Who is D4vd, the New York-born singer whose Tesla was found containing a dead body?

Singer D4vd made headlines after a decomposing dead body was discovered in his abandoned Tesla located in a Los Angeles tow yard.

Law enforcement officers uncovered the body stashed inside a bag in the electric vehicle’s trunk after workers reported a foul smell on Sept. 8.

Investigators claimed that the car was towed in the Hollywood Hills area about five days before the discovery.

D4vd — born David Anthony Burke — was active on social media leading up to the body being found.

The “Romantic Homicide” singer is currently on his “Withered” world tour and performed in Wisconsin the same day the discovery was made.

He’s reportedly cooperating with authorities, per NBC Los Angeles.

Born in New York City

D4vd was born on March 28, 2005 and raised in Queens, N.Y.

The “Sleep Well” singer later moved to Houston, Texas.

He started his career at his southern home using SoundCloud in 2021, he told VMAN in 2022.

Grew up listening to gospel

D4vd grew up primarily listening to gospel music while being homeschooled until he was sent to middle school around the age of 13.

“I discovered other music in middle school,” the “Leave Her” singer told the outlet. “I think someone was blasting ‘Gucci Gang’ by Lil Pump and immediately [I] was like, ‘Yo, what’s that?’

“I started listening to everything on my school laptop,” he added. “And then I heard my first indie song from a Fortnite montage.”

Music career inspired by video games

D4vd, who initially planned to become a professional gamer, dove into hip-hop and indie music after becoming inspired by the music featured in the online video game Fortnite.

The Neighborhood became one of his artistic inspirations after he discovered the group’s 2013 song “Sweater Weater.”

“The first song I made was ‘Run Away,’ a super slow song where I was just trying to figure out my sound,” the hitmaker explained to VMAN, referring to his 2021 track.

D4vd would pair his songs to montages, and eventually they started gaining traction.

Overnight success

Success quickly found D4vd, and his 2022 track “Romantic Homicide” was placed on the Billboard Hot 100 after garnering 75 million streams, the outlet reported.

At the time, the “Here With Me” singer recorded the song on his iPhone while tucked away in his sister’s closet.

“I have a weird connection to the studio,” he said. “I’ve made some OK songs. I’ve been in the studio three or four times, but with my brain, it doesn’t click. I overthink the process too much because there’s so much technicality to it.”

Collaborations

D4vd now does professional collaborations with Fortnite and released the official anthem for the video game titled “Locked & Loaded” in early September.

“I started making music for my Fortnite montages 3 years ago man this is crazzzzyyyyyy thank u @fortnite 😭🙏,” he wrote via Instagram.

The pop star has also collaborated alongside 21 Savage for their 2023 track, “Call Me Revenge,” and Kali Uchis for their 2025 song “Crashing.”