Richard Tandy (26 March 1948 – 1 May 2024) was an English musician. He was the full-time keyboardist in the band

Electric Light Orchestra The Electric Light Orchestra (ELO) are an English rock band formed in Birmingham in 1970 by multi-instrumentalists Jeff Lynne and Roy Wood and drummer Bev Bevan. Their music is characterised by a fusion of pop and classical arrangement ...

("ELO"). His palette of keyboards (including

Minimoog The Minimoog is an analog synthesizer first manufactured by Moog Music between 1970 and 1981. Designed as a more affordable, portable version of the modular Moog synthesizer, it was the first synthesizer sold in retail stores. It was first popul ...

Clavinet The Clavinet is an electric clavichord invented by Ernst Zacharias and manufactured by the Hohner company of Trossingen, West Germany, from 1964 to 1982. The instrument produces sounds with rubber pads, each matching one of the keys and respond ...

Mellotron The Mellotron is an electro-mechanical musical instrument developed in Birmingham, England, in 1963. It is played by pressing its keys, each of which causes a length of magnetic tape to contact a Capstan (tape recorder), capstan, which pulls i ...

, and piano) was an important ingredient in the group's sound, especially on the albums '' A New World Record'' (1976), '' Out of the Blue'' (1977), ''

Discovery Discovery may refer to: * Discovery (observation), observing or finding something unknown * Discovery (fiction), a character's learning something unknown * Discovery (law), a process in courts of law relating to evidence Discovery, The Discovery ...

'' (1979) and ''

Time Time is the continuous progression of existence that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, and into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequ ...

'' (1981). He collaborated musically with ELO frontman

Jeff Lynne Jeffrey Lynne (born 30 December 1947) is an English musician, singer-songwriter and record producer. He is the co-founder and, latterly, sole member of the rock band Electric Light Orchestra (ELO) which was formed in 1970. He has written all of ...

on many projects, among them songs for the '' Electric Dreams'' soundtrack, Lynne's solo album ''

Armchair Theatre ''Armchair Theatre'' is a British television drama anthology series of single plays that ran on the ITV network from 1956 to 1974. It was originally produced by ABC Weekend TV. Its successor Thames Television took over from mid-1968. The Ca ...

'' and Lynne-produced

Dave Edmunds David William Edmunds (born 15 April 1944) is a Welsh retired singer, songwriter, guitarist and record producer. Although he is mainly associated with Pub rock (United Kingdom), pub rock and New wave music, new wave, having many hit record, h ...

album ''

Information Information is an Abstraction, abstract concept that refers to something which has the power Communication, to inform. At the most fundamental level, it pertains to the Interpretation (philosophy), interpretation (perhaps Interpretation (log ...

''. Tandy was inducted into the

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (RRHOF), also simply referred to as the Rock Hall, is a museum and hall of fame located in downtown Cleveland, Ohio, United States, on the shore of Lake Erie. The museum documents the history of rock music and the ...

in 2017 as a member of Electric Light Orchestra.

Life and career

Early career

Tandy was born on 26 March 1948 in

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...

, Warwickshire and educated at

Moseley School Moseley School and Sixth Form is a coeducational secondary school and sixth form located in the Moseley area of Birmingham, England. The school's main entrance is situated on Wake Green Road, with other entrances on College Road and Springfield ...

, where he first met future bandmate

Bev Bevan Beverley Bevan (born 25 November 1944) is an English rock musician who was the drummer and one of the original members of the Move and Electric Light Orchestra (ELO). After the end of ELO in 1986, he founded ELO Part II. Bevan also was a drum ...

. Tandy would later be reunited with Bevan in 1968 when he played the

harpsichord A harpsichord is a musical instrument played by means of a musical keyboard, keyboard. Depressing a key raises its back end within the instrument, which in turn raises a mechanism with a small plectrum made from quill or plastic that plucks one ...

The Move The Move were a British Rock music, rock band formed in Birmingham in 1965. They scored nine Top 40, top 20 UK singles in five years, but were among the most popular British bands not to find any real success in the United States. For most of ...

's UK number one chart single "

Blackberry Way "Blackberry Way" is a 1968 single by British band the Move. Written by the band's guitarist/vocalist Roy Wood and produced by Jimmy Miller, "Blackberry Way" was a bleak counterpoint to the sunny psychedelia of earlier recordings. It nevertheless ...

" and briefly joined them live playing keyboards, but switched to bass while regular bassist Trevor Burton was sidelined due to a shoulder injury. When Burton was able to play again, Tandy left to join The Uglys.

ELO

Tandy joined

(ELO) in 1971, replacing previous bass guitarist

Rick Price Roderick Allan Joseph Stewart (born 6 July 1961) known as Rick Price, is an Australian singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and record producer. His debut album, '' Heaven Knows'', was released in July 1992, and peaked at No. 3 on the ...

. At this time he also played guitar on live performances and tv appearances by The Move. In 1972, Tandy served as the bassist in the first live line-up of ELO, before becoming the band's full-time keyboardist after the departure of Bill Hunt who left with

Roy Wood Roy Wood (born 8 November 1946) is an English musician, singer and songwriter. He was particularly successful in the 1960s and 1970s as member and co-founder of the Move, Electric Light Orchestra and Wizzard. Wood formed the Move in 1965, and ...

to form

Wizzard Wizzard were an English rock band formed by Roy Wood, former member of the Move and co-founder of the Electric Light Orchestra. ''The Guinness Book of 500 Number One Hits'' states, "Wizzard was Roy Wood just as much as Wings was Paul McCar ...

. Tandy was featured on every ELO album since then during the band's original existence starting with '' ELO 2''. Tandy's keyboards were an integral part of ELO's sound, and include

piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...

, Oberheim,

Wurlitzer electric piano The Wurlitzer electronic piano is an electric piano manufactured and marketed by Wurlitzer from 1954 to 1983. Sound is generated by striking a metal reed with a hammer, which induces an electric current in a pickup. It is conceptually similar to ...

Yamaha CS-80 The Yamaha CS-80 is an analog synthesizer introduced by Yamaha Corporation in 1977. It supports true 8-voice polyphony, with two independent synthesizer layers per voice each with its own set of front panel controls, in addition to a number of ha ...

ARP 2600 The ARP 2600 is a subtractive synthesizer first produced by ARP Instruments in 1971. History Developed by a design team headed by ARP namesake Alan R. Pearlman and engineer Dennis Colin, the ARP 2600 was introduced in 1971 as the successor to ...

, and

harmonium The pump organ or reed organ is a type of organ that uses free reeds to generate sound, with air passing over vibrating thin metal strips mounted in a frame. Types include the pressure-based harmonium, the suction reed organ (which employs a va ...

. He was also proficient on guitar. On some albums he is also credited with vocals or backing vocals, without any specification of which songs. Tandy was Jeff Lynne's right-hand man in the studio and co-arranged the strings with Lynne and

Louis Clark Louis Clark (27 February 1947 – 13 February 2021) was an English music arranger and keyboard player. He trained at Leeds College of Music. He is best known for his work with Electric Light Orchestra and ''Hooked on Classics''. Clark started o ...

from '' Eldorado'' onwards. In 2012, Tandy reunited with Lynne to record another ELO project, a live set of the band's biggest hits recorded at Lynne's Bungalow Palace home recording studio, which was broadcast on television. In 2013, Tandy joined Lynne in performing two songs for Children In Need Rocks, " Livin' Thing" and " Mr Blue Sky". He was also part of ELO's set on Radio 2's Festival In A Day in September 2014. Tandy was absent from Jeff Lynne's ELO 2015 album '' Alone in the Universe'', on which all of the instruments aside from some percussion were played by Lynne, but was featured on the next album '' From Out of Nowhere'' where he played a piano solo on the song "One More Time".

Other projects

In 1984, Richard Tandy formed the Tandy Morgan Band (also known simply as Tandy & Morgan) featuring Dave Morgan and Martin Smith, both of whom had worked with ELO in live concerts. In 1985, the Tandy Morgan Band released the concept album ''

Earthrise ''Earthrise'' is a photograph of Earth and part of the Moon's surface that was taken from lunar orbit by astronaut William Anders on December 24, 1968, during the Apollo 8 mission. Nature photographer Galen Rowell described it as "the most in ...

''. A remastered version was released on CD on the Rock Legacy label in 2011. A follow-up to ''Earthrise'' with previously unpublished tracks was released as ''The BC Collection'', containing one track written by Tandy: "Enola Sad". Tandy also collaborated musically with ELO frontman

on many projects, among them songs for the '' Electric Dreams'' soundtrack, Lynne's solo album ''

'' and Lynne-produced

album ''

''.

Equipment

After permanently switching from bass to keyboards, Tandy's initial onstage setup was of Minimoog synthesizer and

and occasionally grand piano (as seen on ELO's performance of "

Roll Over Beethoven "Roll Over Beethoven" is a 1956 song written by Chuck Berry, originally released on Chess Records, with "Drifting Heart" as the A-side and B-side, B-side. The lyrics of the song mention rock and roll and the desire for rhythm and blues to be a ...

" on '' The Midnight Special''), which he otherwise used mainly in the studio. However, he gradually added more keyboards to his stage and studio rig, including the Hohner clavinet,

(which was largely relegated to stage use), and other synthesizers, and he began to make more regular use of the grand piano both on stage and in the studio. He also used the Yamaha CS80,

ARP Omni The ARP Omni was a polyphonic analog synthesizer manufactured by ARP Instruments, Inc. Overview The Omni featured preset, electronically generated Orchestral ensemble String voices including polyphonic Violin and Viola sounds as well as mon ...

Polymoog The Polymoog is a hybrid polyphonic analog synthesizer that was manufactured by Moog Music from 1975 to 1980. The Polymoog was based on divide-down oscillator technology similar to electronic organs and string synthesizers of the time. Histor ...

Micromoog The Moog model 2090 Micromoog is a monophonic analog synthesizer produced by Moog Music from 1975 to 1979. Background Designed as a scaled-down, lower-priced alternative ($650–$800 market price) to the Minimoog, the Micromoog was designed to ...

, ARP Quadra, and Oberheim synthesizers from the late 1970s to the early 1980s. Tandy played a harmonium on " Kuiama" on '' ELO 2''.

Personal life and death

Tandy's first marriage was to Carol "Cookie", a friend of

Cleo Odzer Cleo Odzer (born Sheila Lynne Odzer, April 6, 1950 – March 26, 2001) was an American author and anthropologist renowned for her works exploring subcultures, including prostitution in Thailand, the hippie culture of Goa, and the emerging phenom ...

, but the marriage ended in divorce; he then married his second wife, Sheila. Tandy lived variously in

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

, and

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

, but by the early-to-mid 2010s, he resided in

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

. Tandy died on 1 May 2024, at the age of 76. Lynne posted a tribute later that day, memorialising him as "a remarkable musician and friend".

Discography

Albums

* ''

'' (as Tandy & Morgan) (1985) * ''The BC Collection'' (1992) (as Tandy, Morgan, Smith)

Singles

* "Berlin" (as R & D a.k.a. Tandy & Morgan) (1984) * "Action!" (as The Tandy Morgan Band) (1986)

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Tandy, Richard 1948 births 2024 deaths 20th-century English male musicians 21st-century English male musicians British male bass guitarists British male pianists Electric Light Orchestra members English expatriates in France English expatriate musicians in the United States English male songwriters English pop keyboardists English rock bass guitarists English rock guitarists English rock keyboardists English rock pianists Harmonium players Musicians from Birmingham, West Midlands People educated at Moseley School Progressive rock keyboardists The Move members