Juan Atkins, a pioneer of Detroit techno, dies at 64

His agency said he was found unresponsive in a hotel room in Mexico City before a performance Saturday, and was pronounced dead in hospital.

With schoolmates Derrick May and Kevin Saunderson in Belleville, Michigan, he formed the Belleville Three, credited as the architects of Detroit techno. He was the first to use the word "techno" for that hard electronic style.

His projects

• Cybotron
• Model 500
• Metroplex, his record label
• Infiniti
• Borderland, with Moritz von Oswald

He recorded as Cybotron and Model 500, and founded the Metroplex label in 1985. Missy Elliott built her 2005 hit Lose Control on Cybotron's track Clear.

Juan was the originator of Techno, a true visionary who opened the door for so many of us, myself included.

— Kevin Saunderson, techno pioneer