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The man who lent his voice to AOL’s well-known “You’ve Got Mail” notification died on Tuesday.
Elwood Edwards was 74-years-old at the time of his death, his longtime employer WKYC said Thursday. He had been dealing with what the Cleveland-based outlet said was a “long illness.”
Edwards, well known by AOL users, lent his voice to the online service provider for its “You’ve Got Mail” notification some 35 years ago, according to WKYC.
UKRAINE – 2021/03/15: In this photo illustration, AOL logo is seen on a smartphone screen. (Photo Illustration by Pavlo Gonchar/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images) (Pavlo Gonchar/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images / Getty Images)
The outlet described him as a “dear friend” and reported he was a “graphics guru, camera operator, and general jack-of-all-trades” during his long WKYC tenure.
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He once explained in a video published by AOL that his 1989 voiceover work for AOL arose from his wife, Karen, who he said “volunteered my voice” for the “then-upcoming AOL software.”
His recording of “You’ve Got Mail” for AOL occurred “on a cassette deck in my living room,” he said in the AOL video. He also did “Welcome,” “Files Done” and “Goodbye” for the service.
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“It started off as a test just to see if it would catch on and, lo and behold, in the mid-90’s it had really caught on. At one point, they said my voice was heard more than 35 million times a day,” he said in a separate video published by Great Big Story in 2016.
THE TONIGHT SHOW STARRING JIMMY FALLON — Episode 0223 — Pictured: (l-r) Host Jimmy Fallon and Elwood Edwards during the Suggestion Box bit on March 4, 2015 — (Photo by: Douglas Gorenstein/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images via Getty Ima (Douglas Gorenstein/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images via Getty Images / Getty Images)
Edwards’ voice became increasingly well-known among the general public alongside AOL. People with AOL Mail can still hear the “iconic ‘You’ve Got Mail’ alert with the original voice” if they have certain settings turned on, according to an AOL help page.
His famous “You’ve Got Mail” work once led to him participating in a “The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon” segment in 2015.
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AOL’s origins date back to the 80s.
