Electric Light Orchestra

The Electric Light Orchestra, commonly known as ELO, began as a quirky idea to bring a symphonic scale to rock and eventually mutated into a mainstream pop juggernaut. The group began as a collaboration between the leaders of two of the best 1960s U.K. psych-pop bands, Jeff Lynne of The Idle Race and Roy Wood of The Move. The pair began working together in 1970, and released their first album - self-titled in the U.K. and titled No Answer in the U.S. - in 1971. Move drummer Bev Bevan was also aboard, and many of the orchestral colors were overdubbed by multi-instrumentalist Wood. The single "10538 Overture" hit the U.K. Top 10, but Wood soon quit ELO and found success with his next project, the glam-rocking Wizzard. Lynne took the reins, and by 1973's ELO 2 keyboardist Richard Tandy and other new faces on strings were helping to pick up the slack. The band's Beatles-influenced brand of orchestral rock gradually took a more streamlined, pop-oriented path, and with the fourth album, 1974's Eldorado, ELO began to break through in the US. "Can't Get It out of My Head" was their first big American hit, but many more followed over the next several years, from 1975's "Evil Woman" to 1981's "Hold on Tight," with plenty more in between. By the late '70s the band had achieved superstar status. After 1986's Balance of Power, with ELO's popularity declining and Lynne beginning to produce other artists, the band split up. In addition to producing George Harrison, Tom Petty, and others, Lynne started supergroup The Traveling Wilburys with Harrison, Petty, Bob Dylan, and Roy Orbison. Bev Bevan and others continued as ELO Part II sans Lynne. In 2001 Lynne revived the ELO banner for the album Zoom, with Tandy playing on one track and appearing live, but gained little commercial traction. In 2015 the next iteration of the project was introduced as Jeff Lynne's ELO on Alone in the Universe, with no other original members on board and Lynne handling the lion's share of instruments.