The American musician, producer and DJ Juan Atkins, who has died unexpectedly aged 64, was known as the originator of techno, the globally popular genre of propulsive, futuristic electronic dance music.
Releasing tracks since 1981, first with his duo Cybotron, and later solo under pseudonyms including Model 500, Infiniti and Audio Tech, Atkins created music that fuelled the nascent UK rave scene in the late 1980s, the boom in club culture in post-cold war Berlin, and the 21st-century phenomenon of the superstar DJ.
