10 publishers · first seen Sun, 01 Nov 2026 15:49 UTC · updated Tue, 03 Nov 2026 07:27 UTC
Juan Atkins, a Detroit producer and pioneer of the techno music genre, has died at 64, his agency said on Sunday. Atkins was found unresponsive in his hotel room ahead of a planned performance in Mexico City and later pronounced dead at hospital. Atkins began his music career in 1980, when he formed Cybotron with Richard Davis. The duo released Clear in 1983, which became one of the defining records of the techno genre. Born in 1962, Atkins and classmates Kevin Saunderson and Derrick May were known as the Belleville Three and are recognised as the founders of the genre. Atkins is credited with coining the term “techno” with his 1988 track “Techno Music”, part of the compilation album Techno! The New Dance Sound Of Detroit.
Content auto-generated. May contain inaccuracies.