(Credits: Far Out / Jeff Lynne)
Sun 26 April 2026 6:49, UK
Anyone that’s remotely interested in classic rock has had their fair share of moments fantasising that they were Jeff Lynne.
Being able to work with some of the greatest rock and roll artists of all time wasn’t lost on the ELO frontman, and the fact that his time as one of the biggest hitmakers of the 1970s could be a sidenote to his massive production career is absolutely insane when you peel back the curtain on what he did. He was creating magic every time he walked into the studio, but there were definitely a few songs that gave him a greater rush than others whenever he put the faders up.
Granted, it’s not like Lynne didn’t have his fair share of good teachers. As much as he lived out every single Beatle fan’s dream by working with them on the Anthology project, a lot of what he was doing in ELO was stealing from what the Fab Four had done already. There was a lot to learn when he first arrived in Abbey Road Studios, but it’s not like he wasn’t willing to earn every single one of those hits that he had, either.
It took a lot of time to take away all of the added fluff, but when he stopped trying to sound like a literal orchestra on record, songs like ‘Telephone Line’ and ‘Turn to Stone’ were everything great about pop rock music. Those tunes still had the grit and the layers that everyone expected from the greatest rock and roll songs, but there was also a fair bit of sweetness that came from him listening to people like Roy Orbison when he was a kid.
Compared to every other rock and roll singer, there was no way to really beat what Orbison did when he stepped up to the microphone, but before working with the Traveling Wilburys, Lynne already spent time honing his craft with Orbison on Mystery Girl. The world needed reminding of how great Orbison could be whenever he sang, and when Lynne found the key pieces of ‘You Got It’ with Tom Petty, he was convinced he was listening to an angel when Orbison first sang his melody.
Lynne could have easily made the song a hit on his own, but he felt that his hero made the whole thing sound like it was coming from above, saying, “He sings the song, just like… heavenly. And, he gets it in like three takes, he’s got it. I think everyone was rooting for him and having so much interest in him. And realizing that, y’know, we all still love him just as much as ever. He hadn’t had the other people around him to encourage him enough. Maybe that’s all it was. But his voice just suddenly came alive and it was back to the real Roy Orbison with a passion.”
And the seeds of the Wilburys were already being planted around this time, anyway. Petty was already hanging around the studio at the time, and since Lynne was working with Harrison on Cloud Nine as well, it didn’t take him long to start having a chat with the former Beatle about maybe putting together a group with Orbison. But the greatest lesson that Orbison had to teach was how to preserve your voice, and Lynne was willing to listen.
Most rock vocalists usually have that moment where they burn themselves out vocally, but when you look through a lot of what Lynne has done over the years, he hasn’t lost a shred of polish on those pipes. Some of it might be helped by changing the keys now and again, but the fact that his tunes manage to be a little higher than they were in his prime is borderline unheard of in most rock and roll circles.
No one is ever that lucky to get the greatest voice that anyone could have asked for, but Lynne never wanted to be that kind of showstopping artist. He was more than happy delivering the songs as best as he could, and even if he was making some prog-rock epic, chances are he was going to hit on something excellent if he had Orbison as his guide through every one of his vocal performances.
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