Elwood Edwards, the voice of AOL's “You've Acquired Mail” greeting, has died on the age of 74 after a protracted sickness, in line with native Ohio information station WKYC, the place he was employed for a few years.
Throughout a 2016 interview, Edwards recounted how he grew to become the voice of AOL. His spouse, who labored at Quantum Pc Providers (which later grew to become AOL), heard that the corporate was wanting so as to add a voice to its software program. “I've been an announcer my entire broadcasting profession and she or he volunteered me,” Edwards stated.
In 1989, Edwards recorded the once-ubiquitous catchphrase together with “Welcome,” “Information executed” and “Goodbye” on a cassette for simply $200. “It began as a take a look at simply to see if it might catch on, and lo and behold, within the mid-'90s, it actually did.”
As a long-time AOL consumer (sure, I nonetheless use AOL to today), I'm ashamed to confess that I by no means knew there was an individual behind that iconic voice – I assumed it was pc generated. Even now, Edwards' voice will dwell on in my inbox, nonetheless declaring, “You may have e-mail.”