Andy Fletcher

July 8, 1961 – May 26, 2022

THE PREMATURE DEATH of Depeche Mode keyboard player Andy ‘Fletch’ Fletcher was mourned by alumni from acts as diverse as The Cure, the Pet Shop Boys, New Order, The Killers, Little Angels, T’Pau, The Wonder Stuff, Alison Moyet and Faithless, as well as his bandmates. A statement from American alt.rock band the Smashing Pumpkins described the 60-year-old Fletcher as “legendary and inspirational”, and said they were “saddened” to hear of his passing, which reportedly was from natural causes.

Founded in Basildon, Essex in 1980, Depeche

Mode notched a run of electronic-fuelled singles that included Just Can’t Get Enough, Personal Jesus, New Life, People Are People and Everything Counts. The group were inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame two years ago.

Influenced by the bands such as Siouxsie & The Banshees, early Human League, Kraftwerk and Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark, Nottinghamborn Fletcher was a founding member of Depeche Mode, having originally formed the band No Romance with schoolmate Vince Clarke in the late 1970s, before the two joined with Martin Gore to form Composition Of Sound. Lead singer Dave Gahan joined the band in 1980 and they were renamed Depeche Mode, and the following year they released their debut album Speak & Spell.

In later years, Depeche Mode reinvented themselves as a darker, more goth-inclined group , who inspired many rock and metal musicians while becoming stadium fillers along the way.

Fletcher was modest about his role in the band. “Martin’s the songwriter, Alan’s the good musician, Dave’s the vocalist, and I bum around,” he joked in the 1989 documentary Depeche Mode: 101.

Living Colour guitarist Vernon Reid said of Fletcher: “His keyboard sounds crafted not just Depeche Mode’s sonic approach, but shifted the direction of techno, EDM, downtempo, trip-hop and electronica.”