Voice of AOL’s Iconic ‘You’ve Got Mail’ Alert Dies at 74
Millennials, pour one out. TMZ reports that Elwood Edwards, the voice behind AOL’s iconic “You’ve Got Mail” audio message, has died at age 74. His former employer, WKYC-TV Studios in Cleveland, confirmed that Edwards died of an unknown illness.
Elwood is said to have worked at WKYC-TV in Ohio for years operating cameras and working graphics, among other roles. In 1989 he was paid $200 to record four different lines for AOL, then a burgeoning provider of dial-up internet and a web portal: “Welcome,” “You’ve Got Mail,” “Files Done,” and “Goodbye.” Sometimes AOL would trigger the “You’ve Got Mail” message even if you didn’t have mail, which would always get the heart pumping in those adolescent courtship days.
AOL was an internet pioneer back in the ’90s, bringing many people online for the first time. It introduced the public to new forms of communication, like instant messaging and chat rooms. Portals were a big idea back then — Prodigy and CompuServe also offered a broad range of online services like email, for a fee.
