Florian Schneider, the veteran musician who co-founded long-running European electro-pop band Kraftwerk in 1970, has died at age 73, Billboard reports. A cause of death has not yet been confirmed.
The Grammy-winning musician provided synthesizer, vocoder, flute, sax, and sounds from other home-made instrumentation during his four-decade run as a member of Kraftwerk, which he left in 2008. The band’s 1974’s album, Autobahn, would go on to be their most commercially successful studio effort, as it managed to reach No. 5 on the “Billboard 200” chart the following year. The band was honored with a lifetime achievement award by The Recording Academy at the Grammys in 2014 and was nominated for induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2020.
As the report points out, David Bowie recognized Schneider’s influence by naming the mostly-instrumental track, “V-2 Schneider”, featured on 1977’s Heroes, after the Kraftwerk musician.
Watch Iggy Pop discuss going shopping for asparagus with Schneider in the video below.
Iggy Pop Talks Florian Schneider
[Video: Brusahogrelillaa]
Kraftwerk had planned for a 3D-inspired tour for their 50th anniversary this year, but those dates were canceled last month as the latest tour, concert, or festival event to due to the ongoing global health crisis. Keep tabs on the overall concert cancellation picture here.
Kraftwerk – “The Model” [Live 1982]
[Video: Musik Arbeiter]
An official statement on the death of Florian Schneider has yet to be made by Schneider or Kraftwerk’s camp.
[H/T Billboard]