Richard Tandy tribute
Yet more sad news this year concerning the loss of Birmingham musician Richard Tandy who was a long-time collaborator with Jeff Lynne in their world famous band The Electric Light Orchestra (ELO). Richard passed away from an undisclosed illness on May 1, 2024 at the age of 76.
Richard Tandy's use of multiple types of keyboards and synthesisers in the band provided much of ELO's distinctive sound following the departure of group co-founder Roy Wood in 1973. Multi-instrumentalist Richard was initially recruited to play bass guitar following the band's formation but switched to keyboards when they acquired a Moog synthesizer that nobody else knew how to play!
Born on March 26, 1948 and growing up in Olton, Richard Tandy attended Moseley School for boys along with future Move and ELO drummer Bev Bevan, plus Rod Allen and Dave Pritchard who became The Fortunes. Richard enjoyed athletics and was captain of the rugby team but soon became involved in the flourishing Birmingham music scene of the early 1960s that had produced hit groups The Applejacks, the Rockin' Berries, and the Moody Blues.
A natural born musician, Richard Tandy had piano lessons starting at age nine and later taught himself to play guitar. His first gig was with some school friends at Solihull Civic Hall. Richard joined his first band called "The Chantelles" before he left school.
The photo shows Left to Right; Tony Allen (sax), Tim Bellamy (drums), Richard Tandy (guitar), and John Fincham (bass guitar).
The Chantelles had formed a few years previously as backing band for popular Birmingham vocalist Danny King and their bass guitarist Chris "Ace" Kefford had left to join Carl Wayne in The Vikings by the time Richard joined them. They were managed by John "Upsy" Downing who eventually went on to become tour manager for ELO.
Richard Tandy's long-time friend and fellow musician Dave Scott-Morgan remembered; "I first saw him at 'The 59 Club' which was an underground blues club in Birmingham. He was playing an enormous guitar and played some chords I'd never seen so I asked him what they were and he showed me. Any song I made up, he could figure it out and put something to it, usually on keyboards but earlier on it was guitar on my recordings. Richard was the gold standard curator. You'd play him something and he'd say Yeah that's good, or No, let's do that again."
Dave Morgan and Richard Tandy went on to collaborate many times and this included some of Dave's compositions that were later recorded by Brum hit group The Move whose vocalist Carl Wayne was a friend of Dave's. An opportunity came for Richard when he was hired to play piano for The Move on some of their BBC radio session recordings.
Richard Tandy actually played the harpsichord on their 1968 UK Number One hit record 'Blackberry Way' composed by Roy Wood. Richard said; "I remember walking into the Olympic studio in London and seeing a Burns electric harpsichord. I played a few E minor chords and Roy thought it would be good for the song. If you listen carefully you can hear it, especially in the middle eight."
When Move bassist Trevor Burton had two weeks off to recover from a shoulder injury, Richard Tandy filled in for him. "I knew all of their set anyway" said Richard. His talent and work with The Move did not go unnoticed by Idle Race front-man Jeff Lynne who'd struck up a friendship with Roy Wood and recorded the first demo of 'Blackberry Way' in Jeff's home studio. Roy invited Jeff to join The Move in 1970 following the departure of Carl Wayne.
By 1969, Richard Tandy and Dave Morgan were performing as members of "The Uglys", a long-established Birmingham group fronted by dynamic vocalist Steve Gibbons. Richard recalled; "The Uglys were a fantastic group before I joined, and I got the job because I could play the intro to 'I Am The Walrus' by The Beatles. I think my Hohner Clavinet keyboard added to their sound. We even did tunes like 'America' (the Nice version), and 'Mister Soul' by the Buffalo Springfield."
(The photo shows the final Uglys line-up of Left to Right; Richard Tandy, Willie Hammond, Steve Gibbons, Keith Smart, and Dave Morgan)
The Uglys had a recording contract with MGM Records and their latest single titled 'I've Seen The Light' was written by Dave Morgan as well as the B-side 'Mary Colinto'. There were high hopes for the record to make the charts but except for a few test copies it was never issued when MGM withdrew their support due to the band changing management and "breaking up". This record has since become one of the rarest and most sought after by collectors with copies selling for thousands of pounds.
Uglys guitarist Will Hammond said; "A few months after we recorded the single at Advision, Steve Gibbons and Dave Morgan turned up on my doorstep. They told me that they were all leaving and joining up with Trevor Burton to form a new band!". They were to be managed by the notorious Tony Secunda - the original driving force behind the Moody Blues and The Move. Richard Tandy remembered; "Trevor Burton replaced the current guitarist Willie Hammond in a rather heartless way on reflection, and we encamped to a small bungalow in the New Forest, near Fordingbridge."
Trevor Burton's new group was to be called "Balls" but Richard Tandy and Dave Morgan along with drummer Keith Smart didn't stay in the line-up for long. Former Moody Blues front-man Denny Laine also joined but they found him difficult to work with, plus booze and other "certain substances" became an issue with some band members. Dave left to start another band with local guitarist Tony Clarkin and they became "Magnum" who went on to enjoy much success. Keith Smart later found fame in Roy Wood's "Wizzard".
Roy Wood and Jeff Lynne had started a side-project called "The Electric Light Orchestra" and Richard Tandy was invited into the line-up as their bass guitarist. The ELO was not an overnight success. Their early attempts to combine classical instruments with a rock backing did not go smoothly and the cellos were often drowned out during live performance by the much louder electric instruments.
Drummer Bev Bevan remembered; "No one could hear the cellos or violin, but just the thumping beat of drums and guitars. Then the French horn would start and drown everything else with its shrillness. Roy insisted on playing cello, oboe, guitar and bassoon so on each song there was a delay in him switching instruments. The delay between the songs was longer than the songs themselves!"
To make things worse, Roy Wood unexpectedly left the line-up early in 1973 to start his own band called "Wizzard". However, the debut Electric Light Orchestra single '10538 Overture' had become a Top Ten hit in the UK and the group now under Jeff Lynne's leadership carried on. He brought a Moog Synthesiser into the band but no one knew how to play it. Richard Tandy immediately volunteered and said; "Don't worry. I'll learn." And this he did brilliantly according to Bev Bevan.
The Electric Light Orchestra (or E.L.O.) with Jeff Lynne's great songwriting, and remaining original Move member Bev Bevan and keyboardist Richard Tandy, went on to become one of the most successful bands of the 1970s, achieving hit records and multi-million selling albums worldwide. Managed by Don Arden (who also managed fellow Brummies Black Sabbath), ELO's spectacular success - particularly in the USA where they toured consistently and played to packed stadiums - continued well into the 1980s.
Despite some line-up changes along the way, ELO sold more than 50 million records during the 1970s. Some of their classic songs all composed by Jeff Lynne were; 'Showdown', 'Can't Get It Out Of My Head', 'Evil Woman', 'Strange Magic', 'Telephone Line', 'Mr Blue Sky', 'All Over The World' and 'Don't Bring Me Down' amongst many others. Their UK Number One titled 'Xanadu' was recorded with Olivia Newton John. ELO's epic concerts also featured laser beams and a massive "flying saucer" that opened to reveal the band on-stage.
As ELO went on to greater success with each album ("Face the Music", "A New World Record", "Out of the Blue"), so grew Richard's collection of exotic keyboards and electronic effects he used onstage and in the recording studio. This included a "Vocoder" that he used to good effect on some of ELO's best loved records like 'Mr Blue Sky', 'Sweet Talkin' Woman', and 'All Over The World'.
It was always Jeff Lynne and Richard Tandy who spent the most time in the studio, crafting the unique ELO sound and often working late into the night long after the other band members had left. Jeff said; "My right hand man on most of the ELO stuff. He was always there helping, a great keyboard player and a great guitar player."
Offstage, Richard Tandy valued his privacy and rarely gave interviews. He spent a year living in France as an effort to avoid the high UK income tax. By the later 1970s, Richard had relocated to the USA where he lived for a number of years with his American born wife Carol in their Los Angeles apartment. The marriage didn't last and he later moved back to Birmingham with his second wife Sheila to whom he was happily married for the remainder of his life.
In the early 1980s, Richard reunited with Dave Morgan to form the "Tandy Morgan Band" who recorded a well-received concept album "Earthrise" that was issued in 1985. The following year saw the release of what became the final (for the time) ELO album "Balance of Power" by which point the band was reduced to core members Jeff Lynne, Bev Bevan and Richard Tandy. The group toured the UK and Europe for the first time in four years but the record was not a big seller by ELO standards, and it would be more than a decade before Jeff Lynne performed again with a new line-up.
During the years following the disbanding of ELO, Richard Tandy declined offers to join re-formed versions of the band who recorded and toured without the participation of Jeff Lynne. He went on to collaborate with Jeff on his brilliant solo album "Armchair Theatre" that also featured George Harrison and was issued in 1990. Richard was also on George Harrison's 1989 'Cheer Down' record and Tom Petty's 'Two Gunslingers' that were both produced by Jeff Lynne.
Throughout much of the 1990s, Richard Tandy continued to record and play locally with friends from the Birmingham area. This included a line-up of the "Trevor Burton Band" to which he contributed piano on the "Live at The Adam & Eve" recording and Trevor's brilliant album "Blue Moons" released on CD in 1999. This album recorded live at Pebble Mill studio in Birmingham also included a Richard Tandy composition 'Mississippi Nights'.
Richard Tandy said; "I'm having a great time playing with Trevor. He mainly plays in the pubs around Birmingham, and at the moment uses two different line ups, depending on the venue. The music is mainly R&B, the atmosphere is very laid back, and nothing is pre-planned!"
The year 2001 saw the release of an all-new ELO album "Zoom" on which Jeff Lynne played most of the instruments himself and included a few songs featuring Richard Tandy, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr. The album had good reviews and Richard performed in the live-lineup but a major tour of North America was unfortunately cancelled due to poor ticket sales.
It wasn't until 2014 that Jeff Lynne again re-formed ELO for a one-off performance at the Radio 2 Festival at Hyde Park in London following a growing show of support from fans. The sold-out concert (with Richard Tandy of course) to an audience of 50,000 was a big success and released on DVD. Jeff Lynne said the event was; "Easily the best concert I've ever been involved with".
This inspired Jeff to issue an all-new new ELO album titled "Alone In The Universe" and embark on a short promotional tour of the UK which included an appearance at the famous Glastonbury festival. The new album reached Number Two in the American rock chart which led to touring there the following year. Sadly, the 2016 tour was to be the last for Richard Tandy.
Richard continued to appear with Jeff Lynne's ELO until 2017 when ill health forced him to retire from live performances. Another new ELO album "From Out of Nowhere" was produced by Jeff Lynne in 2019 and it included the track 'One More Time' on which Richard Tandy played piano.
It's only fitting that Jeff Lynne announced the passing of his friend Richard Tandy in an official statement that read; "It is with great sadness that I share the news of the passing of my long-time collaborator and dear friend Richard Tandy. He was a remarkable musician and friend and I'll cherish the lifetime of memories we had together. Sending all my love to Sheila and the Tandy family.