Florian Schneider, one of the founding members of the German rock-pop group Kraftwerk, died of cancer at the age of 73, various media report.

Living in Düsseldorf, Florian Schneider formed Kraftwerk with Ralf Hutter in 1970, a band that one decade later would become a global synth pop phenomenon.

Their albums included works such as Autobahn (1974), Trans-Europe Express (1977) and The Man-Machine (1978), and their styles influenced modern day synth music, electro and techno.

Schneider left the group in 2008, but no reason was given for his departure.