Juan Atkins, Co-Founder of Techno Music, Dies at 64

Juan Atkins, the lifelong producer and DJ who co-founded Detroit techno music, has died, confirmed Green Smith Artists, Atkins’ management company. A member of the Belleville Three, Cybotron, and Borderland, Atkins was slated to perform at Yu Yu Club in Mexico City last night (October 31) where he reportedly suffered from a heart attack. Tickets were refunded to concertgoers. Atkins was 64.By age 18, Atkins had formed the influential techno project Cybotron with his friend Richard “3070” Davis. By merging funk, electronic instrumentation, and futuristic themes, they helped redirect the sound of the genre on their early singles—“Alleys of the Mind,” “cosmic Raindance,” “Cosmis Cars,” “The Line”—before fully domainting the dancefloor with “Clear” in 1983. It became an instant underground hit before breaking out to wider recognition, with the single selling 50,000 copies and becoming lauded as a genre-defining piece of work. The duo went on to released three albums: 1983’s Enter, 1993’s Empathy, and 1995’s Cyber Ghetto.As a born and raised Detroiter, Atkins was a part of the community’s local music scene at an early age, playing in funk and garage bands with his friends and being rais...