Gabi Delgado-López, co-founder of the German electropunk group Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft (or D.A.F.), has died. His bandmate Robert Görl confirmed the news on social media. He was 61.
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft got started in Düsseldorf in 1978 as a punk band. The five-person outfit was pared down to the duo of Delgado-López and Görl, and the band found a sound that merged electronic body music and punk rock. Their political music and imagery offered a consistent rebuke of totalitarianism.
Their debut album Ein Produkt der Deutsch-Amerikanischen Freundschaft arrived in 1979, and its 1980 follow-up Die Kleinen Und Die Bösen was the first LP ever released on Mute. Their next three albums all arrived via Virgin Records: Alles ist Gut (1981), Gold und Liebe (1981), and Für Immer (1982). The group briefly broke up and returned again for 1986’s 1st Step to Heaven.
Delgado also had a productive solo career starting with 1983’s Mistress. His albums Eins and Zwei were released in 2014 and 2015 respectively. D.A.F. was consistently active through the years, performing as recently as this year.