Florian Schneider, co-founding member of Germany’s electronic music group Kraftwerk, has died at the age of 73. A representative for the band said Schneider had been battling cancer.
Schneider founded Kraftwerk alongside Ralf Hütter in 1970, after meeting at the Academy of Arts in Remscheid in Düsseldorf. The pair were part of Germany’s experimental music underground scene, initially playing together as members of a group called Organisation. However, after Schneider became interested in synthesizers, the duo began recording music under the name Kraftwerk. Their initial two studio albums — Kraftwerk and Kraftwerk 2 — consisted of free-form experimental recordings, created using guitar, bass, drums, organ, flute, and violin, and later distorted with audio-tape manipulation and multiple dubbings. In 1973, after Wolfgang Flür joined the group, Kraftwerk began experimenting more with synthesizer and drum machines, culminating in release of Ralf und Florian.
Kraftwerk achieved mainstream success with 1974’s Autobahn and its 1975-follow-up, Radio-Activity, boasting a refined electronic sound created using new music tech including the Minimoog and the EMS Synthi AKS. At the same time, the band began staging innovative live shows featuring an expanded touring lineup, matching costumes, and live vocals sung with the use of a vocoder.
Subsequent albums including 1977’s Trans-Europe Express and 1978’s The Man-Machine cemented Kraftwerk’s status as one of the defining groups of their generation, and attracted the attention of fellow music legends like David Bowie and Brian Eno. In fact, Bowie invited Kraftwerk to join him on his “Station to Station Tour” (the group ultimately declined the offer), and later Bowie named the Heroes song “V-2 Schneider” in tribute to Schneider.
Schneider remained an active member in Kraftwerk four decades. He left the group in 2008, citing a desire to no longer tour.
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