Elwood Edwards, the man behind the iconic “you’ve got mail’ voice on AOL, has died at the age of 74.
His former employer, WKYC-TV Studios in Cleveland announced the news of his death. The details of his death remain unclear, though they did say that he had an undisclosed “long illness.” His passing came just one day before what would be his 75th birthday.
More than 30 years ago, Edwards recorded four lines of dialogue for a company called America Online. The company was small at the time. During early days, the company was called Quantum Computer Services and his wife Karen worked there. In a Youtube video from 2012, Edwards shared that his wife she overheard former CEO of America Online, discussing adding a a voice to the upcoming AOL software.
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That was when Karen volunteered her husband for the role. He ultimately recorded four phrases for the company. Those four phrases – “Welcome,” “You’ve Got Mail,” “Files done,” and “Goodbye” would go on to be known by an entire generation of people.
“I had no idea it would become what it did, I don’t think anybody did. Suddenly, AOL took off… I remember standing in line at CompUSA and seeing (stacks of AOL CDs) and thinking, ‘my voice is on every one of those, and nobody has a clue,'” he said in a 2019 episode of the podcast Silent Giants with Corey Cambridge.
Edwards was born in New Bern, North Carolina, and graduated from high school in the state. His career started when he worked in radio in high school and then he transitioned to television later on in his life. In total, he only made $200 for his voice role.
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Gallery Credit: Jacklyn Krol