Jeff Lynne

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Jeff Lynne <tr style="text-align: center;"><td colspan="3">Image:Jeff Lynne 1976.jpg Jeff Lynne performing live 1976 </td></tr>
Background information <tr><td>Birth name</td><td colspan="2">Jeffrey Lynne</td></tr><tr><td>Born</td><td colspan="2">December 30, 1947</td></tr><tr><td>Origin</td><td colspan="2">Birmingham, England</td></tr><tr><td>Genre(s)</td><td colspan="2">Rock Pop</td></tr><tr><td>Occupation(s)</td><td colspan="2">Singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, producer</td></tr><tr><td>Instrument(s)</td><td colspan="2">Guitar Vocals Piano Cello Synthesizer Bass Guitar Drums</td></tr><tr><td>Years active</td><td colspan="2">1966 — present</td></tr><tr><td style="padding-right: 1em;">Label(s)</td><td colspan="2">Image:Jet Records.png Records Records Image:Epicrecords-logo.png Records Image:Emi logo.svg Records Records</td></tr><tr><td textalign="top" style="padding-right: 1em;">Associated acts</td><td colspan="2">Electric Light Orchestra Travelling Wilburys The Move Idle Race</td></tr><tr><td>Website</td><td colspan="2">http://www.ftmusic.com</td></tr>

Jeff Lynne (born December 30, 1947) is an English singer-songwriter and record producer. He was born in the Shard End area of Birmingham, England.

1 Early career
2 The '80s
3 The '90s
4 The 2000s
5 Notes
6 External links
7 See also

[edit] Early career

In the Sixties Lynne joined the line-up of The Nightriders as guitarist, the band would soon change their name to the Idle Race, a name which was allegedly given to them unwittingly and sarcastically by their 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. Later he would join the line up of the more successful band The Move.

With Roy Wood and Bev Bevan, Lynne co-founded the highly successful Electric Light Orchestra (ELO). He served as its guitarist, lead singer and, after the departure of Wood, its sole creative force. In 1976, Lynne recorded Beatles cover songs “With a Little Help from My Friends” and “Nowhere Man” for the evanescent musical documentary All This and World War II. In 1977 Lynne released his first ever solo single ,the disco flavoured "Goin' Down To Rio".

[edit] The '80s

In 1984, while still with ELO, Lynne contributed two original songs "Video" and "Let It Run" to the film Electric Dreams. After ELO's breakup in the mid 1980s, Lynne moved into production work, showing both the influence of The Beatles that characterized much of ELO's work and an influence from rockabilly-style music. 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 single "Got My Mind Set on You." Later, Lynne also co-founded the Traveling Wilburys (with George Harrison, Tom Petty, Bob Dylan and Roy Orbison) in the late 1980s, and worked extensively on the Roy Orbison album Mystery Girl co writing and producing Orbisons last major hit "You Got It", In 1989, Lynne co-produced the acclaimed album 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, also co-produced by Lynne, both received nominations for the Grammy Award for Best Album of the Year in 1989.

[edit] The '90s

In 1990, Lynne collaborated on the Wilbury's 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. In 1992 Lynne was once again in the studio with Tom Petty, this time with the Heartbreakers, Co-writing and producing the album "Into the Great Wide Open", featuring the singles "Learning to Fly" and "Into the Great Wide Open".

In February 1994, Lynne fulfilled a career long dream by working with the three surviving Beatles on the Anthology album series, and reunion tracks "Free as a Bird" and "Real Love" (overdubbing John Lennon's demos for the songs). He has also produced records individually for George Harrison, Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr. In 1996 Lynne was officially recognised by his peers when he was awarded the Ivor Novello Award for Outstanding contributions to British Music.

[edit] The 2000s

In 2001, Lynne released a new ELO album, Zoom, which (except for original ELO keyboardist Richard Tandy on one track) featured none of the original members of the Electric Light Orchestra, but attempted to "return to the classic ELO sound."<ref>http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:n8jeeai54xg7</ref> The album received positive reviews but had no hit singles. While a concert of the album was filmed and shown on the US TV network PBS, a planned concert tour was canceled, although the concert was released on DVD. Also that year, Lynne appeared on a VH1 Storytellers show filmed in New York, and EMI and Sony released remastered editions of ELO's catalog.

Lynne went back to the recording studio as a producer in 2002, co-producing and helping complete George Harrison's posthumously released album, Brainwashed. He 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 for Best Long Form Music Video.

Also in 2002, a tribute to Lynne called Lynne Me Your Ears was released, <ref>http://www.popmatters.com/music/reviews/various/various-lynnemeyourears.shtml</ref> featuring two CDs full of artists performing Lynne/ELO songs, including Todd Rundgren, SWAG (featuring members of Wilco, The Mavericks and Cheap Trick), Sixpence None The Richer, Doug Powell, PFR, Jason Falkner, Fleming and John, Jerry Chamberlain of Daniel Amos, Rick Altizer and others.

Lynne reunited with Tom Petty in 2006 as producer and bassist of Petty's third solo album, Highway Companion.

A passionate football fan, he supports Birmingham City F.C., and the Blues play the ELO hit song "Mr. Blue Sky" at the start of each home game. The next to last track on the 1977 ELO album "Out of the Blue" (which includes Mr. Blue Sky) also features a song called "Birmingham Blues".

Jeff Lynne won the Q Icon Award at the 2006 Q Awards <ref>http://news.q4music.com/2006/10/q_awards_q_icon_awarded_to_jef.html</ref>

[edit] Notes

[edit] External links

[edit] See also

Discography
Electric Light Orchestra
Founding members: Jeff Lynne \| Roy Wood \| Bev Bevan Other members in Electric Light Orchestra
Studio albums: Electric Light Orchestra (No Answer in US) \| Electric Light Orchestra II \| 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
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
UK Top 20 Singles: "10538 Overture" \| "Roll Over Beethoven" \| "Showdown" \| "Evil Woman" \| "Livin' Thing" \| "Rockaria!" \| "Telephone Line" \| "Turn to Stone" \| "Mr. Blue Sky" \| "Wild West Hero" \| "Sweet Talkin' Woman" \| "Shine a Little Love" \| "The Diary of Horace Wimp" \| "Don't Bring Me Down" \| "Last Train to London"/"Confusion" \| "I'm Alive" \| "Xanadu" \| "All Over the World" \| "Hold On Tight" \| "Rock'n'Roll Is King"