Meet the man behind the computer: Elwood Edwards. Edwards is the man, the voice, and the legend behind the classic AOL phrase, “You’ve Got Mail." He also recorded the famous AOL phrases such as “Files Done,” “Welcome,” and “Goodbye.”
By just looking at him, you wouldn't realize that he's pretty internet-famous; but when he starts to speak, you realize you've known him all along. Much like the artist Liu Bolin, Edwards also has an interesting way of being both present, yet absent in the work he does.
In 1989, his wife was a customer service rep for the company that was about to branch off and become the Internet Service Provider of AOL. Having overheard the founder, Steve Case, talk about how fun it would be to use a real voice, she volunteered her husband.
Being that Elwood Edwards was a voice-over actor who had been an announcer for his entire broadcasting career, she thought it would be a perfect match. Edwards accepted the idea, scribbled a few phrases on a piece of paper and recorded them onto a cassette deck.
It started off as a test to see if the idea behind making the internet a bit more personable would catch on. In the mid nineties, it really did well. It’s been said that Edwards’ voice was played over 35 million times a day.
Edwards claims that working for AOL was satisfactory, regardless of him feeling like he’s been typecast. Besides, his voice will always be pretty famous…
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