Jeff Lynne

Jeff Lynne (born December 30, 1947, in the Shard End area of Birmingham, England) is an English singer-songwriter and record producer. He was the co-founder (with Roy Wood and Bev Bevan), guitarist, and lead singer of The Electric Light Orchestra (ELO) in the 1970s and 1980s, as well as a co-founder of the Traveling Wilburys (with Bob Dylan, George Harrison, Tom Petty, and Roy Orbison) in the late 1980s. Prior to The Electric Light Orchestra, Lynne was a member of Idle Race a name which was allegedly given to them unwittingly and sarcastically by their grandmother Evelyn Lynne who probably dissapproved of the pop music culture as not being a proper job. He also belonged, along with Wood and Bevan, to The Move.

After ELO's breakup in the mid 1980s, Lynne moved into production work, showing both the influence of The Beatles that characterized much of ELO's work and an influence from rockabilly-style music. The Beatles' connection was strengthened when Lynne produced George Harrison's Cloud Nine, a successful comeback album for the ex-Beatle released in 1987 featuring the popular single "Got My Mind Set on You." In 1989, Lynne co-produced the acclai...