Klaus Schulze

Where they’re from: Berlin, Germany

Who they are: In 1969, Klaus Schulze was the drummer of one of the early incarnations of Tangerine Dream for their debut album Electronic Meditation.[2] Before 1969 he was a drummer in a band called Psy Free. He met Edgar Froese from Tangerine Dream in the Zodiac Club in what was then West Berlin. In 1970 he left this group to form Ash Ra Tempel[2] with Manuel Göttsching and Hartmut Enke. In 1971, he chose again to leave a newly formed group after only one album, this time to mount a solo career. In 1972, Schulze released his debut album Irrlicht with organ and a recording of an orchestra filtered almost beyond recognition. Despite the lack of synthesizers, this proto-ambient work is regarded as a milestone in electronic music.[3] The follow-up, Cyborg, was similar but added the EMS VCS 3 synthesizer.

Since this point, Schulze’s career has been most prolific, and he can now claim more than 40 original albums to his name.

Years active: 1969–present

Essential albums: Irrlicht (1972), Timewind (1975), X (1978)