Electric Light Orchestra’s Richard Tandy has passed away at 76. ELO leader Jeff Lynne announced the news on social media, writing: “He was a remarkable musician & friend and I’ll cherish the lifetime of memories we had together.”

Tandy was born in Birmingham in 1948. He was classmates with Bev Bevan, who invited him to play harpsichord on the Move’s 1968 single “Blackberry Way.” In 1970, Bevan and Roy Wood decided to start Electric Light Orchestra and recruited eventual bandleader Jeff Lynne into the fold. Tandy did not play on the group’s debut full-length album, but he started performing with them soon after, first as a bassist in the live band and later as the keyboardist.

He became a close collaborator of Lynne’s, and one of the few full-time members of ELO, and contributed keys and synthesizer parts that were integral to their sound until the band’s disbandment in 1986. When Lynne reformed the band in the 2000s, Tandy was the only member to rejoin him as Jeff Lynne’s ELO.

In 2017, Tandy was inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame as a member of Electric Light Orchestra.