DETROIT — Juan Atkins, the Detroit-born originator of techno music and a founding member of Cybotron, died Oct. 31 in Mexico City. He was 64.

Atkins’ management agency, Greensmith Artists, confirmed his death on Nov. 1. He was found unresponsive in his hotel room before a scheduled performance at Mexico City’s Yu Yu Club and was declared dead at the hospital. No cause of death has been reported.

Born in Detroit and raised in Belleville, Michigan, Atkins formed the legendary “Belleville Three” with high-school classmates Derrick May and Kevin Saunderson — the architects of Detroit techno. He founded Cybotron in 1981 with Richard Davis, launched the influential Metroplex label, and recorded as Model 500, whose single “No UFO’s” carried Detroit techno across the Atlantic.

Tributes poured in from across the music world. Saunderson called him “the originator of Techno, a true visionary who opened the door for so many of us, myself included.” Detroit Mayor Mary Sheffield called Atkins one of the city’s “true originals.”

For Toledo listeners, the loss hits close to home: Detroit’s electronic music scene sits roughly 60 miles north, and Atkins was among the most prolific performers across the 26-year history of Detroit’s Memorial Day weekend Movement techno festival.

Sources: Detroit Free Press | DJ Mag | Rolling Stone India

Juan Atkins via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0.