Jeff Lynne
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| Jeff Lynne | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Jeffrey Lynne |
| Born | 30 December 1947 |
| Origin | Birmingham, England |
| Genre(s) | Rock Pop |
| Occupation(s) | Singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, producer |
| Instrument(s) | Guitar, Piano, Synthesizer, Bass Guitar, Drums, Cello, Violin |
| Years active | 1966 - present |
| Label(s) | Jet Records, Harvest Records, Epic records, SonyBMG, Reprise Records |
| Associated acts | The Idle Race The Move Electric Light Orchestra Traveling Wilburys |
| Website | http://www.ftmusic.com |
Jeff Lynne (born Jeffrey Lynne, 30 December 1947 in Shard End, Birmingham) is a Grammy Award-winning English rock songwriter, singer, guitarist and record producer.
Contents |
[edit] Early career
In 1963, Jeff Lynne, Robert Reader and David Walsh formed a group using little more than Spanish guitars and cheap electrical instruments to produce music. They were originally named "The Rockin' Hellcats" however this was changed to "The Handicaps" and finally to "The Andicaps". They practiced at Shard End Community Centre and performed weekly. However, in 1964, Robert Reader and David Walsh left the band and Lynne brought in replacements. At the end of 1964, Lynne decided to leave to replace Mick Adkins of the local band "The Chads"[1].
In 1966, Lynne joined the line-up of The Nightriders as guitarist, the band would soon change their name to the The Idle Race, a name allegedly given to them unwittingly and sarcastically by his grandmother Evelyn Lynne who probably disapproved of the pop music culture as not being a proper job. Despite recording two critically acclaimed albums with the band and producing the second, success eluded him. In 1970, Lynne accepted a lifeline from friend Roy Wood to join the line up of the more successful band The Move.
[edit] The Electric Light Orchestra (1970 - 1986)
Lynne contributed 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 European classical music, a project which would eventually become the highly successful Electric Light Orchestra (ELO). Problems elaborated on in Mojo magazine 2007, led to Wood's departure in 1972, after the band's eponymous first album, leaving Jeff Lynne as the band's dominant creative force. Thereafter followed a succession of band personnel changes and increasingly popular albums: 1973's ELO II and On The Third Day, 1974's Eldorado and 1975's Face the Music.
By A New World Record, Lynne had almost completely abandoned the roots of the group for a dense and unique pop-rock sound mixed with studio strings and layered vocals and tight, catchy pop singles. Jeff Lynne's now almost complete creative dominance as producer, songwriter, arranger, lead singer and guitarist could make ELO appear to be an almost solo effort, the sound was also shaped by Louis Clark's co-arranging, Bev Bevan's drumming, Richard Tandy's use of new keyboard technology and arranging skills, all brought the music that Jeff Lynne wrote into focus[citation needed].
Some believe the pinnacle of ELO's chart success and worldwide popularity was the expansive 1977 double album Out of the Blue, which was largely conceived in a Swiss chalet during a two-week writing marathon.[2] The band's 1978 world tour was a spectacular featuring 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 and although the practice has now become commonplace, it caused considerable derision in the press[3]. Jeff Lynne has often stated that he prefers the creative environment of the studio to the rigors and tedium of touring.
In 1979, Lynne followed up the stunning success of Out of the Blue with Discovery, an album primarily associated with its two disco-flavored singles, "Shine a Little Love" and "Last Train to London". However, the remaining seven non-disco tracks on the album reflected Lynne's broad range as a pop-rock songwriter including a heavy, mid-tempo rock anthem ("Don't Bring Me Down") that represented the antithesis of disco. On a recording distributed to the fan club of the time, Lynne stated that he liked the "bang bang" of disco,[citation needed] although the absence of any further forays into dance music indicates that this may have been a sentiment purely for promotional benefit. In 1979, Lynne rejected an offer for ELO to headline the Knebworth Concert in the UK, allowing Led Zeppelin to headline instead.
In the absence of any touring to support Discovery, Lynne had time to contribute five tracks to the soundtrack for the 1980 movie musical Xanadu (film). While the quality of his production work for Xanadu was on par with the best of his ELO work and the score yielded a pair of top-40 singles, with "Xanadu" reaching number one in the UK. Lynne was not integrated into the development of the film and his material subsequently had only superficial attachment to the plot. Despite its later resurgence as a cult favorite, Xanadu performed weakly at the box-office and has often been regarded as the nadir of the musical film genre. Lynne subsequently disavowed his limited contribution to the project,[4] although he later reappraised his work and re-recorded the title song (with his lead vocal) for the 2000 box-set Flashback. In 2007, the film was loosely adapted into a successful Broadway musical, incorporating almost all of the songs from the original film, and also using two other ELO hits: Strange Magic and Evil Woman.
1981 saw Lynne taking the band into a somewhat different direction with the science-fiction themed album Time, reaching number one for two weeks in the UK, producing the second top 3 single in less that two years, jettisoning the strings in favor of heavily synthesized textures. Following a marginally successful tour, Lynne kept this general approach with 1983's Secret Messages and a final contractually-obligated ELO album Balance of Power in 1986. Although ELO could still get a hit single into the top 40, it was assumed, Lynne was tired of the artistic constraints and promotional demands imposed by the ELO concept. With only three remaining official members (Lynne, Bevan and Tandy), the band had become just a trio again. Lynne began devoting his full energy to producing.
During his time in the Electric Light Orchestra, Lynne did manage to release a few recordings under his own name. In 1976, Lynne covered The Beatles songs "With a Little Help from My Friends" and "Nowhere Man" for All This and World War II. In 1977, Lynne released his first ever solo single, the disco-flavoured "Doin' That Crazy Thing"/"Goin' Down To Rio". Despite ELO's high profile at that time, it received little airplay and failed to chart. In 1984 Lynne and ELO keyboardist Richard Tandy contributed two original songs "Video" and "Let It Run" to the film Electric Dreams. Lynne also wrote the song "The Story of Me" which was recorded by the Everly Brothers on their comeback album EB84.
[edit] The 1980s
Before 1986, Jeff Lynne began focusing almost exclusively on studio production work, producing and writing, "Slipping Away" for Dave Edmunds, he also played on sessions, with Richard Tandy, on the album, Information. After "Balance Of Power", showing both the influences that characterized much of ELO's work and an influence from rockabilly-style music, rock 'n' roll and the Beatles, would shine through in later years. In contrast to the dense, boomy, baroque sound of ELO, Lynne's post-ELO studio work has tended toward more minimal, acoustic instrumentation and a sparse, "organic" quality that generally favors light room ambience and coloration over artificial reverb, especially on vocals. Lynne's recordings also often feature the jangling compressed acoustic guitar sound pioneered by Roger McGuinn.
The Beatles connection was strengthened when Lynne produced George Harrison's Cloud Nine, a successful comeback album for the ex-Beatle, released in 1987, featuring the popular singles "Got My Mind Set on You," "When We Was Fab" (where he played the violin in the video), and "This Is Love," two of the three songs co-written by Lynne.
Jeff Lynne's association with Harrison led to the 1988 formation of the Traveling Wilburys, a studio "supergroup" that included George Harrison, Tom Petty, Bob Dylan and Roy Orbison (as well as Lynne himself), and resulted in two albums (Vol. 1 and Vol. 3), both co-produced by Lynne. In 1988 Lynne also worked on Roy Orbison's album Mystery Girl co-writing and producing Orbison's last major hit, "You Got It", plus two other tracks on that album. For Rock On, the final Del Shannon album, Jeff Lynne co-wrote "Walk Away" and finished off several tracks after Shannon's death.
In 1989, Lynne co-produced Full Moon Fever by Tom Petty, which included the hit singles "Free Fallin'," "I Won't Back Down," and "Runnin' Down a Dream," all co-written by Lynne. This album and Traveling Wilburys Vol. 1 both received nominations for the Grammy Award for Best Album of the Year in 1989. Lynne's song "One Way Love" was released as a single by Agnetha Faltskog and appeared on her second post-ABBA album, Eyes of a Woman. Lynne co-wrote and produced the track "Let It Shine" for Beach Boys founder Brian Wilson's first solo album in 1988. Lynne also contributed three tracks to an album by Duane Eddy and "Falling In Love" on Land of Dreams for Randy Newman.
[edit] The 1990s
In 1990, Lynne collaborated on the Wilburys' follow up Traveling Wilburys Vol. 3 and shortly after that released his first solo album Armchair Theatre, with old friends George Harrison and Richard Tandy featuring the singles "Every Little Thing" and "Lift Me Up." The album received some positive critical attention but little commercial success. Lynne also provided the song "Wild Times" to the motion picture soundtrack Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves in 1991.
In 1991, Lynne returned to the studio with Petty, co-writing and producing the album Into the Great Wide Open for Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, which featured the singles "Learning to Fly" and "Into the Great Wide Open". The following year he produced Roy Orbison's posthumous album King of Hearts, featured the single "I Drove All Night".
In February 1994, Lynne fulfilled a career-long dream by working with the three surviving Beatles on the Anthology album series. Because of the elderly George Martin's poor hearing, Lynne was brought in as a fresh set of ears to assist in reevaluation the original studio material. The songs "Free as a Bird" and "Real Love" were created by digitally processing John Lennon's demos for the songs and overdubbing the three surviving band members to form a virtual Beatles reunion that the band had mutually eschewed during Lennon's lifetime. Lynne has also produced records for Ringo Starr and worked on Paul McCartney's album Flaming Pie.
Lynne's work in the 1990s also includes production of a 1993 album for singer/songwriter Julianna Raye entitled Something Peculiar and production or songwriting contributions to albums by Roger McGuinn (Back from Rio), Joe Cocker (Night Calls), Aerosmith (Lizard Love), Tom Jones (Lift me Up), Bonnie Tyler (Time Mends a Broken Heart), the film Still Crazy, Hank Marvin (Wonderful Land and Nivram), Et Moi (Drole De Vie), and the Tandy Morgan Band (Action).
In 1996, Lynne was officially recognised by his peers when he was awarded the Ivor Novello Award for "Outstanding Contributions to British Music" for a second time.
[edit] The 2000s
Following legal action to get the ELO name back[5] from Bevan's touring group ELO Part II, Lynne released a new album in 2001 under the ELO moniker entitled Zoom. Although the album featured guest appearances by Ringo Starr, George Harrison and original ELO keyboardist Richard Tandy, it was essentially a second Jeff Lynne solo album, with Lynne multitracking a majority of the instruments and vocals. The album received positive reviews but had no hit singles. Despite bearing little sonic relationship to the halcyon ELO days of the late 1970s, it was marketed as a "return to the classic ELO sound"[6] in an attempt to connect with a loyal body of fans and jumpstart a planned concert tour (with Lynne and Tandy as the only returning original ELO members). While a live performance was taped and shown on PBS (with subsequent DVD release), the tour itself was cancelled.
Speculation remains rife as to the reason, (or reasons) for the cancellation of this tour. Certainly initial ticket sales were disappointing, with publicity for the concerts minimal, and the events of September 11th having obvious logistical implications on any tour within the United States. Perhaps the last word on this should go to Greg Bissonette, (ELO drummer), who when asked, described it as "..the greatest tour I never went on!"
Earlier in 2001, Lynne began working with George Harrison on what would turn out to be Harrison's final album, Brainwashed. With Harrison's death from cancer on November 29, 2001, Lynne returned to the studio in 2002 to help finish the uncompleted album. Lynne was also heavily involved in the memorial Concert for George, held at London's Royal Albert Hall in November 2002, and subsequently produced the Surround Sound audio mix for the Concert For George DVD released in November 2003. The DVD received a Grammy.
[edit] Solo Discography
[edit] Album and highest chart position
Armchair Theatre (1990) US #83 Billboard 200
[edit] Singles and highest chart positions
| Release date | Single | UK | US | Album |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1977 | "Doin' That Crazy Thing" | - | - | |
| 1984 | "Video!" | - | #85 1 | Electric Dreams |
| 1990 | "Every Little Thing" | #59 | #9 ² | Armchair Theatre |
| 1990 | "Lift Me Up" | - | - | Armchair Theatre |
- Notes
[edit] See also
[edit] References
[edit] External links
- Jeff Lynne Song Database
- Official information service for the Electric Light Orchestra and related artists
- Unofficial Jeff Lynne Reference Page
- Discovery - welcome to the show ELO & Jeff Lynne information page
Electric Light Orchestra | |
|---|---|
| Founding members: Jeff Lynne · Roy Wood · Bev Bevan Other members in Electric Light Orchestra | |
| Studio albums | The Electric Light Orchestra/No Answer · ELO 2 · On the Third Day · Eldorado · Face the Music · A New World Record · Out of the Blue · Discovery · Xanadu · Time · Secret Messages · Balance of Power · Zoom |
| Live albums | The Night the Light Went On (In Long Beach) · Live at Winterland '76 · Live at Wembley '78 · Live at the BBC |
| Compilation albums | Showdown · Olé ELO · The Light Shines On · The Light Shines On Vol 2 · ELO's Greatest Hits · A Box of Their Best · Afterglow · ELO's Greatest Hits Vol. 2 · Strange Magic · Flashback · The Essential Electric Light Orchestra · All Over the World · Ticket to the Moon |
| Related articles | Discography |
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Categories: Articles needing additional references from August 2007 | All articles with unsourced statements | Articles with unsourced statements since August 2007 | Articles with unsourced statements since June 2007 | 1947 births | Living people | Electric Light Orchestra members | English male singers | English record producers | English rock guitarists | English songwriters | Ivor Novello Award winners | Jeff Lynne | People from Birmingham, England | The Beatles | The Move members | Traveling Wilburys members
