Klaus Dinger was drummer in Kraftwerk and co-founding member of Neu!. He later formed La Dusseldorf, selling over a million copies in the 70s and 80s, and La! Neu?.



Klaus was probalby most famous for his invention of the Motorik beat, a term coined by music journalists to describe the 4/4 beat often used by some so-called "Krautrock" bands. Klaus Dinger used to call it the "Apache beat". The rhythm pattern consists of 2 quarter note (crotchet) hits of a bass drum, followed by variations of the bass and snare drums on beats 3 and 4.



Klaus Dinger's landmark drumming style has had a profound influence on a huge range of artists such as Primal Scream, Stereolab, Wilco, David Bowie, The Boredoms and Four Tet.



Klaus Dinger died suddenly of heart failiure four days before his 62nd birthday on March 20th 2008.