and horror films of the 1980s. While the genre is niche, he was reverred as one of its leading artists.
“My heart is heavy today. We have lost an incredible artist: Starcadian,” wrote Chris Sharpham on Facebook. “He was an amazing Synthwave artist who had the ability to take you on a journey into another world with his music–a world somewhere out there I longed for any time I heard it. Def had some tears over this.
“Rest in Peace Starcadian, and thank you for the incredible world you created. Much love, until we all return to stardust together one day,” Sharpham added.
“Starcadian was a genuinely kind soul who generously shared his energy and techniques with the community,” posted Beau McKee. “He had a strong presence in the Retrowave scene and really helped push the genre forward in his own way
Although he had a following, he would probably be taken aback by the personal praise coming his way following his death. In life, he seemed to want to make his music speak for itself, while keeping a deliberately low key style.
Asked in a Q&A on the digital site Gearworld. com how he came up with the name Starcadian he said:
“You know I straight up don’t remember how or why it came together, it literally just manifested in my head, there wasn’t any list or committee that decided on it. It helps that English isn’t my native language, so I make a lot of decisions based on phonetics and the dynamics of syllables. His Linked in profile said he spoke English and French but identified Greek as his native language or the one he was most proficient in. Few personal details could be scrapped from the Internet about his life outside of his music.
“I try to keep personal details/my face out of the spotlight intentionally,” he wrote. “I don’t care for people having an opinion on me as a person, nor should they, they can listen to my music or not, but I’m not selling me as a person. I’ll leave that stress to actors, bless their hearts. I know I’m not a terrible person and I do right by everyone in my life so that’s enough validation for me.
“I’m also not a believer in using your own life story to sell a product, it feels manufactured and disingenuous. I’ve lived through PLENTY of insane things that would make me a poster boy for an underdog narrative, but it devalues me and the audience once I start exploiting that,” Smaragdis wrote.
The number of deaths involving a collision between a biker and a a driver operated motor vehicle stands at 11 year to date, the same as a year earlier according to data from the NYPD. That figure did not include the latest fatal accident.