Why was Jeff Lynne reluctant to become a rock star?
For many people, the allure of becoming a rock star is one of the most enticing feelings in the world. Who could ever resist it? The idea of stepping out on stage to thousands of fans, making music for a living and having constant access to all of life’s little vices is pretty tough to say no to. Jeff Lynne certainly couldn’t when he was asked to return for a gig at Hyde Park.
“I felt such relief that all these people were there, screaming and clapping to every song,” he said, recounting the gig he did in front of 50,000 fans when he brought back the Electric Light Orchestra, “It made me feel excellent. I had so much fun doing it, I decided to come back and do a new album.”
It was a surprise when Jeff Lynne returned to do his Hyde Park gig, as he was never a musician who constantly threw himself into the limelight. Despite the fact that his music was incredibly successful, and many people were aware of his biggest hits, his name wasn’t household like a lot of artists on a similar level to him.
Lynne was upfront when asked about his reluctance to be a rock star, and it all comes down to a reluctance to step fully into the limelight. “I never pushed myself forward,” he said, “I could have gotten a big head, but it just wasn’t in my nature. All I wanted was studio time and more studio time and even more studio time.”
Lynne was addicted to the craft of making music instead of the spoils that came with doing so. This is precisely what he committed his time to in his career. Rather than going head-first into becoming a rockstar, he wrote songs, worked on his engineering and got some work as an engineer as well.
Lynne is fast approaching his last show with the Electric Light Orchestra. Ending things the same place he started them, Jeff Lynne announced he would be doing a farewell show at Hyde Park in 2025. “My return to touring began at Hyde Park in 2014. It seems like the perfect place to do our final show,” he said, “We couldn’t be more excited to share this special night in London with our UK fans. As the song goes, ‘We’re gonna do it one more time!’”
As people stare at the sold-out tab to buy tickets and resent the fact they may have never gotten the chance to see Jeff Lynne live, his reluctance to become a rockstar did lead to some of the greatest musical developments of all time. For instance, his work as a producer in the 1980s saw him work on comeback albums for George Harrison, Roy Orbison and Tom Petty. It was working on these albums that inspired him to make The Traveling Wilbury’s, which consisted of all three musicians plus Bob Dylan.
When Lynne thinks about his time in the studio and with The Traveling Wilbury’s, he can’t help but reflect on the happy experience. “It was a marvellous time,” he said, “I thought to myself, ‘Wow, I should have been doing this years ago’.”
