Florian Schneider, co-founding member of Germany’s iconic electronic music group KRAFTWERK, has died at the age of 73. The cause of his death was listed as cancer.
Florian Schneider founded KRAFTWERK with Ralf Hütter in 1970. They met in 1968 while studying at the Academy of Arts in Remscheid, then at the Robert Schumann Hochschule in Düsseldorf. They played improvisational music together in the ensemble ORGANISATION. Before meeting Hütter, Schneider had played with Eberhard Kranemann in the group PISSOFF from 1967 to 1968. From 1968 to 1969, Schneider played flute, with Hütter on Hammond organ, Kranemann on bass and Paul Lovens on drums.
David Bowie titled his “Heroes” instrumental track “V-2 Schneider” after Schneider, and was heavily influenced by KRAFTWERK‘s sound during his “Berlin period” in the late 1970s.
