---
title: "Juan Atkins, Detroit Techno Pioneer, Dies at 64"
url: https://www.heredetroitmi.com/2026/11/02/juan-atkins-detroit-techno-pioneer-dies-64/
date: 2026-11-02T05:40:31-05:00
modified: 2026-11-02T05:40:31-05:00
author: "Kestrel Howell-Yelton"
categories: ["Obituaries"]
site: "HERE Detroit"
attribution: "HERE Detroit"
---

# Juan Atkins, Detroit Techno Pioneer, Dies at 64

> DETROIT, Mich. — Juan Atkins, the Detroit-born producer widely credited with giving techno its name, has died at 64, his talent agency, Greensmith Artists, said Sunday. Atkins was found unresponsive in a Mexico City hotel room before a planned set at the YuYu Cine Club and was pronounced dead after being taken to a hospital.

*Source: [HERE Detroit](https://www.heredetroitmi.com/2026/11/02/juan-atkins-detroit-techno-pioneer-dies-64/) — November 2, 2026 by Kestrel Howell-Yelton*

DETROIT, Mich. — Juan Atkins, the Detroit-born producer widely credited with giving techno its name, has died at 64, his talent agency, Greensmith Artists, said Sunday.

Atkins was found unresponsive in a Mexico City hotel room before a planned set at the YuYu Cine Club and was pronounced dead after being taken to a hospital.

Born in the city in 1962 and raised in Belleville, Atkins formed the Belleville Three with Derrick May and Kevin Saunderson, classmates whose early 1980s records put the Motor City at the center of electronic music.

He started Cybotron with Richard Davis in 1980, later recorded as Model 500 and in 1985 launched his own label, Metroplex, which also carried his landmark track No UFOs.

At home, he was a regular at the Movement festival in Hart Plaza and its forerunner, the Detroit Electronic Music Festival, first held in 2000. Earlier this year the Detroit Pistons saluted the trio with a merchandise line.