Juan Atkins, the pioneering Detroit musician and DJ who played a leading role in the birth of techno music, has died.
Atkins’ management agency, Greensmith Artists, confirmed the news today (November 1). As Resident Advisor reports, the artist was found unconscious in his hotel room in Mexico City, while he was scheduled to perform at the YuYu Cine Club last night (October 31). Atkins was pronounced dead after being taken to the hospital. He was 64 years old.
A founding member of Cybotron and the Bellville Three, Atkins, aka Model 500, was instrumental in the development of techno in the 1980s. Born in 1962, he met Derrick May and Kevin Saunderson in college and, after playing guitar and bass in a funk band as a child, he acquired his first synthesizer, a Korg MS-10, at the age of 15.
Blending the influence of Kraftwerk, Parliament-Funkadelic and the wide range of music played by Detroit radio station The Electrifying Mojo, as well as the techno-futuristic writings of Alvin Toffler, Atkins’ electronic experiments led to the formation of Cybotron in 1980 alongside Richard Davis. The duo released their debut album, “Enter,” in 1983, featuring seminal electro tracks including “Clear” and “Alleys Of Your Mind.”
In 1985, after Cybotron disbanded, Atkins released another seminal track, “No UFOs”, under the pseudonym Model 500, and launched the Metroplex label which would house several early Detroit techno records such as Kevin Saunderson’s “Triangle Of Love”.
Paying tribute to his friend and collaborator in a post shared on Instagram, Saunderson wrote: “Juan was the creator of Techno, a true visionary who opened the door for many of us, including me. I will never forget how he showed me how to finish my first record, ‘Triangle of Love’. It meant a lot to me then, and still does today.
“We shared a journey that changed music forever, and I will always be grateful for his friendship, his advice, and everything he brought to our scene.”
Atkins – whose 1988 track “Techno Music” gave its name to this new frontier in music – continued to perform, produce and innovate over the decades. Speaking to DJ Mag in 2019 about revamping the Cybotron alias, he expressed his desire to continue moving forward with his sound, retaining the futuristic attitude that helped create this world-changing music.
“I don’t view this as an opportunity to pick up where I left off,” he said. “I want to view this as an opportunity to introduce new ideas, because that’s what Cybotron has been all along.”
Yet for Atkins, it remained imperative to focus on the humanity that could be expressed through these machines. “Technology is good, but we don’t want to become real robots. We need to use our creative minds.”
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