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Most of the information comes from the several cd booklets. If however you find some information to be incorrect or you have additions you are encouraged to respond.
Please let me know if you have any hot ELO news or you want me to add a link to your page. Any ELO material is more than welcome.

I copied the album covers from several ELO pages all over the world.

Last modified May 29th, 2004 by Marco van Buuren

 

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Mike Sheridan and the Nightriders

In January 1966 the group Mike Sheridan and the Nightriders split after 6 unsuccessful singles.

From this band three new bands were formed:

  1. Mike formed Mike Sheridan's New Lot
  2. guitarist Roy Wood formed The Move, together with ex-members from other Birmingham bands: Carl Wayne (vocals), Trevor Burton (bass), Ace Kefford (gitar) and Bev Bevan (bass)
  3. Greg Masters (bass), Dave Pritchard (rhythm) and Roger Spencer (drums) formed The Nightriders. Johnny Mann (guitar) from another local band "Carl Wayne and the Vikings" was added. Mann did not stay very long. An advert was placed for a guitar player. Jeff Lynne was selected in about September 1966. Jeff came from The Chads. Interested in The Chads? Visit the homepage of former member Mick Adkins: The Chads.
    Jeff was a bassist but picked up very quickly. He was also a great singer. Because Jeff was a few years younger than the rest they made him the front man. After the single "It's only the dog / Your friend" the name was changed into The Idyll and then into Idle Race.

Idle Race

The group released three albums:

 In January 1970 Jeff leaves Idle Race and joins The Move. One off his reasons to leave is that Idle Race does not really break through.

After Jeff's departure Mike Hopkins (guitar) and David Walker (vocals and harmonica) join the band. Dave Pritchard soon leaves after the "Time is" album. Dave Walker, Roger Spencer and Mike Hopkins follow. The remaining member, Greg Masters, is joined by Dave Caroll, Bob Wilson, Bob Lamb (much later UB40 producer) and Steve Gibbons.

In February 1972 Greg Masters is the last original member to leave. The band is renamed into the long running Steve Gibbons Band.

The Move

The Move was far more popular than Idle Race.
The group released four albums:

In 1968 Ace Kefford (gitar) is the first member to leave the band.

In 1969 Trevor Burton is replaced by Rick Price (bass).

In 1970 Carl Wayne (vocals) leaves and starts a cabaret act. Jeff Lynne was added in January 1970. His first song is "What ?" on the third Move album. From there on his influence grows by the day. Roy Wood is no longer the indispute band leader.

The final Move album contains the beautiful Lynne songs "The Minister", "Words of Aaron" and the title track "Message from the country". Rick Price left the band after the "Looking on" album. The Move now had three members: Roy Wood, Jeff Lynne and Bev Bevan.

At the end of 1971 The Electric Light Orchestra (ELO) was formed. It was Jeff's dream to start a band that would play a combination of symphonic and rock music.

The Move still scored hits in 1972 with "California Man" (by Wood) and "Do Ya" (by Lynne). The Move was meant to co-exist with ELO but soon all Jeff's attention went to his new project.

Electric Light Orchestra

 

ELO's first album "No Answer" (1971) is relatively unaccessible. Apart from the Move members it features Bill Hunt on horns and Steve Woolam on violin. Jeff writes 5 songs, including the hit "10538 overture". Roy writes the remaining 4 songs. They produced the album together.

In 1972 Roy Wood leaves ELO and forms Wizzard. Two captains on one ship was too much. Richard Tandy (synthesizer, piano, guitar) is added. ELO scores with the Chuck Berry cover "Roll over Beethoven", which contains 5th symphony extensions. Roy Wood reacts with Wizzard's hit "See my baby jive".

 

In 1973 ELO's second album, simply called "ELO II", is released. It includes the hit "Roll over Beethoven" and is more accessible than the first album.

 

 

Also in 1973 "On the third day" comes out. It contains the tracks "Showdown" and "Ma-ma-ma belle". The album is a bit poor.

 

 

In 1974 the "Eldorado" album is released. It is a good concept album. Louis Clark conducted the orchestra, a 30-piece string section. Just listen to the hit "Can't get it out of my head" or "Boy Blue". The music takes you on a journey.

 

 

In 1975 "Face the music" is released. Kelly Groucutt (bass, vocals) joins the band. "Evil woman" and "Strange magic" are hits from this album. I also recommend "Fire on high" and "Waterfall".

 

 

In 1976 "A new world record" is released. This album is very successfull with hits like "Livin' thing", "Rockaria" and "Telephone line". Suddenly ELO is performing for audiences of up to 20,000 people.

 

 

The next album "Out of the Blue" (1977), a double, is even more successfull. It contains "Mr. Blue Sky", the ELO song everybody (fan or no fan) knows. "Turn to stone" and "Sweet talkin' woman" are other hits. I could also recommend "Steppin' out", "Across the border" and "Wild west hero" just to mention a few. The level of this master piece could not be reached any more in future albums.

 

 

In 1979 the follow up album "Discovery" comes out. The disco influences scared several fans away. The hits "Confusion" and "Don't bring me down" are from this album. I personally can advice "The diary of horace whimp" and "Last train to London".

 

 

In 1980 Jeff writes 5 songs for the motion picture Xanadu, including the title track featuring Olivia Newton-John. Two other ELO hits are "I'm alive" and "All over the world". Allthough the movie was critisized (a very thin story) and unsuccessfull the music was ok.

 

 

In 1981 the "Time" album comes out containing the hits "Hold on tight" and "Twilight". It is clear the "O" in ELO got lost in the eighties. The orchestra was replaced by keyboards and synthesizers. The songs "Ticket to the moon" and "21st century man" describe the ELO situation very well. Due to technology the music becomes emotionless. In my opinion Jeff Lynne should have left ELO after "Time". Time to go.

 

 

In 1983 "Secret Messages" is released. It has been recorded in the Wisselord studios in Hilversum, The Netherlands. The album has a great cover. The hit "Rock and roll is king" refers back to the 70's. Jeff however put to many strange sounds on this album to make it a "must have it".

 

 

The final ELO album is "Balance of power" (1986). Even Jeff Lynne is not proud of this one. The atmosphere in the group was not great. Jeff wrote music, lyrics and produced. The other members just played his ideas. When you listen to the music you can only feel emptyness. Kelly Groucutt and Louis Clark were not involved in this album. This does no good to the melody.

 

ELO Part II and Orchestra

The former ELO members Bev Bevan (drums, percussion), Mik Kaminski (violin) and Louis Clark (strings) continued as ELO Part II after Jeff's departure. New members were Eric Troyer (keyboards), Neil Lockwood (vocals) and Pete Haycock (guitars, bass).

 

In 1991 the album "Part Two" is released. The CD is a beautiful picture disk of a girl looking at the stars and the ufo "ELO II". Musically the band went back in time to the 70's. Some songs sound very familiar like "Heart of hearts" (well listened to "Burning heart" and Toto) and "Thousand eyes". A good song is "Honest man". All these songs by the way were written by Eric Troyer who wrote 6 of the 10 songs. He seems to take over from Jeff although I believe ELO Part II works more like a team.

 

 

ELO Part II recorded an album with the Moscow Symphony Orchestra (1992). The former ELO members Kelly Groucutt (bass) and Hugh Mc Dowell (cello, played with ELO's live performances) were also involved. They only played one ELO Part II song "Thousand Eyes". Most of the songs sound poor: you miss Jeff's vocals. Only "Can't get it out of my head" and "Turn to stone" sound ok. This is because Kelly sings them.

 

 

In 1994 the album "Moment of truth" is released. Neil Lockwood and Pete Haycock have been replaced by Phil Bates (guitar). Kelly Groucutt apparently decided to stay after the Moscow concert.

The album sounds much better than the earlier two. All members now write songs and Kelly's vocals give something extra. It is the first album where you are not wondering how Jeff would sing or produce the songs. Finally ELO Part II is alive without Jeff.

 

 

In 1996 ELO Part II recorded a live cd in Australia containing 18 off ELO's hits.

I like this cd very much and often play it in my car.

 

After Bev's departure Jeff Lynne claims back the ELO name.

The remaining ELO Part II members continue as Orchestra.

The most recent members were:

- Kelly Groucutt: Bass and Vocals

- Louis Clark : Orchestral keyboards and Arrangements

- Mik Kaminski : Violin

- Eric Troyer : Keyboards and Vocals

- Phil Bates : Guitars and Vocals

ELO 2001

 

Jeff Lynne claimed back the ELO name after Bev Bevan left ELO Part II. ELO Part II is history now. Under the name ELO Jeff Lynne and Richard Tandy bring out the album "Zoom". In The Netherlands the album came out on June 11 th 2001. The single "Allright" entered the Dutch Mega Top 100 Chart at 87th position on June 9th. After the "Zoom" album ELO would be touring the USA (25 concerts), Europe (15 concerts) and Australia. The "Zoom" album however failed commercially and the tour was cancelled. The booked stadiums were way to big for the new ELO. I hope to ever see Jeff Lynne live in a smaller stadium around the corner. Jeff did not like touring in het past. I hope he has changed his mind.

Assuming the same band tours with Jeff that appeared at the VH1 Storytellers show and the two PBS live shows, the touring lineup should be:

- Jeff Lynne : Lead Vocals, Guitars

- Richard Tandy : Piano, Keyboards, Vocoder

- Rosie Vela : Backing Vocals

- Marc Mann : Backing Vocals, Keyboards, Guitars

- Matt Bissonette : Backing Vocals, Bass

- Gregg Bissonette: Backing Vocals, Drums, Percussion

- Peggy Baldwin : Cello

- Nancy Stein-Ross: Cello

 

Kelly Groucutt

Kelly Groucutt makes the solo album "Kelly" in 1981. Jeff Lynne is the only ELO member who was not involved in the project. Bev Bevan, Richard Tandy, Louis Clark and Mik Kaminski were. The song "Am I a dreamer" impresses. He currently is one of the ELO Part II members.

In 1997 Kelly sings the song Everlastin' love on the Andy's diner cd. With Andy's permission I included a part of this song.

   

Richard Tandy

Richard Tandy and Dave Morgan worked together before Richard joins ELO in 1972. In 1981 Dave joins the ELO touring band for the "Time" tour through Europe and the USA. When ELO split up in 1986 they release the single "Action" under the group name Tandy Morgan Band. It is produced by Jeff Lynne. The Tandy Morgan Band recorded the Earthrise album is the 80's.

Richard is currently playing in the Trevor Burton Band. If you want to see him check out the Sheila Tandy Web Site for more info.

Jeff Lynne

Jeff Lynne worked with many big stars. He took part in many come back albums. All the remaining Beatles (George, Ringo and Paul) have worked with Jeff. You however will not find any information about Anthology I and II over here. Allthough I do like the Beatles (I have all their records except "Yellow Submarine") I do not like after death remixes.

Jeff writes songs for Dave Edmunds's album "Information" (1983). The hit "Slipping away" is a result of this. Jeff also produces it.

 

Jeff plays two songs for the film "Electric dreams" (1984): "Video" and "Let it run". Richard Tandy is also involved.

Jeff co-produces George Harrison's album "Cloud nine" (1987). He also plays guitars, bass and keyboard. Elton John plays piano and Eric Clapton guitar. The album delivers the hit "Got my mind set on you".

Jeff and Brian write and produce "Let it shine" (1988) on Brian Wilson's album "Brian Wilson".

 

Jeff is one of the Traveling Wilburys on "Vol 1" (1988). The others are Roy Orbisson, Tom Petty, George Harrison and Bob Dylan. The single "Handle with care" is a hit.

Jeff produces the song "Falling in love" on Randy Newman's album "Land of dreams". For once he does not completely take over: it still has a Randy Newman sound.

Jeff co-writes and produces Roy Orbisson's album "Mystery girl" (1989). He is involved in "You got it" (a hit), "A love so beautiful" and "California blue". I believe the songs were meant to be on the Traveling Wilburys "Vol 2" album which is cancelled after Roy's tragic death.

Jeff and Tom write songs for Tom Petty's album "Full moon fever" (1989). The songs are "Free falin'", "I won't back down", "A face in the crowd" (a hit), "Running down a dream", "Yer so bad", "A mind with a heart of its own" and "Zombie zoo". Jeff, Tom and Mike Campbell produce the album. Jeff plays guitars, keyboards and bass. George Harrison and Roy Orbisson also have some involvement.

 

Jeff Lynne records a solo album called "Armchair theatre" (1990). George Harrison and Richard Tandy contribute. The quality of this album is much higher than the latter ELO recordings. Just listen to the songs "Now you're gone", "Lift me up" and "Blown away".

 

 

Jeff is one of the Traveling Wilburys on "Vol 3" (1990). The others are Tom Petty, George Harrison and Bob Dylan. I don't find this album any better than "Vol 1".

Jeff and Tom write songs for Tom Petty's album "Into the great wide open" (1991). The songs are "Learning to fly" (a hit), "Into the great wide open" (a hit), "The dark of the sun", "All the wrong reasons", "Out in the cold" and "Build to last". Jeff, Tom and Mike Campbell write the songs "All or nothing" and "Making some noise". The three of them are also the producers. Jeff plays guitars, keyboards and bass.

Jeff, Tom Petty and Del Shannon write "Walk away" for Del's album "Rock on!" (1991). Jeff also produces most of the songs. Unfortunately Del was unable to see the result. Del was to be Roy Orbisson's replacer in The Traveling Wilburys. After Del's death the project is cancelled.

For Ringo Starr's album "Time takes time" (1992) Jeff produces the songs "Don't go where the road don't go" and "After all these years". He also plays guitar, bass, piano and keyboards.

Jeff Lynne and Kiki Dee write "Time mends a broken heart" (1995), performed by Bonnie Tyler. The song does not impress me.

 

Jeff is credited for 8 songs on Paul Mc Cartney's album Flaming Pie (1997). You can hear his influence but it is still a Mc Cartney album.

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