Wilhelm Christian "William" Röttger (1948 – 28 February 2015) was a German label owner, music manager and gallery owner. Röttger co-founded the influential German

techno Techno is a genre of electronic dance music (EDM) which is generally produced for use in a continuous DJ set, with tempo often varying between 120 and 150 beats per minute (bpm). The central rhythm is typically in common time (4/4) and often ch ...

label

Low Spirit Low Spirit Recordings was a German techno record label. History Founded in 1986 by Maximilian Lenz ( Westbam), Fabian Lenz (DJ Dick), William Röttger, Klaus Jankuhn and Sandra Molzahn. The first record was WestBam's ''17 - This Is Not a Bo ...

and managed the music festival

Mayday Mayday is an emergency procedure word used internationally as a distress signal in voice-procedure radio communications. It is used to signal a life-threatening emergency primarily by aviators and mariners, but in some countries local organiza ...

Life

William Röttger grew up in the Westphalian village Lippborg. Since the late 1960s he was political active. In the 1970s he was scientific assistant of art teacher Otto Lenz at the Pädagogische Hochschule Westfalen-Lippe. Lenz was the father of

Maximilian Maximilian, Maximillian or Maximiliaan (Maximilien in French) is a male given name. The name " Max" is considered a shortening of "Maximilian" as well as of several other names. List of people Monarchs *Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor (1459� ...

(WestBam) and Fabian Lenz (DJ Dick).Gerrit Bartels:
Nachruf auf William Röttger: Einer der Urväter des Techno ist gestorben
', tagesspiegel.de, access date 6 March 2015 Besides he worked as an anti-authoritarian kindergarten teacher. Röttger was also a photographer and writer for periodicals such as Informations-Dienst zur Verbreitung unterbliebener Nachrichten, the Munich Blatt and

Die Tageszeitung ''Die Tageszeitung'' (, “The Daily Newspaper”), is counted as being one of modern Germany's most important newspapers and amongst the top seven. taz is stylized as ''die tageszeitung'' and commonly referred to as ''taz'', is a cooperative-own ...

. He organised music events and brought musicians and bands like

Einstürzende Neubauten (, 'Collapsing New Buildings') is a German experimental music group, formed in West Berlin in 1980. The group is currently composed of founding members Blixa Bargeld (lead vocals; guitar; keyboard) and N.U. Unruh (custom-made instruments; perc ...

Killing Joke Killing Joke are an English rock music, rock band from Notting Hill, London, England, formed in 1979 by Jaz Coleman (vocals, keyboards), Paul Ferguson (drums), Geordie Walker (guitar) and Youth (musician), Youth (bass). Their first album, ''Ki ...

Gang of Four The Gang of Four () was a Maoist political faction composed of four Chinese Communist Party (CCP) officials. They came to prominence during the Cultural Revolution (1966–1976) and were later charged with a series of treasonous crimes. The gang ...

Fad Gadget Francis John Tovey (8 September 1956 – 3 April 2002), known also by his stage name Fad Gadget, was a British avant-garde electronic musician and vocalist. He was a proponent of both new wave and early industrial music, fusing pop-structured ...

, Hans-A-Plast and Deutsch-Amerikanische Freundschaft to

Münster Münster (; nds, Mönster) is an independent city (''Kreisfreie Stadt'') in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is in the northern part of the state and is considered to be the cultural centre of the Westphalia region. It is also a state distr ...

. In 1983 Röttger arranged WestBams first DJ performance in the Odeon club in Münster.Daniel Fersch:
Nachruf: Low Spirit-Gründer William Röttger ist gestorben
', spex.de, access date 6 March 2015 Röttger moved to Berlin in the early 1980s, where he worked as photographer and retailer. After he unsuccessfully had offered WestBams tracks to different labels, Röttger together with WestBam, DJ Dick,

Klaus Jankuhn Klaus Jankuhn (born 12 January 1965) is a German record producer and musician, considered a pioneer in the early German techno scene. He mostly worked for the artists of the rave label Low Spirit, producing artists such as WestBam, Marusha or D ...

and Sandra Molzahn founded their own label

in 1985, which became the most successful German techno label of the 1990s. Röttger fostered the careers of musicians like WestBam, DJ Dick,

Marusha Marusha Aphrodite Gleiß (born 18 November 1966), known by her stage name Marusha, is a German-Greek electronic music disc jockey, producer and television presenter who had hits in the mid-1990s including her 1994 single " Somewhere Over the Rainbo ...

RMB The renminbi (; symbol: ¥; ISO code: CNY; abbreviation: RMB) is the official currency of the People's Republic of China and one of the world's most traded currencies, ranking as the fifth most traded currency in the world as of April 2022. ...

, Hardsequencer, Raver's Nature and

Mark 'Oh Marko Albrecht (born 23 June 1970), known by his stage name Mark 'Oh, is a German disc jockey and electronic music producer. Biography Starting out with a rock band titled "Line Up", Albrecht decided to turn to the ever-growing rave scene under ...

. Röttger also founded the events company Mayday GmbH, which organised the annual

festivals, and also was involved in the planning of the

Love Parade The Love Parade (german: Loveparade) was a popular electronic dance music festival and technoparade that originated in 1989 in West Berlin, Germany. It was held annually in Berlin from 1989 to 2003 and in 2006, then from 2007 to 2010 in the Ru ...

s. In 2006 Röttger and his partners closed down Label Low Spirit and sold the rights for Mayday to the company i-Motion. Afterwards he focused on arts and founded the Berlin-based Eclectic Window Gallery. Röttger died on 28 February 2015 of cancer, surrounded by his family.Rainer Schmidt:
Zum Tode von William Röttger: Die Triebkraft des Techno
', spiegel.de, access date 6 March 2015

Discography

* 1990: Mr. President, Sir! – ''Alligators Have Fun'' (Low Spirit)

External links

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rottger, William 1948 births 2015 deaths German music managers Love Parade Techno People from Lippe People from Münster Photographers from Berlin