ELO facts: Lineups, hits, and history of Jeff Lynne's Electric Light Orchestra

24 February 2025, 09:46

Jeff Lynne's ELO on The Over and Out Tour in 2024. Picture: Getty Images

By Mayer Nissim

As the Electric Light Orchestra face their final curtain, we take a look back.

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ELO have been around – on and off and in various forms – for over half a century.

This year though, Jeff Lynne's Electric Light Orchestra will bid us farewell with their last ever live shows, finishing up at the BST Hyde Park on July 13, 2025.

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But how much do you actually know about ELO?

Do you know who formed the band, what their biggest songs are, or what "Electric Light Orchestra" actually means?

Read on for all the fast facts about the classical pop prog superstars.

How did ELO form and who was in the original lineup?

Electric Light Orchestra on Top of the Pops in 1973. Picture: Getty Images

Before ELO, we have to look at a few other bands.

Roy Wood was briefly a member of Birmingham band The Nightriders, before he left early on to form The Move. Years after Wood's exit Jeff Lynne joined The Nightriders as a guitarist.

It was around the time Lynne became the frontman that the group changed its name to The Idle Race. They had their fans but never really enjoyed mainstream success.

Meanwhile, Roy Wood was scoring some decent hits with The Move, racking up nine top 20 UK singles.

Around this time, a friendship blossomed across the groups between Lynne and Wood, and they even collaborated a little.

Lynne turned down the chance to join The Move in 1969, but as The Idle Race continued to stall he joined the band in January 1970 and appeared on and co-produced their third and fourth albums Looking On and Message from the Country.

When they were working on Jeff Lynne's intended Move B-side '10538 Overture', Roy Wood loaded on the cellos.

They realised that what they had didn't really sound like The Move. Instead, it was the launch single of their new project: The Electric Light Orchestra.

So The Electric Light Orchestra was born.

The original lineup of ELO was the same as the Looking On lineup of The Move, so:

Roy Wood – vocals, guitar, cello
Jeff Lynne – vocals, guitar
Bev Bevan – drums
Rick Price – bass

ELO was run in parallel with The Move for a couple of years, with Message From The Country being recorded while the group also worked on The Electric Light Orchestra album, which was released in December 1971.

What does Electric Light Orchestra actually mean?

The Electric Light Orchestra. Picture: Alamy

So, is it Electric Light Orchestra or Electric Light Orchestra?

Well, it's both! The orchestral pop (waggishly dubbed "baroque 'n' roll" by some), lends weight to the idea of a light orchestra that's electric.

But then you look at that front cover of the first ELO album and see that massive incandescent screw-in bulb and there's clearly a bit of word play around an orchestra of electric lights going on, too.

Was the first ELO album really called "No Answer" by mistake?

10538 Overture (2001 Remaster)

Here in the UK, the first Electric Light Orchestra album was called The Electric Light Orchestra.

A self-titled debut is nothing too fancy, but over in the US when the album hit shelves three months later in March 1972, it had the mysterious new title No Answer on the label.

Was it some sort of witty statement on the industry? A message? Nope, it was all because of a missed phonecall.

It turned out that somebody at United Artists tried to make a call to ELO or their British label Harvest to check the album's US title, as back then it was common for American versions of British albums to tweak names, covers and even running orders.

When they failed to get though, the caller scrawled down "no answer". Someone, somewhere saw the note and assumed that this was in fact the title of the album.

"It was quite a good title, though, wasn't it?" quipped the band's then-drummer Bev Bevan.

When did Roy Wood leave ELO and what happened next?

Jeff Lynne and Roy Wood at the 2017 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction for Electric Light Orchestra. Picture: Getty Images

At the start, ELO was very much a project spearheaded by two leads: Roy Wood and Jeff Lynne were both incredibly talented musicians with a strong and initially shared vision of what the band would be.

But Wood left the group in July 1972, with various reasons being given for his departure.

It was said that he had issues with how the group was being managed. Others have suggested there was increasing annoyance at their shambolic live shows, which saw Wood flit from instrument to instrument and the orchestral elements being swamped by the rock sounds.

Maybe one band just wasn't big enough for two personalities as powerful as Wood and Lynne.

When Wood left, that could have been the end of ELO. He was the most famous member of the band, after all. But Lynne stepped up and became the band's leader.

To this day he's the only continuous player and the sole founding member still in the band.

Who has been in (and out) of ELO over the years and what's the current lineup?

Jeff Lynne's ELO in concert. Picture: Getty Images

That first lineup of ELO didn't last long, and Roy Wood wasn't even the first to leave.

Before they even released their debut album, Rick Price was out and Bill Hunt on French Horn and Steve Woolam on violin were in.

After that the lineup expanded to include Richard Tandy on bass and Andy Craig on cello, before the lineup swelled to included more string players Wilfred Gibson, Hugh McDowell, Mike Edwards, Colin Walker and Mike de Alburqueue.

There were many, many more comings and goings over the years, but there was a stable "classic lineup" of the group from 1974 to 1980, which featured Lynne, Bevan and Tandy alongside Mik Kaminski on violin, Hugh McDowell and Melvyn Gale on cello and Kelly Groucutt on bass and vocals.

That group released the albums Face the Music, A New World Record, Out of the Blue and Discovery.

When did ELO break up and when did they get back together?

ELO on tour in 1981. Picture: Getty Images

There were further tweaks to the lineup in the years that followed though Lynne, Bevan and Tandy remained.

All that came to an end in 1986 when, after 15+ years, ELO disbanded, exhausted.

Jeff Lynne certainly kept busy.

He produced the massive Cloud Nine album for ex-Beatle George Harrison's in 1987 and then joined the most super of supergroup, The Traveling Wilburys, alongside Harrison, Roy Orbison, Tom Petty and Bob Dylan.

The Traveling Wilburys Vol. 1 album was released in October 1988 and Traveling Wilburys Vol. 3 followed in 1990. That was the same year he released his own solo debut album Armchair Theatre.

He even produced The Beatles Anthology singles 'Free As A Bid' and 'Real Love'.

The Traveling Wilburys - End Of The Line (Official 4K Music Video)

Some ex-ELO-ers, though notably not Jeff Lynne, formed ELO Part II. That group was founded by original ELO drummer Bev Bevan. That group split in 2000.

That was the same year that Lynne reformed ELO alongside Richard Tandy, plus a group of touring musicians. They also released the album Zoom in 2001.

Tandy stuck around as the group changed its name to Jeff Lynne's ELO. That's how the albums Alone in the Universe and From Out of Nowhere were released.

When it came to this lineup's three studio albums, Tandy appeared only on keyboards on 'Alright' and he piano solo of 'One More Time'. Tandy died in 2024 at the age of 76.

Lynne has continued to tour as Jeff Lynne's ELO with a full touring band, but last year announced that the band were on their Over and Out Tour, leading up to their final goodbye this summer.

What are ELO's biggest songs?

Electric Light Orchestra - Mr. Blue Sky (Official Video)

As Electric Light Orchestra or ELO, some have considered ELO as an albums act rather than a singles one, but they did actually enjoy some serious chart success with their 45s.

When it came to their full-length efforts, their experimental first LPs The Electric Light Orchestra and ELO 2 made a splash, but it was with A New World Record in 1976 that the group properly burst into the mainstream.

The following year's Out of the Blue went to number four in the UK and US, while later albums Discovery, Time and swansong From Out of Nowhere all went to number one over here.

ELO's biggest songs include: