Electric Light Orchestra’s Jeff Lynne, grime rapper Dizzee Rascal, documentarian Sir David Attenborough and singer Joan Armatrading were among the British artists to receive appointments on the 2020 Queen’s Birthday Honours.
Lynne received an O.B.E. (Order of the British Empire) for his “services to music”; in addition to his tenures with ELO and the Traveling Wilburys, Lynne produced albums and co-wrote music with artists like Tom Petty, George Harrison, Tom Petty and Roy Orbison.
“I am extremely humbled and grateful to be awarded this honour for my services to music. To be recognized for my work is an extraordinary privilege,” Lynne tweeted.
JUST ANNOUNCED: Jeff has received an OBE (Order of the British Empire) in the Queen’s Birthday Honours list.
“I am extremely humbled and grateful to be awarded this honour for my services to music. To be recognised for my work is an extraordinary privilege.” -Jeff Lynne
Jeff Lynne talks about his stunning latest record From Out Of Nowhere, The Beatles, and playing in supergroup The Travelling Wilburys.
"I was fed up with the group at that time," he explains. "I just wanted to disband it and be a producer, and not play live gigs. I was lucky enough to start with George Harrison.
Then it was Tom Petty, then the Travelling Wilburys, and then Brian Wilson. You know, amazing people. I'd produce them and we'd have great big hits! Platinum albums! I had a marvellous time, and there was no gigs to go with it. You didn't actually have to go on the road and I just loved making records with great people - and The Beatles!"
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Ah yes, The Beatles. John Lennon once called ELO "son of Beatles", which he meant as a good thing. Lynne first worked with his pal George Harrison on 1987's smash hit comeback Cloud Nine. When the remaining Fabs decided to record some new music for the massive Anthology project in the mid-'90s, they needed a producer after George Martin had to decline the invitation due to hearing problems. Harrison fought to get Lynne involved, to work up a very basic demo recorded by John at the piano of a song called 'Free As A Bird'. It must have been some experience for a Beatles maniac like Lynne.
"Oh yeah, it was ridiculous," he says, laughing at the memory. "It was the most nerve-racking thing to start with, because it was called 'The Beatles' and all we had was John on a cassette - just his voice and piano in mono, which you couldn't separate.
So I had to build a great big Beatles track to go with it. It had to be kind of impressive or it would be less than we were used to. I had to manufacture all that with those three playing it, and then I had to somehow fit in John, which was very difficult. It was a long process that took me a couple of days to get right. I actually did it around two in the morning, 'cause I didn't want to look like an idiot if I didn't get it right.
"But anyway, it sounded good and was in time - the demo was out of time, because when you're writing a song, you're just trying to get notes down. To get it in time, I had to do a mathematical equation for all the different phrases and each phrase would be like say three or four words, so I put it into a sampler and flew them into the track, and then left it like that. Paul came in the next day and said, 'Well done, Jeff! You done it!' and he gave me a big hug, so I was thrilled."
Paul McCartney is listening back to something you've done with John Lennon. Surely you're thinking, "What am I going to do if he doesn't like it?"
"That was part of the thinking, it was like bliss at some point and..."
Fear?
"Fear at the other!"
While artists like The Beatles and Brian Wilson - "he was one of my favourites, along with The Beatles. It was a real pleasure and he let me sing a couple of harmonies" - might look like an obvious fit for Lynne, working with Bob Dylan in late '80s superstar busman's holiday, The Travelling Wilburys, appears less so.
"The thing is I'd been working with George for a couple of months, and he said, 'D'you know what? Me and you should have a group.' I said, 'What? That's good. Yeah, I'm in! Who should we have in it?' And he said 'Bob Dylan'. Of course, I'm half laughing, but then I realise he's serious. So I said, 'Can we have Roy Orbison as well?' He said 'Yeah, we'll have Roy', 'cause they used to tour together and we both loved Tom Petty. So we said, let's have him. And of course when it's George Harrison that's doing it, it was 'Do you want to join our group?' and the answer was 'Yes'. We did the first album in 10 days, 10 songs in ten days, so that was pretty amazing - the rough tracks, not the finished product."
Alongside the massive success of Travelling Wilburys Vol. 1 (1988), Lynne also worked on Roy Orbison's fantastic Mystery Girl. There are some songs on the new record one could imagine Orbison tackling.
