Juan Atkins, the Detroit producer widely credited as a founding father of techno, has died at 64, his management agency confirmed on Sunday.
Greensmith Artists told Resident Advisor that Atkins was found unresponsive in his hotel room in Mexico City ahead of a scheduled performance at YuYu Cine Club on Saturday. He was taken to hospital and pronounced dead.
Born in Detroit in 1962, Atkins formed Cybotron with Richard Davis in 1980. He later recorded as Model 500 and founded the Metroplex label.
With school friends Derrick May and Kevin Saunderson, he formed the Belleville Three, the trio whose early 1980s work built Detroit techno into a global sound. Tributes from across electronic music followed the announcement on Sunday.
Source: Resident Advisor
