Juan Atkins, the Detroit originator of techno, dies at 64
The Belleville Three founder and Cybotron and Model 500 artist died in Mexico City, with tributes from across electronic music.
Juan Atkins, widely credited as the originator of Detroit techno, has died at 64. His management confirmed the news on November 1. Most reports say he died on October 31 in Mexico City, where he was in town for a DJ booking.
Accounts of the circumstances differ. Friends and colleagues in the Detroit scene told the Detroit Free Press that he died in his sleep, while other outlets say he was found unresponsive at his hotel before a scheduled set. No cause of death has been given in management's confirmation.
Atkins was a founding member of the Belleville Three alongside Derrick May and Kevin Saunderson. He first made his name in the early 1980s with Cybotron and later recorded as Model 500. Coverage credits his 1988 track "Techno Music" with giving the genre its name.
Saunderson called him "the originator of Techno, a true visionary." One of his last sets was a back-to-back with his daughter Milan at the Four Decades of Detroit Techno event during Amsterdam Dance Event on October 23.
