Jeff Lynne

Jeffrey Lynne (born 30 December 1947) is an English musician, singer-songwriter, and record producer. He is the co-founder and only consistent member of the rock band Electric Light Orchestra (ELO), which was formed in 1970. He has written all of the band's music since 1972, including hits such as "Evil Woman", "Livin' Thing", "Telephone Line", "Do Ya", "Rockaria!", "Mr. Blue Sky", "Shine a Little Love", "Don't Bring Me Down", and "Hold On Tight". He also has had a solo career, with two albums: Armchair Theatre and Long Wave (2012).

Born in Birmingham, Lynne became interested in music during his youth and was heavily inspired by the Beatles. He began his music career in 1963 as a member of the Andicaps, then left the group the next year to join the Chads. From 1966 to 1970, he was a founding member and principal songwriter of the Idle Race. In 1970, he accepted Roy Wood's offer to join the Move and was a major contributor to the band's last two albums. Later that year, Lynne, Wood and Bev Bevan formed the band ELO as a side project to which they intended to devote most of their energies, out of their desire to create modern rock and pop songs with classical overtones. Following Wood's departure from ELO in 1972, Lynne assumed sole leadership of the band and wrote, arranged and produced virtually all of its subsequent records. During the 1970s and 1980s, ELO released a string of top 10 albums and singles, including the band's most commercially successful album, the double album Out of the Blue (1977). Two ELO albums reached the top of the British chart: the disco-inspired Discovery (1979) and the science fiction–themed concept album Time (1981). In 1986, Lynne disbanded the group after losing interest in it, though he subsequently revived it from 2000 to 2001 and again from 2014 to 2025. Lynne produced all fifteen ELO singles that rose to the Top 10 record charts in the UK.

After ELO's original disbandment in 1986, he began producing for various artists. In 1988, under the pseudonyms Otis Wilbury and Clayton Wilbury, he co-founded the supergroup Traveling Wilburys with George Harrison, Bob Dylan, Roy Orbison and Tom Petty. Lynne co-produced the Beatles' Anthology reunion singles from John Lennon demos, "Free as a Bird" (1995), "Real Love" (1996) and "Now and Then" (2023). In 2014, Lynne re-formed ELO and resumed concert touring under the name "Jeff Lynne's ELO". Outside of ELO, Lynne's producing credits include the UK or US Top 10 albums Cloud Nine (Harrison, 1987), Mystery Girl (Orbison, 1989), Full Moon Fever (Petty, 1989), Into the Great Wide Open (Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, 1991), Flaming Pie (Paul McCartney, 1997) and Get Up! (Bryan Adams, 2015).

In 2014, Lynne received a star on the Birmingham Walk of Stars and was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame the following year. He received three Ivor Novello Awards, including the award for Outstanding Services to British Music. In 2017, Lynne was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of ELO, and was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire in 2020.

Early life Lynne was born in Erdington, Birmingham, England, to Nancy and Philip Lynne, and grew up nearby in Shard End, Birmingham, where he attended Alderlea Boys' Secondary School. As a native of Birmingham, he still has his Brummie accent. His father bought him his first acoustic guitar for £2, which he was still playing as of 2012.

In 1968, while performing with the Idle Race, Lynne and the other members of the band were invited to a Beatles session at Abbey Road Studios. While there, he met the Beatles during the making of The White Album, witnessing the band making it together. He spent an hour at the session, before going back to the sessions with the Idle Race. Years later, he admitted that being in the same room "caused me not to sleep for, like, three days".

In 1970, Lynne accepted an offer from friend Roy Wood to join the line-up of the more successful band the Move.

1970–1986: The Move and ELO

Lynne contributed many songs to the Move's last two albums while formulating, with Roy Wood and Bev Bevan, a band built around a fusion of rock and classical music – a project which would eventually become the Electric Light Orchestra (ELO). The original idea was that both bands would exist in tandem.

The original aim of Electric Light Orchestra was to take up "where the Beatles had left off, and to present it on stage." John Lennon later praised the group, calling them the "sons of the Beatles" on a radio station when discussing the group's 1973 single "Showdown" on the New York radio station WNEW. Critics often compared Electric Light Orchestra to the Beatles, and they were often criticised for "ripping off" the band. Lynne admitted that he "was very influenced by the Beatles' sound of '68 and '69. That has obviously been a big influence on the way [he] looked at songwriting" and said that being compared with the Beatles was the "ultimate compliment".

The band's eponymous first album was released in December 1971, featuring heavy contributions from Lynne and Wood and producing the band's debut single "10538 Overture". Problems led to Wood's departure in 1972 (he formed the band Wizzard later that year), a year after the release of the band's first album, leaving Lynne as ELO's dominant creative force. Lynne then issued his debut solo single, "Doin' That Crazy Thing", in 1977.

The pinnacle of ELO's chart success and worldwide popularity was the expansive double album Out of the Blue (1977), which was largely conceived in a Swiss chalet during a two-week writing marathon. The band's 1978 world tour featured an elaborate "space ship" set and laser light show. In order to recreate the complex instrumental textures of their albums, the band used pre-recorded supplemental backing tracks in live performances. Although that practice has now become commonplace, it caused considerable derision in the press of the time. Lynne has often stated that he prefers the creative environment of the studio to the rigours and tedium of touring. Lynne followed up the success of Out of the Blue with Discovery (1979), which held No. 1 in the UK for five weeks. The album is primarily associated with its two disco-flavoured singles ("Shine a Little Love" and "Last Train to London") and with the title's word play on "disco" and "very". However, the remaining seven non-disco tracks on the album reflected Lynne's range as a pop-rock songwriter, including a heavy, mid-tempo rock anthem ("Don't Bring Me Down") which uses a drum loop. Lynne later recalled his forays into dance music: "I love the force of disco. I love the freedom it gave me to make different rhythms across it. I enjoyed that really steady driving beat. Just steady as a rock. I've always liked that simplicity in the bass drum." This friendship eventually led to Harrison's appearance at the Birmingham Heartbeat Charity Concert, showing up as the finale of the concert and joining many other musicians in a rendition of "Johnny B. Goode", as well as a one-off Electric Light Orchestra concert, both in 1986. In 1987, he appeared with Harrison at The Prince's Trust event at Wembley Arena.

1987–1991: Traveling Wilburys Lynne's Beatles influence was evident in his ELO work, and the connection to the Beatles strengthened when Lynne produced George Harrison's Cloud Nine.

In 1990, Lynne collaborated on the Wilburys' follow up Traveling Wilburys Vol. 3 in an attempt to connect with a loyal body of fans and to jump-start a planned concert tour (with Lynne and Tandy as the only returning original ELO members). While a live performance was taped at CBS Television City over two consecutive nights and shown on PBS (with subsequent DVD release), the tour itself was cancelled.

In 2001, Lynne started work with George Harrison on what would turn out to be Harrison's final album, Brainwashed. and performed "Handle with Care" with Dhani Harrison, and "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" with Prince, Steve Winwood and others.

In a Reuters article on 23 April 2009, Lynne said that he had been working on the follow-up to his 1990 solo debut album Armchair Theatre with a possible tentative release date of "later this year". He also produced four tracks on Regina Spektor's fifth album Far, released on 23 June 2009. On 31 December 2011, Brian Williams reported on NBC New Year's Eve with Carson Daly that "2012 releases will include rare new work from Jeff Lynne."

In 2012, Walsh released his Analog Man album which was produced by Lynne. Lynne's second solo album, a covers album titled Long Wave, was released on 8 October 2012. A greatest hits collection of re-recorded ELO songs by Lynne titled Mr. Blue Sky: The Very Best of Electric Light Orchestra was also released under the ELO moniker on the same day. Lynne suggested that a new album with original material could be released during 2013. In 2012, Lynne and Tandy teamed up at Lynne's Bungalow Palace home studios to record a live set of ELO's songs. This was broadcast on TV as part of the Mr. Blue Sky documentary.

On 9 February 2014, Lynne performed George Harrison's "Something" with Joe Walsh and Dhani Harrison on The Night That Changed America: A Grammy Salute to The Beatles, as well as "Hey Bulldog" from the Yellow Submarine soundtrack, while accompanying Dave Grohl, commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Beatles' performance on The Ed Sullivan Show. On 5 March 2014, Lynne received an honorary doctorate degree from Birmingham City University. He also mentioned he was working with Bryan Adams on new material. Never particularly enthusiastic for live performance even in his younger days, Lynne has called this event "easily the best concert I've ever been involved with".

On 8 February 2015, Lynne appeared at the Grammy Awards, playing "Evil Woman" and "Mr. Blue Sky" with Ed Sheeran.

On 10 September 2015, Lynne's website announced he had signed a contract to deliver an album of new ELO music for Columbia Records marking the first time in 14 years new ELO music would be released. On 24 September 2015, "When I Was a Boy", the first single from Alone in the Universe was released on the internet with a music video scheduled not long after. The album was released on 13 November 2015 and was followed by promotional shows including the first ELO shows in the United States in 30 years. A 2016 European tour was scheduled, with Dublin, Amsterdam and Zürich being some of the locations toured. Notably, the Dublin concert was delayed by a week due to medical advice given to Lynne. In September, 2016, shortly after the European dates, ELO played three shows at the Hollywood Bowl, Los Angeles, with full orchestra and fireworks. Jeff Lynne's ELO also played two concerts at Radio City Music Hall in New York City, on 16 and 18 September 2016 respectively.

On 24 June 2017, Lynne performed at Wembley Stadium to a crowd of 60,000, playing a 24-song setlist including "Xanadu", "Do Ya" and "Twilight". The concert was released on DVD and CD, under the title Wembley or Bust. On 2 August 2018, Lynne and his band Jeff Lynne's ELO began a 10-city tour of North America which included Oakland, Los Angeles, Denver, Houston, Dallas, Rosemont, Illinois, Detroit, New York City, Philadelphia and Toronto. On 12 September 2018, Jeff Lynne's ELO began a tour throughout Europe including dates in Stockholm, Oslo, Copenhagen, Hamburg, Berlin, Munich, Mannheim, Vienna, Amsterdam, Nottingham, Glasgow, Manchester, Newcastle upon Tyne, Birmingham, Leeds, London, Liverpool, Dublin and Belfast.

On 26 September 2019, Jeff Lynne's ELO announced a new album, called From Out of Nowhere, which was subsequently released on 1 November of the same year. The album was accompanied by the release of an eponymous single which premiered on BBC Radio 2 that same day. The album went to number one on the UK Albums Chart.

2020s

On 18 March 2024, Jeff Lynne's ELO announced the Over And Out Tour, a final tour of North America that would span from August to October 2024. Tandy died on 1 May 2024, at the age of 76. Announcing his death on social media, Lynne memorialised Tandy as "a remarkable musician and friend". In December 2024, Lynne received an award from Spotify celebrating 1 billion streams of ELO's biggest hit, "Mr. Blue Sky".

Personal life Lynne was married to his first wife Rosemary Adams, from 1972 to 1977. In 1979 he married Sandi Kapelson, with whom he has two daughters. After divorcing Kapelson, Lynne married Camelia Kath in 2017.

Despite his success, Lynne has spoken of his aversion to the stereotypical rock star lifestyle. Reflecting on the 1970s, he told Rolling Stone magazine: "I was reluctant to become a real rock star. I was shy and was always told to not get a big head. And my favourite thing in the world was to work 14 hours a day in the studio. Everything else was peripheral to me, like having the record out and promoting it. I did have a big house, but I didn't do rock-star things. I never saw myself like that. I was a songwriter, singer and producer. Rock stars are different. They dress all flashy and hang out in nightclubs. That just wasn't my priority. I liked to spend my spare moments at the pub."

Lynne was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2020 Birthday Honours for services to music. He is a fan of Birmingham City F.C.

In July 2025, during his Over and Out tour, Lynne suffered a hand injury while travelling in a taxi in London. The last two shows on the UK tour (which were to be the band's last ever) were cancelled due to Lynne's health, with no plans to reschedule.

Awards and honours

2009: Golden Note Award from the ASCAP 2013: Songwriters Hall of Fame nominee for 2014 induction 2014: Star on the Birmingham Walk of Stars 2014: Honorary doctorate degree from Birmingham City University 2015: Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame 2015: Songwriters Hall of Fame nominee for 2016 induction 2016: Songwriters Hall of Fame nominee for 2017 induction 2017: Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee as a member of Electric Light Orchestra 2018: Songwriters Hall of Fame nominee for 2019 induction 2019: ASCAP Founders Award from the ASCAP 2023: Songwriters Hall of Fame induction

Discography Solo albums Title Album details Peak chart positions UK AUS BEL CAN GER NLD NOR SWE SWI US Armchair Theatre Released: 12 June 1990 Label: Reprise 24 35 — 23 52 44 7 8 — 83Long WaveReleased: 26 September 2012 Label: Frontiers 7 — 153 — 83 74 — 24 64 113

Singles Year Title Album Chart positions UK CAN US 1977 "Doin' That Crazy Thing" Non-album single – – – – 1984 "Video!" Electric Dreams: Original Soundtrack from the Film 87 – – 85 1990 "Every Little Thing" Armchair Theatre 59 31 18 – "Lift Me Up" – 125 37 –

With ELO Main articles: Electric Light Orchestra discography and recorded songs

Studio albums

The Electric Light Orchestra (1971) ELO 2 (1973) On the Third Day (1973) Eldorado (1974) Face the Music (1975) A New World Record (1976) Out of the Blue (1977) Discovery (1979) Time (1981) (as ELO) Secret Messages (1983) Balance of Power (1986) Zoom (2001) Alone in the Universe (2015) (as Jeff Lynne's ELO) From Out of Nowhere (2019) (as Jeff Lynne's ELO)

Compilation appearances

As producer, composer or session musician

For releases by bands of which Lynne was a member, see The Idle Race discography, the Move discography, Electric Light Orchestra discography, Traveling Wilburys discography

Music videos