Electric Light Orchestra
Richard Tandy, Jeff Lynne, Bev Bevan, Kelly Groucutt
Background information
Origin	Birmingham, England, United Kingdom
Genre(s)	Rock Progressive rock Arena rock Pop Rock Electronica
Years active	1970–1986, 2000–present
Label(s)	Harvest Records, Warner Bros. Records, United Artists Records, Jet Records, Epic Records, Legacy Recordings & Sony BMG
Associated acts	The Move The Idle Race Wizzard Violinski ELO Part II
Website	Official Website
Members
See Personnel section

Electric Light Orchestra, also known as ELO, was a rock music group from Birmingham, England that released twelve albums between 1971 and 1986, and one album in 2001. The band's direction and focus for most of its history was driven by Jeff Lynne.

It was in the United States that the band was first warmly received, billed as The English guys with the big fiddles . They soon gained a cult following despite lukewarm reviews back in their native United Kingdom. They were managed by no-nonsense businessman Don Arden (the father of Sharon Osbourne).

By the mid seventies they had become one of the biggest selling rock music bands in the world. The group scored twenty top-20 UK hit singles, as well as fifteen top-20 appearances in the US Billboard chart. The band also holds the record for having the most Billboard Top 40 hits of any band in US history, without ever having a #1 single. The band proved to be an excellent vehicle for confessed Beatles fan Lynne's semi-classical Beatlesque compositions, steering a fine line between an album-oriented rock outfit and a hit-making machine.

The group's name is an intended pun based not only on electric light (as in a light bulb as seen on early album covers) but also using "electric" rock instruments combined with a "light orchestra" (orchestras with only a few cellos and violins that were popular in Britain during the 1960s).

Contents 1 Biography 1.1 Birth of a supergroup 1.2 Global success 1.3 The '80s and beyond 1.4 Reformation in 2000 1.5 Current releases 2 Band logo 3 Personnel 3.1 Members 3.2 Guest musicians 3.3 Live Lineup History 4 Discography 5 References 6 External links

Biography

Birth of a supergroup

Formed in October 1970 by Roy Wood, Jeff Lynne and Bev Bevan (the remaining members of the 1960s rock group The Move), the band used cellos, violins, horns and woodwinds to give their music a classical sound. This was an idea Roy Wood initially had while with The Move to take rock music in a new direction.

In January 1970, when Carl Wayne left the The Move, Lynne, front man with fellow Birmingham band Idle Race, responded to Wood's second invitation to join the line-up with the lure of starting the new band. To help finance the fledgling project, two more Move albums were released during the lengthy recordings for their eponymous first album between 1970 and 1971, which produced the UK top ten hit "10538 Overture".

In the United States, this album was released with the mistaken title of No Answer, due to a misunderstood telephone message to the American label. After trying to obtain the name of the album, the employee at United Artists wrote "no answer" after failing to reach the correct person. This was later mistaken for the name of the album.

However, tensions soon surfaced between Roy Wood and Jeff Lynne. With most of the media attention focused on Wood, differences in musical direction and a disastrous first live outing followed by an uneven tour of Italy took a toll on the Wood-Lynne friendship. The band went through the first of its many line-up changes as Wood took cellist Hugh McDowell and horn player Bill Hunt with him to form Wizzard.

Despite predictions from the music press that the band would fold without Wood, who had been the driving force behind the creation of ELO, Jeff Lynne stepped up to lead the band, with Bevan remaining on drums, joined by Richard Tandy on the Moog synthesizer, Mike de Albuquerque on bass, Mike Edwards and Colin Walker adding cello and Wilfred Gibson replacing Steve Woolam on violin. They released ELO 2 in 1973, an album begun before Wood's departure, from which came their first United States chart hit, a hugely elaborate version of the Chuck Berry classic "Roll Over Beethoven".

During the recording of the third album, violinist Gibson departed from the band and was replaced by Mik Kaminski. The band released On The Third Day in 1973 featuring the hit "Showdown" (United States only), with Mike Edwards playing all the cello parts on side one of the LP due to Colin Walker leaving the band. Second lead guitar on two tracks on the album ("Ma-Ma-Ma Belle" and "Dreaming of 4000") were contributed by Lynne's friend Marc Bolan and the return of Hugh McDowell, who had left the previous year, to replace cellist Colin Walker. In 1974, Lynne hired a thirty-piece orchestra, choir and Louis Clark, then began work on the next LP, Eldorado, A Symphony by the Electric Light Orchestra, a concept album about dreams, scoring their first United States Top Ten hit with "Can't Get It Out Of My Head," in 1975.

Global success

After the release of Eldorado, bassist and vocalist Kelly Groucutt and cellist Melvyn Gale joined, replacing de Albuquerque and Edwards respectively. At this point the line-up would be at its most stable and enjoy worldwide stardom throughout the remainder of the decade. In 1975, Face The Music was released, from which the major singles were "Evil Woman", "Strange Magic", marking a shift to a more "radio friendly" sound, helped along the way by renowned German producer and engineer Mack. From the same album, the instrumental "Fire On High", with its mix of strings and blazing acoustic guitars, saw heavy exposure as background music on a CBS Sports Spectacular montages, though most viewers were unaware of the song's origins. Today,the song is a staple of classic rock radio stations.

ELO concentrated most of their touring efforts in the United States at this point they were a star attraction on the stadium and arena circuit, as well as regularly appearing on The Midnight Special, although they were still largely ignored in the United Kingdom. The multi-platinum album A New World Record was released in 1976 and became the band's first true breakthrough album on a global scale, finally giving them their first top ten LP in the United Kingdom. It contained the hits "Livin' Thing", a re-recording of Jeff Lynne's composition, "Do Ya", "Telephone Line" and "Rockaria!".

A New World Record was followed by another multi-platinum selling album, double-LP Out of the Blue in 1977, although the record's momentum was slowed somewhat by a lawsuit filed by the band against their former distributor, United Artists, who they claimed had flooded the United States market with substandard pressings of the album, it still managed to sell ten million units within its first year of release. The double set featured the singles "Turn to Stone," "Sweet Talkin' Woman," "Mr. Blue Sky," and "Wild West Hero," each becoming a hit in the United Kingdom. The band then set out on a nine-month world tour, having ninety-two dates. The set was an enormous, and hugely expensive, space ship stage, with fog machines and a laser display.

On the United Kingdom portion of the world tour the band played at the Wembley Arena for eight sold-out nights, a record since surpassed. The first of these shows was recorded and televised and released recently as a CD, Live at Wembley '78, and DVD, Out of the Blue: Live at Wembley. In the United States the concerts were billed as The Big Night. The 44-date 'Big Night' tour played to stadium audiences, including their biggest-ever headlining gig at the Cleveland Stadium to 80,000 people. It was during the famous spaceship tour the band were criticized for allegedly playing backing tapes. By the end of 1978 they were the biggest live draw in the United States, averaging fifty thousand people at each show.

In 1979, Lynne set out to capitalize on the growing popularity of disco with the album Discovery (or "Disco very" as has been quoted). The album generated their biggest hit "Don't Bring Me Down" (the first ELO track not to feature strings), along with "Shine A Little Love" (sampled in 2005 by Lovefreekz for a dance hit called "Shine"), "Last Train to London" (sampled in 2003 by Atomic Kitten on their hit "Be With You"), "Confusion" and "The Diary of Horace Wimp". In the same year, Randy Newman wrote "The Story of a Rock and Roll Band", an ELO tribute song about "The English boys from Birmingham", including the lyrics, "I love their "Mr. Blue Sky;" almost my favorite is "Turn to Stone;" and how 'bout "Telephone Line?" I love that E.L.O.!" This song appeared on his album, Born Again.

Although there would be no live tour associated with Discovery, the band also recorded the entire album in video form. Not long after this, the violinist Mik Kaminski and the two cellists Hugh McDowell and Melvyn Gale were dismissed.The Discovery music videos would be the last time the original late 1970s line-up would be seen together. The Electric Light Orchestra finished 1979 as the biggest selling act in the United Kingdom.5 weeks at # 1,in the UK album chart.

The '80s and beyond

In 1980, Jeff Lynne was asked to write for the soundtrack of the musical film Xanadu, the other half written by John Farrar and performed by Olivia Newton-John, who starred in the movie. The movie performed poorly at the box office, but the soundtrack did well. Hit singles from both Newton-John ("Magic," #1 in the United States) and "Suddenly" with Cliff Richard) and ELO ("I'm Alive", "All Over The World" and "Don't Walk Away") as well as the title track to the movie, performed by both Newton-John and ELO. It is ELO's only song to top the singles chart in the United Kingdom. The Electric Light Orchestra Story, Bev Bevan's memoirs from his early days and throughout his career with The Move and ELO, was also published in 1980.

In 1981, ELO's sound changed again with the science-fiction concept album Time, reaching the number one spot for 2 weeks in the United Kingdom. Singles from the album included "Hold On Tight," "Twilight," "The Way Life's Meant To Be," "Here Is the News," and "Ticket to the Moon," with synthesizers largely replacing strings. The band embarked on their last world tour to promote the LP. The live line-up would have no cello players for the first time; instead they recruited Louis Clark (who had previously conducted the strings for their albums from 1974 to 1980) and Dave Morgan to play the string sounds on synthesizers; Mik Kaminski also appeared with his famous "blue violin", and "Fred the Robot" voiced the "Prologue" and "Epilogue".

To some there were those within Japanese popular culture who fixated on ELO's transcending sound. At the 1983 Daicon IV convention, amateur animators, who would eventually form Gainax, created their second fan-pleasing opening animation, which used ELO's "Twilight" as its soundtrack. To this day, the combination of amazingly hand-drawn animation coupled with a well-received ELO composition, is still considered one of the greatest pieces of art from the Golden Age of Anime.

By 1983 it was assumed by some that band leader Jeff Lynne had grown tired of the ELO, when he announced that there would be no tour to promote the new album Secret Messages. This was coupled with the news that drummer Bevan was to play drums for Black Sabbath and of bassist Kelly Groucutt's departure from the band. Rumours from fans about the group disbanding were publicly denied by Bev Bevan. Sales of the new album were relatively slow and most music reviews further added to the problems. Secret Messages reached number four in the United Kingdom. The album was originally recorded as a double album, but CBS had different ideas, citing that it would be too expensive, due in part to rising oil prices. Some of the songs that did not make the cut later appeared as B-side and on box sets. However, the tribute song "Beatles Forever" is still unavailable through official sources. Shortly after this album, Kelly Groucutt sued Jeff Lynne, Bev Bevan, and ELO's management for alleged lost royalty fees. The matter was settled out of court.

By 1984, Bevan had expressed a desire to join Black Sabbath permanently, Lynne and Tandy were recording tracks for the Electric Dreams soundtrack under Jeff Lynne's name, and with Groucutt's departure, ELO was assumed to be finished. Bevan left Black Sabbath and joined Lynne, who needed to make one more ELO album to fulfill his contract.

Lynne, Bevan and Tandy returned to the studio in 1985 as a three-piece (with Christian Schneider playing saxophone on some tracks) to record ELO's final album of the 20th century, Balance of Power, released early in 1986. Though the single "Calling America" placed in the Top 30 in the United Kingdom (#28), subsequent singles failed to chart. The album, jokingly called "Balance Of Payment" by Lynne, was absent of classical strings (except on the Secret Messages leftover track "Endless Lies") and had minimalist album art, missing the customary ELO logo that had appeared on every album since 1976. Lynne re-formed the 7-piece Time Tour band (with Martin Smith replacing Groucutt on bass) for a small number of live ELO performances in England and Germany, including the Heartbeat charity concert (organized by Bevan) on March 15 in ELO's hometown of Birmingham and ELO's last performance, prior to 2001, on July 13 in Stuttgart.

There was no announcement made of ELO's breakup during the next two years, when Harrison's Lynne-produced album Cloud Nine and the pair's follow-up (with Roy Orbison, Bob Dylan and Tom Petty) Traveling Wilburys Vol. 1 were released. Only when Bevan approached Lynne to make another ELO album in 1988 was ELO "disbanded". In 1990, Bevan's version of the band, titled ELO Part II, released their debut album Electric Light Orchestra, Part Two.

Reformation in 2000

Jeff Lynne's comeback with ELO started in 2000 when a retrospective box set was released, three CDs of remastered tracks and a handful of outtakes and unfinished works were released Flashback, most notably a new version of ELO's only UK number one hit "Xanadu".

In 2001, Zoom, ELO's first album since 1986, was released. On completion of the album Lynne reformed the band with completely new members including his then-girlfriend Rosie Vela (who had released her own album "Zazu", in 1986) and announced that ELO would tour again. Zoom took on a more organic sound, with less emphasis on strings and electronic effects. Guest musicians included former Beatles Ringo Starr and George Harrison. Former ELO member Richard Tandy rejoined the band a short time afterwards for two television live performances: VH1 Storytellers and a PBS concert later titled Zoom Tour Live that was released on DVD, the planned tour was canceled due to many unknown factors, in mid-August 2001. The tour was not rescheduled due to lack of interest and slow ticket sales.

Harvest (First light series) and Epic/Legacy released ELO's back catalogue from 2001 to 2007; included amongst the remastered album tracks were unreleased songs and outtakes, including a new single "Surrender" which became registered on the lower end of the chart for the band, some 25 years after it was first recorded.

Today much of ELO's music is used in Hollywood movies and advertisements, including films such as Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind and Breaking The Waves. In 2005, the track "Twilight" was used in the opening (animated) sequence of the immensely popular Densha Otoko drama in Japan, about a romance between an Anime-obsessed geek and an up-town rich girl. In the 2006 season of the revived Doctor Who series, the episode "Love And Monsters" featured an ELO-obsessed major character who is in search of the Doctor. In 2005-2006, TV sitcom My Name Is Earl used "Livin' Thing" for the episode "Quit Smoking", as well as "Hold On Tight" in the season one finale and "Don't Bring Me Down" at the beginning of season two's second episode.

A tribute to ELO, namely L.E.O., features original material written by devotees of Lynne's unique orchestrated sound. American musician Bleu, brought together various musicians to record this 'tribute' in 2007. Andy Sturmer, of seminal ELO/Queen/Beatles influenced band Jellyfish co-wrote and provided some vocals for the project. The songs are written entirely in Lynne's style and mimic ELO's orchestration and production to a very high standard. It apparently has been commented that it sounds almost like a lost ELO album.^{[attribution needed]} An initial album has been released, called "Alpacas Orgling"

Current releases

Although there has been no news on any forthcoming new ELO projects, ELO's core studio albums have now all been remastered, leaving only Zoom and Greatest Hits Live, both from 2001, to be remastered. The latest and last in the Epic/Legacy series was Out of the Blue and Balance of Power which were released in February 2007. A lost demo from 1977 was finished and released in the United Kingdom as a download single on February 6, 2007 titled "Latitude 88 North".

All the original ELO albums were released in mini replica sleeves in Japan, these discs were mastered using the same tapes but the disc sounded better due to a higher standard of pressings, this was apparently so on the two disc version of "Out of the Blue" which sounds uncompressed and very dynamic compared to the one disc, deluxe version. One of the many features, was the original Jet label on the disc and original inner sleeves and lyrics.

Band logo

The official band logo (left), designed in 1976 by artist Kosh, was first seen on their 1976 album A New World Record and is based on the upper cabinet of a 1946 Wurlitzer jukebox, model 4008. The band's previous logo (right) was similar to the General Electric Personnel

Members

• Jeff Lynne - vocals, guitars, bass guitar, keyboards, drums, cello, backing vocals, producer/writer and arranger (1970-1986, 2000-present)
• Roy Wood - vocals, guitar, bass guitar, cello, clarinet, bassoon, oboe,drums recorder, producer/arranger (1970-1972); formed Wizzard
• Bev Bevan - drums, backing vocals (1970-1986); [Formed ELO Part II]
• Richard Tandy - keyboards, guitar, bass (on stage, 1972) co-arranger (1972-1986, 2000-present)
• Mike de Albuquerque - bass guitar, backing vocals (1972-1974)
• Kelly Groucutt - bass guitar, lead vocal, backing vocals (1974-1983)
• Steve Woolam - violin (1971); the most elusive member, playing only on the debut LP
• Wilfred Gibson - violin (1972-1973)
• Mik Kaminski - violin (1973-1979, 1983)
• Hugh McDowell - cello (1972) - [Joined Wizzard then returned] (1973-1979)
• Colin Walker - cello (1972-1973)
• Mike Edwards - cello (1972-1975)
• Melvyn Gale - cello (1975-1979)
• Bill Hunt - keyboards, French horn, Hunting horn (1971-1972); performed on The Electric Light Orchestra (album) and was keyboardist on early live dates before departing with Wood to form Wizzard

Guest musicians

• Rick Price - bass guitar (1970) - The Electric Light Orchestra (album); involved initially with some early tracks; later joined Wizzard
• Carl Wayne - vocals (1972) ELO 2 The Lost Planet
• Marc Bolan - guitar (1973) On The Third Day
• Louis Clark - Co- arranger and conductor (1974-1979, 1983)
• Olivia Newton-John - Vocals (1980) on Xanadu
• Rainer Pietsch - co-arranger and conductor (1981) Time
• Dave Morgan - backing vocals (1983) Secret Messages
• Christian Schneider - saxophone (1986) Balance of Power (album)
• Marc Mann - guitar, keyboards, backing vocals, cello arrangements (2000-2001)

• George Harrison - slide guitar, backing vocals (2001) Zoom (album)
• Ringo Starr - drums (2001) Zoom (album)
• Suzie Katayama - cello (2001) Zoom (album)
• Roger Lebow - cello (2001) Zoom (album)
• Dave Boruff - saxophone (2001) Zoom (album)
• Laura Lynne - backing vocals (2001) Zoom (album)
• Kris Wilkinson - string arrangements (2001) Zoom (album)
• Rosie Vela - backing vocals (2001) Zoom (album)

Live Lineup History

1972 Debut Tour Roy Wood's only live ELO tour. After the tour, Wood, Hunt and McDowell leave ELO and form Wizzard.	Roy Wood - vocals, cello, bass guitar, guitar, woodwind Jeff Lynne - vocals, lead guitar, piano Bev Bevan - drums, percussion Wilfred Gibson - violin Richard Tandy - bass guitar, keyboards Mike Edwards - cello Bill Hunt - French horn, piano Hugh McDowell - cello Andy Craig - cello Trevor Smith - (occasional cello)
1972 - 1973 ELO 2 Tour Bassist Mike de Albuquerque and cellist Colin Walker join ELO after the departure of Wood, Hunt, McDowell, Craig and Smith.	Jeff Lynne - Vocals, lead guitar Bev Bevan - drums, percussion Richard Tandy - keyboards, moog, mellotron Mike de Albuquerque - bass guitar, backing vocals Wilfred Gibson - violin Mike Edwards - cello Colin Walker - cello
1973 - 1974 Do It With The Light On Tour Mik Kaminski replaces Gibson on violin, and McDowell returns from Wizzard to replace Walker.	Jeff Lynne - Vocals, lead guitar Bev Bevan - drums, percussion Richard Tandy - keyboards, moog, mellotron Mike de Albuquerque - bass guitar, backing vocals Mik Kaminski - violin Mike Edwards - cello Hugh McDowell - cello
1974 - 1975 Eldorado Tour Kelly Groucutt replaces de Albuquerque.	Jeff Lynne - Vocals, lead guitar Bev Bevan - drums, percussion Richard Tandy - keyboards, moog, mellotron Kelly Groucutt - bass guitar, backing vocals Mik Kaminski - violin Mike Edwards - cello Hugh McDowell - cello
1975 - 1978 Classic Lineup, touring in support of the albums Face The Music, A New World Record and Out Of The Blue Edwards is replaced by cellist Melvyn Gale. The band's most successful period.	Jeff Lynne - Vocals, lead guitar Bev Bevan - drums, percussion Richard Tandy - keyboards, moog, mellotron Kelly Groucutt - bass guitar, backing vocals Mik Kaminski - violin Hugh McDowell - cello Melvyn Gale - cello Jake Commander - additional backing vocals (offstage) on Out Of The Blue Tour
1981 - 1982 Time Tour Cellists McDowell & Gale are replaced with "Technology", Dave Morgan, longtime orchestral arranger Louis Clark and "Fred"	Jeff Lynne - Vocals, lead guitar Bev Bevan - drums, percussion Richard Tandy - keyboards, synthesizer Kelly Groucutt - bass guitar, backing vocals Mik Kaminski - violin, keyboards Louis Clark - synthesizer Dave Morgan - guitar, vocoder Fred the Robot - Spoken Prologue and Epilogue
1986 Balance Of Power Tour Martin Smith replaces Groucutt, and no "Fred"	Jeff Lynne - Vocals, lead guitar Bev Bevan - drums, percussion Richard Tandy - keyboards, synthesizer Mik Kaminski - violin, keyboards Louis Clark - synthesizer Dave Morgan - guitar, vocoder, backing vocals Martin Smith - bass guitar
2001 Zoom Tour Featuring a whole new band save for Lynne & Tandy. The only time the band has not featured a violinist although the cellos return.	Jeff Lynne - Vocals, lead guitar, rhythm guitar Richard Tandy - keyboards, synthesizer, vocoder Marc Mann - lead guitar, rhythm guitar, keyboards Matt Bissonette - bass guitar, backing vocals Gregg Bissonette - drums, backing vocals Peggy Baldwin - electric cello Sarah O'Brien - electric cello Rosie Vela - backing vocals

Discography

For a full discography and chart placings please see Electric Light Orchestra discography.

Title	Release Year
The Electric Light Orchestra (released as No Answer in United States)	1971 (1972, US)
ELO 2 (released as Electric Light Orchestra II in the United States)	1973
On the Third Day	1973
Eldorado	1974
Face the Music	1975
A New World Record	1976
Out of the Blue	1977
Discovery	1979
Xanadu	1980
Time	1981
Secret Messages	1983
Balance of Power	1986
Zoom	2001

References

External links

• Face The Music - official ELO and related artists information site
• Showdown The ELO mailing list
• Discovery - Welcome to the show ELO & Jeff Lynne information page
• Jeff Lynne Song Database
• Cherry Blossom Clinic Website includes interviews with former members of The Electric Light Orchestra.

v • d • e Electric Light Orchestra

Founding members: Jeff Lynne • Roy Wood • Bev Bevan Other members in Electric Light Orchestra Discography Studio albums: The Electric Light Orchestra/No Answer • ELO 2 • On the Third Day • Eldorado • Face the Music • A New World Record • Out of the Blue • Discovery • Xanadu • Time • Secret Messages • Balance of Power • Zoom Live albums: The Night the Light Went On (In Long Beach) • Live at Winterland '76 • Live at Wembley '78 • Live at the BBC Compilation albums: Showdown • Olé ELO • The Light Shines On • The Light Shines On Vol 2 • ELO's Greatest Hits • ELO's Greatest Hits Vol. 2 • Strange Magic • Flashback • The Essential Electric Light Orchestra • All Over the World