If you’re at least in your mid-30s (give or take), you know Elwood Edwards’ voice, whether you realize it or not. He said, “You have mail!” noted his statement. and three other lines for Quantum Computer Services in 1989. That company later rebranded to America Online, and the rest is early Internet history. Edwards died on Tuesday.
WKYC first informed (through Diversity) said Edwards died the day before his 75th birthday. He spent a long time off-camera at a Cleveland television station, working as a graphic designer, camera operator and all-rounder.
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 soon bomb mailboxes across the United States. “So he volunteered my vote,” Edwards said 2012 video. “And on the tape deck in my living room, I recorded the statements you know.”
He paid a total of $200 for the voting job.
The new message phrase, written in Edwards’ calm and welcoming voice, became a cultural phenomenon during AOL’s heyday in the ’90s and early 2000s. Of course, it’s about to inspire the title of the 1998 Nora Ephron rom-com.
Edwards also contributed three (less well-known, but still remembered by many) AOL catchphrases: “Welcome”, “File Complete” and “Goodbye”. In a 2012 video, he is harassed by various staff members, prompting him to say. (AOL is now owned by Yahoo, Engadget’s parent company.)
“So that’s the story behind the catchphrase,” he said in the clip, “which I have some trouble trying to escape.”
