Florian Schneider passed away a few days ago from devastating cancer but we only learn about it today. Co-founder with Ralf Hütter of Kraftwerk in 1970, he left the group in November 2008, departure confirmed on January 6, 2009.
RTBF
It was in 1968 that he began to work with Ralf Hütter, another student at the Düsseldorf conservatory. They first founded an improv group called Organization and then, in 1970, Kraftwerk. At first Florian played the flute there and later even created an electronic flute. After the album "Autobahn" which revealed them to the general public, he will abandon this instrument to concentrate on electronic instruments, in particular by perfecting the Vocoder.
In 1998 Florian Schneider became professor of communication arts at Karlsruhe University of Arts and Design in Germany. From 2008 he was no longer on stage with Kraftwerk. He was then replaced by Stefan Pfaffe, then by Falk Grieffenhagen.
Kraftwerk's legacy is incalculable in the music of the past 50 years. Considered pioneers of electronic music, they influenced generations of artists, from Depeche Mode to Coldplay and they had a determining impact on Hip Hop, House and especially Techno, including their 1981 album “Computer World”. is considered the founding element. David Bowie had dedicated the track “V2 Schneider” to him on the album “Heroes”.
In 2015 Florian Schneider teamed up with Belgian Dan Lacksman, founder of the Telex Group, as well as Uwe Schmidt to record Stop Plastic Pollution, an “electronic ode” to ocean protection as part of the “Parley for the Oceans”.