Juan Atkins , the lifelong producer and DJ who co-founded Detroit techno music, has died; Green Smith Artists, Atkins’ management company, confirmed his death. Atkins was slated to perform at Yu Yu Club in Mexico City last night (October 31). He was 64.

As a member of the Belleville Three, Cybotron , and Borderland , Atkins’ impact on electronic music is, at this point, incalculable. By age 18, he had formed Cybotron with his friend Richard “3070” Davis. By merging funk, electronic instrumentation, and futuristic themes, they helped redirect the genre’s sound with their early singles—“Alleys of the Mind,” “Cosmic Raindance,” “Cosmic Cars,” “The Line”—before fully dominating the dancefloor with “Clear” in 1983. The electro track became an instant underground hit and soon broke into the mainstream. The single sold 50,000 copies and became a genre-defining composition, famously sampled by Missy Elliott and countless others.…