Juan Atkins, co-creator of the techno music genre, dies at 64

Juan Atkins, who helped create the techno music genre with school friends in suburban Detroit in the 1980s, has died, his booking agency said Sunday.

Collaborator Kevin Saunderson also shared the news on his Facebook page, saying, “Juan was the originator of Techno, a true visionary who opened the door for so many of us, myself included.”

Atkins, who played techno records as a noted club and festival DJ, was scheduled to perform Saturday at the club Yu Yu in Mexico City, but the appearance was canceled, the club said on Instagram before news of his death broke.

In 1981, Atkins formed a duo, Cybotron, with Richard Davis, a friend he met at a Detroit-area community college, and in 1983 they released “Clear,” a robotic, futuristic dance track that resonated in clubland and in breakdancers’ boomboxes, according to the duo’s Discogs biography.

The foundations of techno — Kraftwerk, Afrika Bambaataa, breakdancing hip-hop known as electro and the post-disco sound of house music — were present as Atkins and friends from Belleville High School, about 35 miles west of downtown Detroit, tinkered with electronic music and listened to the weird, wild sounds of radio DJ The Electrifying Mojo.

Atkins, Saunderson and…

Original source: https://www.nbcnews.com/business