Florian Schneider, one of the founders of Kraftwerk, died

“One of Kraftwerk’s founders and pioneers, Ralf Hütter, has sent us very sad news that his friend and colleague for decades, Florian Schneider, had died of short cancer just days after his 73rd birthday,” said the band was in a statement given to CNN by publicist Alexandra Greenberg.

Schneider and Hütter are recognized as one of the most influential 20th century electronic music figures.

The couple began working together in 1968 and launched Kraftwerk two years later as a project involving a series of other musicians.

In 1974, the group released Autobahn, an album that won global fame.