If you’re at least in your mid-30s (give or take), you know the voice of Elwood Edwards, whether you realize it or not. He recorded the speech, “You have mail!” and three more lines of Quantum Computer Services in 1989. That company was later renamed America Online, and the rest is early Internet history. Edwards died on Tuesday.
WKYC first reported (by Variety) that Edward died one day before his 75th birthday. He had a long off-camera tenure at the Cleveland TV station, working as a graphic designer, camera operator and jack-of-all-trades.
His wife, Karen Edwards, was working at Quantum when she heard the company’s then-CEO talk about needing a voice for software that would bomb mailboxes in the US. “So, you’re committed on my word,” Edwards said in a 2012 video. “And on the tape deck in my living room, I recorded the phrases you already know.”
He was paid a sum of $200 for his voiceover work.
The new message phrase, recorded in Edward’s soothing and welcoming voice, became a cultural phenomenon in AOL’s ’90s and early 2000s. Of course, that includes inspiring Nora Ephron’s 1998 rom-com title.
Edwards also contributed three (little known but still remembered) AOL sayings: “Welcome,” “The file is complete” and “Goodbye.” In a 2012 video, he was shown being hunted by various operatives, which prompted him to say this. (AOL is currently owned by Yahoo, Engadget’s parent company.)
“So, that’s the story behind the catchphrase,” he said in the clip, “which is, I’m having some trouble trying to escape.”
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