Juan Atkins Dead at 64: Techno World Mourns Key Figure’s Loss

Juan Atkins was one of the artists most closely associated with techno, a genre whose influence has touched nearly every corner of the globe. Juan Atkins, a producer and DJ whose seminal role in techno is well known among the genre’s worldwide fan base, has passed away. He was 64 years old. According to Atkins’ booking agency, Greensmith Artists, he was found unresponsive in his Mexico City hotel room on Saturday, October 31, prior to a scheduled performance at Yu Yu Cine Club. He was taken to a hospital and pronounced dead. No cause of death has been disclosed at the time of writing. Juan Atkins was born in Detroit and raised in nearby Belleville. It was there that he met Derrick May and Kevin Saunderson. The three of them would come to be known as the Belleville Three, a trio often credited as the originators of Detroit techno in the early years of the genre. Atkins, May, and Saunderson’s debut 1988 compilation, Techno! The New Dance Sound of Detroit on Virgin Records UK, established the style as distinct from Chicago house by way of its future-forward ethos. The genre’s global influence in the years that followed cannot be overstated. But Atkins’ repertoire wasn’t limited to Det...