Florian Schneider-Esleben, co-founder of the German electronic pop band, Kraftwerk has passed away at the age of 73.
The report was confirmed by Ralf Hütter, another founding member of Kraftwerk, through an official statement that said, "the very sad news that his friend and companion over many decades Florian Schneider has passed away." It revealed that the musician battled a "short cancer disease" and died a few days after his birthday. The German musical artist turned 73 on April 7.
As reported, Schneider passed away a week ago, and a private burial was held. Sony Berlin also confirmed the news.
Kraftwerk is credited heavily to have transformed the sound of pop music forever. Schneider, along with Hütter, initially started the group Organisation that played "krautrock," an experimental, open-minded rock. In 1970, the duo formed the multimedia project Kraftwerk that established their niche in the music industry. The band started using homemade and custom-built devices - such as a microphone, loudspeakers, echo, synthesizers - along with flute, violin, and guitar as the musical instruments.
Kraftwerk, considered as the forefather of synthpop, pioneered electronic music and profoundly influenced different music genres, including pop, hip-hop, and rock with their experimental sounds and technical innovations.
The late English rocker David Bowie is one of those who attributed some of his works to Schneider. Bowie's mostly instrumental track "V-2 Schneider" from the 1977 album "Heroes" is considered his tribute to the Kraftsmen's co-founder.
Kraftwerk released 10 studio albums that include four-album run, which highly influenced pop music. These were 1975 "Radio-Activity," 1977 "Trans-Europe Express," 1978 "The Man-Machine," and 1981 "Computer World." Seven of their LPs landed on Billboard 200 album charts. Their 1974 album, "Autobahn," composed mostly on synthesizers, peaked at no. 5 with its one-of-a-kind sound and catchy lyrics. The album's title track landed number 25 at its peak on Billboard Hot 100 charts. After this album, the pair of Schneider and Hütter then became a group of four.
The band's biggest hit "Das Model" (The Model), a synthpop song, came from their 1978 album "The Man-Machine." Watch the video here -
The electro-pop music of the group penetrated the industrial and dance genres as well. They scored a total of eight tracks on Billboard's Dance Club Songs chart, two of which peaked at No. 1 both in 1987 with "Musique Non-Stop" and "The Telephone Call (Remix)." Kraftwerk was awarded a Grammy in 2017 for the Best Dance/ Electronic Album for "3-D The Catalogue," and in 2014 was accorded with a lifetime achievement award.
"Tour de France Soundtracks," released in 2003, was Kraftwerk's final studio album. In 2008, Schneider departed from the group for unknown reasons. From that time on, Schneider remained much in the background and kept a low profile. Hütter said in a 2009 interview with The Guardian that Schneider worked on other projects such as speech synthesis and was not involved with Kraftwerk.
Schneider worked with producer Dan Lacksman in 2015 and released their collaboration "Stop Plastic Pollution" for pollution awareness.
Kraftwerk's music in other songs
Kraftwerk influenced the music of modern-day artists and below are several songs that have included samples from their work:
"Talk" by Coldplay
The opening beat of this track was from the beat "Computer Love," which was Kraftwerk's hit released in 1981.
"Under Pressure" by Dr. Dre (ft. Jay-Z)
The 2010 track from Dr. Dre has samples that came from 1977 "Trans-Europe Express" of Kraftwerk.
"Promise" by Ciara
The 1983 "Tour de France" beat was the backbone of Ciara's sensual R&B song released in 2006.
"Leave Home" by Chemical Brothers
The Chemical Brothers' first single from their 1995 debut album "Exit Planet Dust" incorporated on the intro a short sample of "Ohm Sweet Home" from Kraftwerk.
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