Richard Tandy, who played keyboards for Electric Light Orchestra on all of its records since 1972 including the Top 10 hits “Evil Woman,” “Telephone Line” and “Don’t Bring Me Down,” died Wednesday. He was 76.
His longtime bandmate, friend and fellow Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Jeff Lynne announced the news but did not provide details. “It is with great sadness that I share the news of the passing of my longtime collaborator and dear friend Richard Tandy,” he said. “He was a remarkable musician and friend and I’ll cherish the lifetime of memories we had together. Sending all my love to Sheila and the Tandy family.”
Tandy played on all of the band starting with 1973’s ELO 2, which featured a rollicking version of Chuck Berry’s “Roll Over Beethoven” that would be ELO’s first U.S. charting single. It kicked off a run of 26 stateside hits hits and a seven Top 10s: “Can’t Get It Out of My Head,” “Evil Woman,” “Telephone Line,” “Shine a Little Love,” “Don’t Bring My Down,” “Xanadu” and “Hold on Tight.” It also scored four consecutive Top 10 studio albums from 1975’s Face the Music through 1979’s Discovery.
The group also featured prominently in Xanadu, the 1980 rock musical that was Olivia Newton-John’s follow-up to Grease. Also featuring The Tubes, he film was a box office and critical dud, but its soundtrack — featuring five ELO songs including the title track with Newton-John — reached No. 4 on the Billboard 200, spawned five Top 20 singles and went double platinum.
Along the way, ELO mixed classical elements with Beatlesque pop rock to rack up five platinum and seven gold albums featuring such classic rock radio staples as “Livin’ Thing,” “Strange Magic,” “Turn to Stone,” “Sweet Talkin’ Woman” and “Mr. Blue Sky.” For all its pop success, the band had a hard time winning over critics. But as time passed and modern rock matured, ELO would gain more respect from the press.
The group saw even biggest chart success in its native England, racking up 27 Top 40 singles, 15 Top 10s and four No. 1 albums. It was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2017.
Born on March 26, 1948, in Birmingham, Tandy first teamed with Lynne in The Move as its part-time bassist. He left the band to join The Uglys but soon would reteam with Lynne, Move drummer Bev Bevan and others in the side project dubbed Electric Light Orchestra. He would become one of ELO’s few mainstays through its early years, mainstream success and later iterations, including the current Jeff Lynne’s ELO.
He played “Evil Woman” and “Mr. Blue Sky” with that band and Ed Sheeran at the 57th Grammy Awards in 2015 and appeared on the ELO episode of VH1’s Storytellers 2001.
In 1985, he formed The Richard Tandy Band with some ELO touring musicians and released the album Earthrise.
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