Edgar Froese, founder of legendary and influential electronic music pioneers Tangerine Dream, has died. As Exclaim points out, a message on the band’s Facebook page today announced that Froese passed away suddenly today in Vienna due to a pulmonary embolism. He was 70.

Froese founded Tangerine Dream in 1967 and was the only permanent member. The band’s influence spanned genres and decades: Along with the likes of Kraftwerk, Can, and Neu!, they were pivotal in the development of the experimental electronic-rock hybrid known as krautrock. Later they had a major impact on ambient and new age music and helped define the spacey Berlin school of electronic music. Tangerine Dream’s music lent itself to movie soundtracks, so Froese scored numerous films ranging from the Tom Cruise romp Risky Business to the vampire Western Near Dark. Froese was active up until the present day; Tangerine Dream recently contributed the score for Grand Theft Auto V. His impact on modern music is incalculable.

Here’s the message from the band’s Facebook page:

This is a message to you we are very sorry for…

On January 20th, Tuesday afternoon, Edgar Froese suddenly and unexpectedly passed away from the effects of a pulmonary embolism in Vienna.

The sadness in our hearts is immensely.

Edgar once said: “There is no death, there is just a change of our cosmic address.”

Edgar, this is a little comfort to us.

Yours,
TANGERINE DREAM TEAM