Founder of motorik beats, Kraftwerk and Neu! legend Klaus Dinger has exited stage left.
Dinger, who played drums for Kraftwerk and went on to co-found Neu!, died March 21, although the news of his death was not made public until late last night.
A report from Neu! label Grönland cites the cause of death as heart failure. Dinger was 61, and would have turned 62 on March 24.
Dinger trademarked the steady, propulsive drumming style that came to define the motorik sound associated with krautrock. He drummed on Kraftwerk‘s 1970 self-titled debut before leaving the band, along with guitarist Michael Rother, to start Neu!
Neu! released three seminal albums during the 70s, and had a noted influence on everyone from David Bowie to Sonic Youth to Holy Fuck.
After Neu! dissolved, Dinger went on to work with La DÃÅsseldorf, and in the 90s he formed a composite group of sorts called La! Neu?
René Renner, head of Grönland Records, called Dinger ‘an uncompromising musician, a challenging personality, (an) inspirational human being, and one of the most influential drummers‘ in a statement released last night.
Renner also invoked a telling Brian Eno quote: ‘There were three great beats in the 70s. Fela Kuti’s Afrobeat, James Brown’s funk, and Klaus Dinger’s Neu! beat.’
Rother added: ‘Together with many friends of his music I will remember Klaus for his creativity as an artist and I will think about him with gratitude for his wonderful contributions to our project Neu!‘