Jeff Lynne

In 1972, Jeff Lynne married Rosemary Adams. The couple divorced in 1977.

In 1979, he married Sandi Kapelson and had two daughters with her. The elder, Laura Lynne, was born in December 1979, while his younger daughter, Stephanie, was born in 1981. Eventually they also divorced.

Currently, he is living with Camelia Kath, former wife of actor Kiefer Sutherland.

Jeff Lynne was born on 30 December 1947, in the Pype Hayes area of Birmingham, England. His father, Phillip Porter Lynne, was a foreman in the Roads Department at Birmingham Council. His mother, Nancy Lynne nee Osborne, worked at ATV Television. He had one brother and two sisters

Music is in Jeff’s blood. He developed an early interest in it, listening to his grandparents, who were performing musicians, inheriting his talent from them. His father, although a non-musician, was also a great lover of classical music. He could play classical tunes with one finger.

Possibly in 1954, his parents took him to see ‘The High and the Mighty’, an American disaster film. Its music, scored by Dimitri Tiomkin, greatly impressed little Jeff, leading to a lifelong passion.

When Jeff was nine years old, the family moved to a council house at 368 Shard End Crescent. He spent the rest of his youth here, talking in a Brummie accent, attending Alderlea Boys' Secondary School and supporting Birmingham Foot Club.

At the age of 13, he first heard Roy Orbison’s ‘Only the Lonely’ on the radio and fell in love with rock music, becoming his loyal fan. Eventually, he also developed a liking for Del Shannon; but initially failed to appreciate the Beatles. He found their song ‘Love Me Do’ especially horrible.

In 1963, 15 year old Jeff Lynne left school to form his first band with Robert Reader and David Walsh. His mother, who wanted him to be a cameraman, tried very hard to dissuade him; but he remained steadfast in his goal.

Originally, named the ‘Rockin' Hellcats’, the group practiced at Shard End Community Centre, mostly using Spanish guitars and inexpensive electrical instruments. Later they started performing at the centre once a week, changing the group’s name first to ‘Handicap’ and then to ‘Andicap’.

In due course of time, they started playing more gigs in and around Birmingham, and started having weekly bookings at the Regal Cinema in Handsworth, where they played between the Saturday matinee film screenings. When in 1964 Robert and David left the group, Jeff continued to run it, finding replacement for them.

Towards the end of 1964, Jeff himself left ‘Andicap’ and joined a local band called ‘The Chads’. In 1965, he acquired his first studio recording equipment, a stereo reel-to-reel tape recorder.

In 1966, he left ‘The Chads’ to join ‘The Nightriders’ (later renamed as ‘The Idle Race’) as the lead guitarist. Very quickly, he became the group’s chief songwriter.

Jeff Lynne is best known for his ELO album ‘Out of the Blue’, released in October 1977. Written and produced entirely by him, it sold ten million copies worldwide, quickly reaching multi-platinum status both in UK and USA and remaining in the UK charts for about 108 weeks.