Juan Atkins, Detroit Techno Co-Founder, Dies at 64

Juan Atkins, the producer and DJ who co-founded Detroit techno, has died at 64. His management company, Green Smith Artists, confirmed the death. Atkins reportedly suffered a heart attack on October 31, shortly before he was scheduled to perform at Yu Yu Club in Mexico City. Tickets were refunded to concertgoers.

Atkins built the architecture of an entire genre, first as half of Cybotron and later as a member of the Belleville Three and the duo Borderland.

How did Atkins shape techno?

At 18, Atkins formed Cybotron with his friend Richard "3070" Davis. Merging funk, electronic instrumentation and futuristic themes, the pair redirected the sound of dance music on early singles such as "Alleys of the Mind," "Cosmic Raindance," "Cosmic Cars" and "The Line."

Their 1983 single "Clear" fully dominated the dancefloor. It became an instant underground hit before breaking out to wider recognition, selling 50,000 copies and earning acclaim as a genre-defining work. Cybotron released three albums: Enter (1983), Empathy (1993) and Cyber Ghetto (1995).

Atkins was born and raised in Detroit. His father worked as a concert promoter, and Atkins played in funk and garage bands from an early age. In junior high school he met Derrick May and Kevin Saunderson. The three friends later earned the nickname the Belleville Three for their close-knit collaboration, sharing equipment, studio space and production work as they shaped the city's electronic scene.

The friendship changed his instruments. Atkins shifted from guitar and bass to digitized instruments and bought his first synthesizer, a Korg MS-10, at 15.

What did Atkins believe music should do?

For Atkins, dancing was never the whole point. "My lyrics are supposed to make you think about something other than shaking your booty on the dancefloor and falling in love," he recently told The Guardian. "I feel like artists have an obligation to say something meaningful."

He also insisted on the name of the music itself. In a 2005 interview with Pitchfork, Atkins said he "always called the music [he] was making techno music," even as Chicago DJs like Derrick Carter and Frankie Knuckles labeled it Detroit house music.

"When you listen to Chicago records, a lot of them sounded like Philly International records," Atkins told Pitchfork. "They were always like the Philly International disco sound. Going 'ks-ks-ks-ks…' you know! That's the whole difference. In Detroit, we don't have any real reference point. All the Detroit stuff was pure futuristic. The only thing that we really had in common was the form… There was definitely competition between the Chicago and the Detroit DJs. We all wanted to be famous. But we were also friends, Tyree Cooper and all of these guys. Farley was a good friend. We went to Farley in Chicago just to hang out and they came to Detroit."

Was Atkins still performing?

He stayed active as a touring DJ and performer to the end. In his final two years, Atkins played clubs from New York City to Berlin and appeared on main stages at major festivals, including:

• Detroit's Movement Festival
• Amsterdam's Dekmantel Festival
• England's Houghton Festival

What does this change for electronic music? The loss of the man who named techno leaves the genre without its founding voice, but the futuristic sound he built from a Korg MS-10 in Detroit will keep filling dancefloors he can no longer play. This is a developing story.