Elwood Edwards
Born (1949-11-06) November 6, 1949
New Bern, North Carolina, U.S.
Known forVoice talent for AOL

Elwood Edwards (born November 6, 1949) is an American voice actor. He is best known as the voice of the Internet service provider America Online, which he first recorded in 1989.[1][2]

Career

Edwards started in radio while in high school. After high school he continued into television, working as a live booth announcer. Despite some on-air work, doing a car commercial, reporting news or sports and a short stint as a weatherman, Edwards focused mainly on off-camera work.

In 1989, Edwards' wife overheard online service Q-Link CEO Steve Case describe how he wanted to add a voice to its user interface.[1] In October, Edwards' voice premiered on AOL's new program. His greetings include "Welcome", "You've got mail", "You've got pictures", "You've got voicemail", "File's done", and "Goodbye", all recorded in his own living room on a cassette deck.[3] The voice is only heard in the American version of the software. In the UK version, a female voice (British actress Joanna Lumley) is heard replacing "Welcome" with "Welcome to AOL" and "You've got mail" with "You have e-mail" Also, "File's done" is replaced with "Your files have been transferred".

His voice has also appeared in a 2000 episode of The Simpsons, "Little Big Mom" (where he provided the voice of a virtual doctor, saying "You've got leprosy"), and in advertising for the movie You've Got Mail.

Now retired, he used to sell personalized .wav files through his website.[4]

On the March 4, 2015, episode of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Edwards appeared on screen to read phrases which were meant to be humorous.[5] As of November 2016, Edwards was seen on Instagram and YouTube working as an Uber driver.[6][7] On September 16, 2019, Edwards and his AOL story were featured on the podcast Twenty Thousand Hertz in an episode entitled "You've Got Mail".[8][9][10]

In October 2022, Edwards appeared in a television ad for the e-commerce platform Shopify, in which he announced "You've got sales" to sellers on the platform.[11]

Other jobs

References

  1. 1 2 Sittenfeld, Curtis (September 30, 1998). "He's the Voice of the Net Generation". Fast Company. Retrieved June 29, 2016.
  2. ↑ "Where Are They Now? Elwood Edwards". Cleveland Magazine. December 2009.
  3. ↑ Kim, Eun Kyung (March 27, 2014). "'You've got mail' guy: I recorded phrase on a cassette in my living". Today. Retrieved June 29, 2016.
  4. ↑ "Home page of El Edwards, the Voice of "You've got mail"". 2007. Archived from the original on June 13, 2008.
  5. ↑ "Watch The 'You've Got Mail' Guy Read Ridiculous One-Liners on 'Fallon'". Above Average. Archived from the original on August 16, 2016. Retrieved June 29, 2016.
  6. ↑ Trant23 (November 7, 2016), AOL Youve Got Mail Guy Is Now An Uber Driver In Ohio, archived from the original on November 8, 2016, retrieved November 8, 2016{{citation}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  7. ↑ Bruner, Raisa (November 8, 2016). "This Woman Got an Uber Ride from the Voice Behind AOL's Iconic 'You've Got Mail' Message". Time. Retrieved November 8, 2016.
  8. ↑ "You've Got Mail". September 16, 2019.
  9. ↑ "Twenty Thousand Hertz – You've Got Mail! On Stitcher".
  10. ↑ "Twenty Thousand Hertz on Apple Podcasts". August 9, 2023.
  11. ↑ Zafarris, Jess; Lepitak, Stephen (October 14, 2022). "Marketing Morsels: 'You've Got Mail' AOL Guy Is Back". Adweek. Retrieved October 16, 2022.
  12. ↑ Haidet, Ryan C. (March 27, 2014). "Meet the local voice of AOL's 'You've Got Mail'". WKYC. Retrieved April 4, 2014.
  13. ↑ Farokhmanesh, Megan (November 7, 2016). "The voice of AOL's iconic 'you've got mail' has a side gig driving Ubers". The Verge. Retrieved February 10, 2023.
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