Pioneering techno producer Juan Atkins has died aged 64, his management company has confirmed.
Atkins was due to perform at Mexico City’s Yu Yu Club on the night of 31 October, but is reported to have been found unresponsive in his hotel room before his scheduled appearance.
Born in 1962, Atkins was one of the most notable figures within the Detroit music scene that birthed techno in the 1980s. He was a member of The Belleville Three, alongside school friends Derrick May and Kevin Saunderson, a trio of producers widely credited with inventing and nurturing the genre in its early years.
Atkins released some of his earliest music as a member of Cybotron, a duo he formed at the age of 18 with Richard “3070” Davis. Cybotron’s fusion of influences from funk acts like Parliament-Funkadelic and, notably, Kraftwerk, helped shape the synthesized, groove-focused sound of early techno across influential tracks including Alleys Of Your Mind and Clear.
Later work included releases as Model 500, including the 1985 classic No UFO’s. Atkins also formed close ties with the second generation of producers shaping a European take on techno in Berlin, most notably with Basic Channel founder and dub techno pioneer Moritz von Oswald, who he collaborated with as Borderland.
Atkins came of age at a time when synthesizers and drum machines were becoming more widely available, a fact that was very influential on the toolkit that shaped the sound of early techno. His first electronic instrument was a Korg MS-10, but gear including the ARP Odyssey, Sequential Pro-One and Roland TR-808 and TR-909 all helped shape the sound of his early releases.
Speaking to MusicRadar in 2012, Atkins said that his all-time favourite instrument was the Boss DR-55 drum machine. “It was the most quantum innovation that ever happened. If I had to pick one machine, that would be it. Being able to program a drum machine was a huge thing.”
