Electronic Music Pioneer Klaus Schulze Dies at 74
variety.comChris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music CriticGerman composer and musician Klaus Schulze, a pioneer in the field of electronic music and leading figure in what came to be known as “Kraut-rock,” died Tuesday.
He was 74 and the death was described in an announcement from his record label as coming “after a long disease, but all of a sudden.”Schulze was an early member of the groups Tangerine Dream, the Cosmic Joker and Ash Ra Tempel, in the beginnings of a career that grew to include more than 60 albums.Despite his illness, Schulze had new music in the pipeline.
A new song, “Osiris Pt#1,” was released earlier this month in advance of an album, “Deus Arrakis,” that is set to come out June 10.“We were shocked and saddened to hear the news of Klaus Schulze’s sudden death,” said SPV managing director Frank Uhle. “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. His always cheerful nature, his innovative spirit and his impressive body of work remain indelibly rooted in our memories.”Schulze’s impact was recently heard in the film “Dune,” interpolated into the score by an admirer, Hans Zimmer. “When I was writing the end titles, I realized there was a bass line that I’d heard before,” Zimmer told Den of Geek when the film was coming out. “And I suddenly remembered that Klaus Schulze wrote a song called ‘Frank Herbert.’ I basically lifted the bass line from that.
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