Klaus Schulze.Photo: Jazz Archive/Heritage Images/Getty
Klaus Schulze, German electronic music trailblazer, has died. He was 74.
The musician — who also composed under the alias Richard Wahnfried and performed with Krautrock bands including Tangerine Dream, Ash Ra, Tempel, and The Cosmic Jokers — died suddenly on Tuesday following a battle with an undisclosed illness, according to Frank Uhle, the managing director of Schulze’s record label, SPV.
“We were shocked and saddened to hear the news of Klaus Schulze’s sudden death,” Uhle said in a statement, perThe Guardian. “We lose and will miss a good personal friend – one of the most influential and important composers of electronic music – a man of conviction and an exceptional artist.”
“Our thoughts in this hour are with his wife, sons and family,” he continued. “His always cheerful nature, his innovative spirit and his impressive body of work remain indelibly rooted in our memories.”
Throughout his 50-plus years in the music industry, Schulze released more than 60 solo albums in addition to his work with the aforementioned bands and as Wahnfried. Most recently, he worked onThe Dune Sketchbook, a soundtrack companion to the 2021 science fiction epic,Dune, alongsideHans Zimmer.
In an interview withBrain Voyagerpublished in 2018, Schulze spoke about his then-recent choice to stop touring. “That wasn’t an easy decision, and I do miss the live concerts with the fans; that is true. But I had to learn the hard way that health comes first,” said the musician. “And I am back to kind of a normal mode now, which took a while, but I am very happy about it.”
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Elsewhere in the story, Schulze opened up about an ongoing health condition and how it’s affected his work. “I had to realize it’s better for me not going out on the road anymore. My health needs constant supervision, as I have a renal disease, which fortunately is very treatable with dialysis,” he told the outlet.
“I do okay staying home, and going here and there is fine, but nothing as stressful as a tour or big live concerts far abroad that require a great deal of traveling,” continued Schulze. “I figure that’s okay when you’ve celebrated your 70th birthday recovering from a longer hospital stay.”
source: people.com
