Hugh McDowell
ELO cellist BORN 1953
Hampstead-born Hugh McDowell had studied at the Yehudi Menuhin School, the Royal College Of Music and the Guildhall, and played in orchestras before he joined the Electric Light Orchestra for their first live shows in 1972. A short sabbatical in departed ELO co-leader Roy Wood’s Wizzard followed, but by 1973 he was back in ELO, and would add to the group’s baroque-Beatlesesque appeal playing cello and synthesizers on the albums El Dorado, Face The Music, A New World Record and 1977’s big-selling Out Of The Blue. Though McDowell and the ELO strings were absent from 1979’s Discovery, they did appear on the album’s videos. Having played sessions for the likes of David Carradine and Kiki Dee, McDowell’s post-ELO work included playing with former bandmate Melvyn Gale, The Saints, The Radio Stars, Asia and Saint Etienne. He also played with Bev Bevan’s Electric Light Orchestra Part Two in the early ’90s. Clive Prior