Electric Light Orchestra

British rock band Electric Light Orchestra (sometimes shortened as "ELO") have released 12 studio albums, all written and produced by Jeff Lynne. The band, at one point known in America as "The English guys with the big fiddles" produced, as the name implies, lush, orchestral pop music inspired, in some ways, by the epic compositions of The Beatles on albums like Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.

Fast Facts:

1. Origin: Birmingham, England
2. Brainchild of vocalist/guitarist Roy Wood
3. Record Label: Sony BMG
4. Studio Albums: 12
5. Live Albums: 5
6. Managed by Don Arden, father of Sharon Osbourne
7. Most Billboard Top 40 Hits without a #1 single in U.S. history

Albums

1. 1971: The Electric Light Orchestra
2. 1973: ELO 2
3. 1973: On the Third Day
4. 1974: Eldorado
5. 1975: Face the Music
6. 1976: A New World Record
7. 1977: Out of the Blue
8. 1979: Discovery
9. 1980: Xanadu
10. 1981: Time
11. 1983: Secret Messages
12. 1986: Balance of Power
13. 2001: Zoom

Career Overview

Roy Wood, working in the late '60s as songwriter and guitarist for the band The Move, invited The Idle Race frontman Jeff Lynne to join him in a new project. They brought on board Carl Wayne, also from The Move. Their first song together was "10538 Overdrive," which became a Top Ten song in the UK.

Wood left the band after the release of their 1971 self-titled debut album leaving Lynne to take creative control. They released a follow-up album in 1973, ELO 2, and appeared that year on American Bandstand.

The band hired their own orchestra for the first time for their 1974 concept album Eldorado, about a man who escapes his mundane life in dreams. The album contained the band's first U.S. hit, "Can't Get It Out Of My Head." Their follow-up, Face the Music, which included the hits "Evil Woman," "Strange Magic" and the instrumental track "Fire on High" made them superstars both in the UK and America.

The double-platinum 1977 album Out of the Blue featured the track "Mr. Blue Sky," which experienced a revival in popularity after being featured in a 2002 Volkswagen commercial and ads for the Charlie Kaufman films Adaptation and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.

Lynne retired the ELO name in 1988, with Lynne focusing his attention on his new project, The Traveling Wilburys, which also featured Bob Dylan, Tom Petty, George Harrison and Roy Orbison. Lynne and Richard Tandy reunited, using the name Electric Light Orchestra, for the 2001 album Zoom. A tour had been planned but was cancelled for unknown reasons.

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