Richard Tandy
Richard Tandy in the Studio 1979
Background information
Birth name	Richard Tandy
Born	March 26, 1948
Origin	Birmingham, England
Genre(s)	Rock Progressive rock Pop music
Occupation(s)	Musician
Instrument(s)	Synthesizer Piano Keyboards Guitar
Label(s)	Jet Records Harvest Records Epic EMI SonyBMG
Associated acts	Electric Light Orchestra Tandy Morgan Band
Website	Musical career

Richard Tandy (born 26 March 1948, in Birmingham, England), is best known as the keyboard player in the rock band, Electric Light Orchestra ("ELO"). His palette of keyboards (including Mini Moog, clavinet, mellotron and piano) was an important ingredient in the group's sound, for example on the albums "A New World Record", "Out of the Blue", "Discovery" and "Time".

A former pupil of Moseley School, where he first met future bandmate Bev Bevan, Tandy would later be reunited with Bevan in 1968 when he played the harpsichord on The Move's number one hit "Blackberry Way". Later in 1972 Tandy was the bass player in the first live line-up of ELO, then switching to keyboards when Jeff Lynne decided that their live sound needed improvement. Tandy was often seen on stage playing the stereotypical 1970s prog rock stack of keyboards, with bass pedals under his feet. As well as ELO, he has collaborated musically with Jeff Lynne on many projects, among them tracks for the Electric Dreams (Soundtrack), Lynne's solo album Armchair Theatre and Lynne produced George Harrison tracks. Tandy's playing has been loosely compared to that of Tony Banks, with the patch engineering quality of Tomita. Before joining ELO Tandy played with the groups "The Uglys" and "Balls". In 1986 Tandy formed the Tandy Morgan Band featuring Dave Morgan and Martin Smith, both of whom had worked with ELO in live concerts.

External links

• WILD WEST HERO - fan site dedicated to ELO world