Juan Atkins, one of the founding figures of techno, died on October 31 in Mexico City at the age of 64. The Detroit DJ was scheduled to perform at a club in the Mexican capital that night, but was found unresponsive in his hotel room several hours before the show.
The circumstances of his sudden death were not immediately explained. News of Atkins’s passing prompted tributes from across the international electronic music scene.
Atkins helped establish the Detroit techno movement alongside fellow Michigan artists Kevin Saunderson and Derrick May. He was also known as “The Originator,” a reference to his central role in the development of the genre and in giving the music the name “techno.”
French DJ Laurent Garnier described the loss as immense for the techno community. German artist Marcel Dettmann paid tribute to Atkins’s lasting influence, while American DJ Carl Cox recalled the impact of “Clear,” the 1983 track released by Atkins’s project Cybotron.
Sources: Le Monde Culture.