Florian Schneider, one of the founding members of Kraftwerk, has died aged 73 of cancer. The news was confirmed on Wednesday (May 6) by one of his musical collaborators, who said Schneider had died a week earlier and had a private burial. It was also confirmed via Sony Berlin.

Born in 1947, Schneider was the son of Paul Schneider-Esleben, the noted architect who designed Cologne's airport. He first played music in various groups while studying in Düsseldorf, starting in a band called Pissoff, in the experimental scene the British press dubbed krautrock.

He played flute, violin and guitar, often filtered through electronic processing, and later said the flute had become too limiting. He bought a microphone, then loudspeakers, then an echo unit, then a synthesiser, and eventually threw the flute away.

With Kraftwerk he was behind one of the most influential singles in European electronic music: The Model reached No 1 in the UK in 1982, years after its original release.