Electric Light Orchestra

Years

1971 - 1986

From

United Kingdom

Styles

Members

Bev Bevan
drums
Jeff Lynne
lead vocals, songwriter, guitarist
Kelly Groucutt
bass, vocals
Mic Kaminski
violin
Richard Tandy
keyboards

Former Members

Hugh McDowell
cello
Mike De Albequerque
bass
Roy Wood
lead vocals, songwriter

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Category Description

Band popular in the late 1970s and early 1980s, led by Jeff Lynne. More popular songs include "Evil Woman", "Telephone Line", "Sweet Talkin' Woman", and "Don't Bring Me Down".

Electric Light Orchestra (ELO) was formed by Jeff Lynne, Roy Wood, and Bev Bevan in 1971 from the remaining members of The Move. Roy Wood left ELO shortly after the first album titled "No Answer", and Jeff Lynne stepped up to lead the band. The band went through many lineup changes, and released "Electric Light Orchestra II" and "On The Third Day" in 1973, and "Eldorado" in 1974, scoring their first U.S. Top 40 hit "I Can't Get It Out Of My Head".

In 1975, bassist and vocalist Kelly Groucutt joined, and "Face The Music" was released, from which the major singles were "Evil Woman" and "Strange Magic", marking a shift to a more "radio friendly" sound. The multiplatnum album "A New World Record" was released in 1976 (with "Livin' Thing", a rerelease of The Move's "Do Ya", and "Telephone Line"). That was followed by the double album "Out Of The Blue", featuring the singles "Turn To Stone", "Sweet Talkin' Woman" and "Mr. Blue Sky". The band then set out on a world tour, with an enormous (and hugely expensive) space ship set in tow.

In 1979, Lynne set out to capitalize on the growing popularity of disco with the album "Discovery" (or "Disco very" as he has been quoted). The album generated their biggest hit "Don't Bring Me Down", along with "Shine A Little Love" and "Last Train To London". Soon after, ELO was enlisted to provide half of the soundtrack for the musical movie Xanadu, the other half provided by Olivia Newton-John, who starred in the movie along with Gene Kelly. The movie bombed, but the soundtrack did very well, with hit singles from both Newton-John ("Magic") and ELO ("I'm Alive") as well as the title track to the movie, performed by Newton-John with ELO.

In 1981, ELO's sound changed again, moving away from disco and into the 1980s, with the album, "Time" (single: "Hold On Tight"). Their popularity faded, with two more albums ("Secret Messages" in 1993, and "Balance of Power" in 1986) before Lynne moved onto other things. Much to Lynne's chagrin, the band was revived in 1993 (?) by drummer Bev Bevan and Kelly Groucutt, and "Electric Light Orchestra, Part II" was formed, in an album that went straight to the bargain bins.