Richard Tandy (March 26, 1948 – May 1, 2024) was an English musician. He was the keyboardist in the band Electric Light Orchestra

His palette of keyboards (including Minimoog, Clavinet, Mellotron, and piano) was an important ingredient in the group's sound, especially on the albums A New World Record, Out of the Blue, Discovery, and Time.

Tandy was educated at Moseley School, where he first met future bandmate Bev Bevan. Tandy would later be reunited with Bevan in 1968 when he played the harpsichord on The Move's UK number one chart single "Blackberry Way" and briefly joined them live playing keyboards, but switched to bass while regular bassist Trevor Burton was sidelined due to a shoulder injury. When Burton was able to play again, Tandy left to join The Uglys.

In 1972, Tandy served as the bassist in the first live line-up of Electric Light Orchestra (originally a side project of The Move), before becoming the band's full-time keyboardist. He collaborated musically with ELO frontman Jeff Lynne on many projects, among them songs for the Electric Dreams soundtrack, Lynne's solo album Armchair Theatre and Lynne-produced Dave Edmunds album Information.

Tandy played on every ELO album from 1973’s ELO 2 through 1986’s Balance of Power, after which the group disbanded. He also made guest contributions on 2001’s Zoom and 2019’s From Out of Nowhere, which were essentially Lynne solo ventures

Tandy's keyboards were an integral part of ELO's sound, and include piano, Minimoog, Clavinet, Oberheim, Wurlitzer electric piano, Mellotron, Yamaha CS-80, ARP 2600, and harmonium. He was also proficient on guitar. On some albums he is also credited with vocals or backing vocals, without any specification of which songs. Tandy was Jeff Lynne's right-hand man in the studio and co-arranged the strings with Lynne and Louis Clark from Eldorado onwards.

"It is with great sadness that I share the news of the passing of my long-time collaborator and dear friend Richard Tandy. He was a remarkable musician & friend and I’ll cherish the lifetime of memories we had together.
Sending all my love to Sheila & the Tandy family."
Jeff Lynne

This post was edited on 5/2/24 at 2:46 pm