Hugh Alexander McDowell (31 July 1953 – 6 November 2018)ELO and Wizzard cellist Hugh McDowell dies at 65
''BBC News''. Retrieved 3 December 2018. was an English

cellist The cello ( ; plural ''celli'' or ''cellos'') or violoncello ( ; ) is a bowed (sometimes plucked and occasionally hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually tuned in perfect fifths: from low to high, C2, G2, D ...

best known for his membership of the

Electric Light Orchestra The Electric Light Orchestra (ELO) are an English rock band formed in Birmingham in 1970 by songwriters and multi-instrumentalists Jeff Lynne and Roy Wood with drummer Bev Bevan. Their music is characterised by a fusion of pop, classical ...

(ELO) and related acts.

Career

McDowell started playing the cello at the age of four-and-a-half; by the age of 10, he had won a scholarship to the Yehudi Menuhin School. Only one year later he made his first professional appearance in

Benjamin Britten Edward Benjamin Britten, Baron Britten (22 November 1913 – 4 December 1976, aged 63) was an English composer, conductor, and pianist. He was a central figure of 20th-century British music, with a range of works including opera, other ...

's ''

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'', in which he sang. Later he attended Kingsway College of Further Education, the

Royal College of Music The Royal College of Music is a conservatoire established by royal charter in 1882, located in South Kensington, London, UK. It offers training from the undergraduate to the doctoral level in all aspects of Western Music including perform ...

and the

Guildhall School of Music and Drama The Guildhall School of Music and Drama is a conservatoire and drama school located in the City of London, United Kingdom. Established in 1880, the school offers undergraduate and postgraduate training in all aspects of classical music and jazz ...

. He played with the London Youth Symphony Orchestra, the London Schools Symphony Orchestra, National Youth Orchestra and London Youth Chamber Orchestra, until he was persuaded by Wilf Gibson to join The Electric Light Orchestra.

Electric Light Orchestra career

McDowell performed with the first live line-up of ELO in 1972 while only 19 years old, but left with founding member

Roy Wood Roy Wood (born 8 November 1946) is an English musician and singer-songwriter. He was particularly successful in the 1960s and 1970s as member and co-founder of the Move, Electric Light Orchestra and Wizzard. As a songwriter, he contributed a ...

and horn player/keyboardist Bill Hunt to perform with the group

Wizzard Wizzard were an English rock band formed by Roy Wood, former member of the Move and co-founder of the Electric Light Orchestra. ''The Guinness Book of 500 Number One Hits'' states, "Wizzard was Roy Wood just as much as Wings was Paul McCartne ...

. During his time in Wizzard, he played both cello and

Moog synthesizer The Moog synthesizer is a modular synthesizer developed by the American engineer Robert Moog. Moog debuted it in 1964, and Moog's company R. A. Moog Co. (later known as Moog Music) produced numerous models from 1965 to 1981, and again from 20 ...

, but returned to ELO in 1973 to replace Colin Walker. McDowell's return was partly motivated by a desire to play more cello and less keyboards as he had done with Wizzard. He remained with the group until

Jeff Lynne Jeffrey Lynne (born 30 December 1947) is an English musician, singer-songwriter, and record producer. He is best known as the co-founder of the rock band Electric Light Orchestra (ELO), which was formed in 1970. As a songwriter, he has cont ...

removed the string players from the line-up. McDowell appeared in promotional videos for the ''

Discovery Discovery may refer to: * Discovery (observation), observing or finding something unknown * Discovery (fiction), a character's learning something unknown * Discovery (law), a process in courts of law relating to evidence Discovery, The Discove ...

'' album, despite not having played on the record. He performed with

Electric Light Orchestra Part II ELO Part II were a band formed by Electric Light Orchestra drummer and co-founder Bev Bevan. The band also included former ELO bassist and vocalist Kelly Groucutt, and violinist Mik Kaminski for most of its career, along with conductor Loui ...

in 1991.

Post-ELO life

In 1980, McDowell played on the album ''Gift Wrapped'' by former ELO cellist Melvyn Gale, who had founded the group Wilson Gale & Co. For a short time around 1982, he was a member of Radio Stars and recorded the single "My Mother Said" with the group. More recently, he worked on , on the 2005 Saint Etienne album '' Tales from Turnpike House'', He also played cello on

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an are ...

's 2008 album '' Phoenix'', on "An Extraordinary Life" and "I Will Remember You". Reference : https://www.discogs.com/fr/release/1368063-Asia-Phoenix McDowell also arranged and recorded for numerous pop, rock, and jazz-fusion albums, as well as collaborating in dance, film, and theatre projects. He was involved with computer programming and published a music composition program called ''Fractal Music Composer'' in 1992. He developed a suite of four programs: ''Mandelbrot Set Composer'', ''Julia Set Composer'', ''Mandelbrot Zoom'' and ''Play Midi''.

Death

McDowell died of cancer on 6 November 2018.

References

External links

Entry at discogs.com
1953 births 2018 deaths British rock cellists British pop cellists People from Hampstead Electric Light Orchestra members English classical cellists English cellists English classical musicians Alumni of the Royal College of Music 20th-century classical musicians Deaths from cancer in the United Kingdom Wizzard members {{cellist-stub