Florian Schneider dead - Kraftwerk founding member dies at 73

Florian Schneider had died at the age of 73, Billboard has confirmed.

The German musician was best known for being one of the founding members of electronic music group Kraftwerk.

Florian, whose full surname was Schneider-Esleben, founded the group alongside Ralf Hutter in 1970, two years after they met at the Academy of Arts in Remscheid, Germany.

Florian, whose main instrument was the flute, was cited as one of David Bowie's influences.

Bowie titled an instrumental track on his album Heroes, V-2 Schneider, after the musician.

Bowie was heavily influenced by Kraftwerk's sound during the 'Berlin' period in the late 1970s.

He was a founding member of Kraftwerk (EMI)

A multi-talented artist, Florian played the synthesizer, vocoder, flute and sax.

Kraftwerk released 10 studio albums, including 1974's Autobahn which reached number four in the UK charts.

He left the band in 2008 after four decades.

Before Florian's death Kraftwerk had announced that the band would be embarking on a 50th anniversary tour of North America, but the shows were canceled due to the global coronavirus pandemic.

Producer Robert Goerl first broke the news of Florian's death on Facebook, writing in German: "Oh no, Florian Schneider, have a good trip."

Mark Reeder, who owned German electronic dance music labels MFS and Flesh, followed, writing: "Good-bye Florian, you made an indelible impact upon my life, may the neonlights shine bright for you."

Kraftwerk were one of David Bowie's influences (Capitol)

After news of his death, fans took to Twitter to pay tribute.

One fan wrote: "Sad news that this legend Florian Schneider has passed away, RIP"

Another posted: "RIP Florian Schneider, essential electronic music pioneer and purchaser of asparagus."