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Richard Tandy, ELO’s Longtime Keyboardist and the Voice of ‘Mr. Blue Sky,’ Dies at 76
Richard Tandy, the keyboardist whose sound was a hallmark of ELO/ Electric Light Orchestra hits like 'Mr. Blue Sky' and 'Evil Woman,' has died.
Richard Tandy, the keyboardist and multi-instrumentalist whose tenure with the Electric Light Orchestra(ELO) spanned more than 50 years, has died, according to a statement from Jeff Lynne, the group’s frontman and co-founder. While a quiet visual presence in the group, Tandy — who joined in 1973, after the release of the group’s debut album — made a mighty contribution to ELO’s trademark sound, his soaring synthesizers, regal piano and funk-influenced clavinet bringing alternately classical and soulful touches to hits from “Evil Woman” and “Strange Magic” to “Livin’ Thing” and “Telephone Line.” And that’s his vocoder-altered voice saying “Mr. ELO’s commercial peak struck with the “Out of the Blue” and “Discovery” albums of the late ‘70s, but it continued moving into more electronic areas, along with much of the rest of pop music, in the early ‘80s, with Tandy taking on an even greater role as the primary keyboardist.
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