Richard Tandy

IT’S A TERRIBLE THING TO LOSE

Turned to stone? Mr. Blue Skin? Some bands give you one song to work with, others give you a whole platter of classics. Richard Tandy tagged along with his schoolmate Bev Bevan to play harpsichord on The Move’s “Blackberry Way”. His presence with The Move was on-and-off, and when Bevan, Jeff Lynne, and Roy Wood spun the group off into ELO, Tandy waited a year to join. It wasn’t until Wood split to form Wizzard did Tandy come onto his own within ELO, shaping the group’s trademark futuristic-classical sound with his mastery of electric instruments like the Minimoog and the Clavinet. The group’s biggest constant after Jeff Lynne himself, he was the only non-Lynne member to join in on the aughties reunions. He was 76 and Dead Beats had the telephone line to the Reaper.

Richard Tandy
26 March 1948 – 1 May 2024, aged 76
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