Florian Schneider-Esleben, co-founder of the legendary German Kraftwerk group, is dead. Sony announced this on Wednesday in Berlin, citing Ralf Hütter, the founder of Kraftwerk. Schneider-Esleben died after cancer. He was 73 years old.
The collaboration between Schneider and Hütter began in 1968 after they met at the Akademie der Künste in Remscheid. In 1970 they founded the famous Kling-Klang studio in Düsseldorf and started Kraftwerk. Schneider-Esleben, son of the famous post-war modernist Paul Schneider-Esleben, is considered one of the pioneers of electronic music.
Kraftwerk 2017. Photo: Warner Music / Peter Böttcher
2008 was the end for Florian
He has contributed to the pioneering and world-famous power station albums Autobahn (1974), Radio-Activity (1975), Trans Europa Express (1977), Die Mensch-Maschine (1978) and Tour De France (2003). Schneider-Esleben left the group at the end of 2008.
Florian, whose favorite instrument was the flute, was performed as one of David Bowie’s (†) role models. Bowie even named an instrumental track on his legendary album “Heroes” after the musician. The track was called “V-2 Schneider”. David Bowie was strongly influenced by Kraftwerk Sound during his time in Berlin in the late 1970s.
In 2014 Kraftwerk received the Grammy for his life’s work. (dpa / KT)
