Editing Ralf Hütter (section)

==Personal life==
Hütter was born on 20 August 1946 in [[Krefeld]], Germany. In 2009 he lived near [[Düsseldorf]].<ref name="guardian2009">{{cite web |author1=John Harris |title='I got a new head, and I'm fine' |url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2009/jun/19/kraftwerk-hutter-manchester-international |website=[[The Guardian]] |date=19 June 2009}}</ref> He met Florian Schneider while studying improvisation at the [[Robert Schumann Hochschule]].<ref name="rb">{{cite web|url=http://daily.redbullmusicacademy.com/2012/08/kraftwerk-interview|title=Red Bull Music Academy Daily|website=daily.redbullmusicacademy.com}}</ref> The pair started performing at happenings and art galleries in the late 1960s, subsequently incorporating electronic sounds and building their own [[Kling Klang Studio]].<ref name="rb" /> He is a [[Vegetarianism|vegetarian]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Ralf Hütter (1946 -) |url=https://ivu.org/people/music/hutter.html |website=International Vegetarian Union (IVU)}}</ref> Hütter is a secretive musician who avoids interviews.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/music/articles/7989f6c2-a20c-451a-959e-62f7782bb8e1|website=BBC Music|title=The secretive musicians who avoid interviews|date=19 March 2018|author=Phil Hebblethwaite}}</ref> 

Hütter is an enthusiastic [[cycling]] fan, a fact reflected in some of the band's work. It was widely claimed that, when he was on tour, the group's bus would drop off Hütter 100 miles away from the next venue and he would cycle the rest of the way, a story that Hütter later confirmed.<ref name="guardian2009"/> The band members took up cycling when recording the album ''[[The Man-Machine]]'' in the late 1970s. Ralf Hütter had been looking for a new form of exercise. The single "[[Tour de France (song)|Tour de France]]" includes sounds that follow this theme, including bicycle chains, gear mechanisms and the breathing of the cyclist. At the time of the single's release Ralf Hütter tried to persuade the rest of the band that they should record a whole album based around cycling. At the time this did not happen, but the project eventually was released as ''[[Tour de France Soundtracks]]'' in 2003.

Hütter was involved in a serious cycling accident in May or June 1982,<ref>[[Karl Bartos]] 2017, ''Der Klang der Maschine'', ch. 12</ref> during the initial period of [[sound recording and reproduction|recording]] for the 1986 album ''[[Electric Café]]''. He was in a [[coma]] as a result.  [[Karl Bartos]] claimed the first thing Hütter said when he awoke from his coma was "Where is my bicycle?", a story Hütter later disputed in a June 2009 interview in ''[[The Guardian]]''.<ref name="Bussy">{{Cite web|date=2009-06-18|title=John Harris interviews Kraftwerk's Ralf Hütter|url=http://www.theguardian.com/music/2009/jun/19/kraftwerk-hutter-manchester-international|access-date=2021-03-01|website=the Guardian|language=en}}</ref>