Elwood Edwards, voice of the 'You've got mail' AOL email greeting, dies at 74

Elwood Edwards, a media multihyphenate who voiced AOL’s iconic greeting “You’ve got mail,” has died.

Edwards died Tuesday astatine property 74 successful New Bern, N.C., aft a agelong illness, his erstwhile employer, Ohio NBC affiliate WKYC, confirmed. According to the tv station, helium died the time earlier his 75th birthday.

During his decade-long stint astatine WKYC, Edwards worked arsenic a “graphics guru, camera operator, and wide jack-of-all-trades,” the presumption said, “yet it was a somewhat random accidental successful 1989 that earned him planetary fame.”

That year, Edwards recorded the 4 abbreviated phrases — including “You’ve got mail” — that helium had “a definite magnitude of occupation trying to escape” for the remainder of his life, he joked successful 2012.

Thirty years ago, Edwards’ wife, Karen, was moving arsenic a lawsuit work typical astatine Quantum Computer Services, AOL’s predecessor company, erstwhile she overheard then-chief enforcement Steve Case accidental helium needed a voiceover histrion for a caller project.

“I had an idea. Why not marque the work much idiosyncratic by adding the dependable of a person?” Case wrote successful his 2016 publication “The Third Wave: An Entrepreneur’s Vision of the Future.” Karen Edwards promptly volunteered her husband’s services.

“I’d ne'er met him, and didn’t cognize what his dependable sounded like. But I figured it would astatine slightest beryllium a bully prototype, a illustration we could play for different voiceover actors erstwhile we started auditions,” Case said.

The enforcement scribbled a fewer phrases — “Welcome,” “You’ve got mail,” “Files done” and “Goodbye” — onto a Post-it enactment and handed them to Karen, who promised recordings by the adjacent day.

Edwards’ dependable “couldn’t person been much perfect,” Case recalled successful his book. “It was disarmingly friendly, similar the dependable you’d expect from a alien who offered to transportation your grandmother’s groceries. The 2nd I heard it, I knew we weren’t going to beryllium auditioning anyone else.”

Within a month, AOL was mailing CDs to millions of radical nationwide, each containing upgraded bundle and a connection from Elwood Edwards — who was paid a specified $200 for the homemade recordings.

“I didn’t truly deliberation thing of it astatine the time,” Edwards said successful a 2019 occurrence of the “Twenty Thousand Hertz” podcast. He had worked successful broadcasting since precocious school, truthful proceeding his sanction travel retired of a talker was “nothing new.”

“I don’t deliberation anyone had immoderate thought what it would become,” helium said.

Edwards went connected to lend his dependable to different projects, including promotions for the 1998 romanticist drama “You’ve Got Mail” and a 2000 occurrence of “The Simpsons.” In 2015, helium appeared connected “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon,” and aft helium recited his signature phrase, Fallon told the audience, “That’s worthy the terms of admission, close there. That’s enough.”

The erstwhile broadcaster ne'er received immoderate residuals for his AOL dependable work, helium told Inside Edition successful 2016, 2 years aft his status from WKYC. He wasn’t capable to find overmuch voiceover enactment aft the gig either, helium told Culture Honey aboriginal that year, due to the fact that helium was “pigeonholed arsenic the ‘You’ve got’ guy, and thing ever truly came of that.”

Still, helium said connected “Twenty Thousand Hertz,” being the dependable of AOL was immensely gratifying, arsenic was being recognized for it implicit the years.

“Our satellite is afloat of radical who were successful the close spot astatine the close time, and I’m gladsome to beryllium 1 of those,” helium said.

Elwood Hughes Edwards Jr. was calved connected Nov. 6, 1949, successful Glen Burnie, Md., and began his broadcasting vocation successful precocious schoolhouse successful North Carolina.

“He started retired arsenic a teenager, earlier helium was aged capable to cod a paycheck,” his girl Sallie Edwards told the New York Times connected Thursday. He went connected to enactment down the scenes successful television, sometimes going connected camera to study the weather. Later, helium voiced commercials for businesses and different organizations, including a section church.

In summation to his girl Sallie, Edwards is survived by different daughter, Heather Edwards; a brother, Bill; and a granddaughter, the outlet reported.