Status: 05/27/2022 01:53 a.m
British pop band Depeche Mode mourns the loss of founding member Andrew Fletcher. The keyboarder died at the age of 60, the band announced.
Andy “Fletch” Fletcher gave Depeche Mode songs that certain something with his synthesizer sounds for more than 40 years – now the founding member of the cult band has died. The group announced the death of their keyboardist via their official social media platforms.
Fletcher died of natural causes at his home in the UK on Thursday, a source close to the band said. The musician was 60 years old.
The breakthrough came quickly
Fletcher started Depeche Mode in Basildon, England in 1980 with fellow synthesizers Vince Clarke and Martin Gore and lead singer Dave Gahan. Just one year later they had their breakthrough with their debut album “Speak and Spell”. The work includes “Just Can’t Get Enough”, one of the biggest hits by the band, which was one of the giants of British electropop.
After the release of Speak and Spell, Clarke left the group and was replaced by Alan Wilder. Depeche Mode was internationally successful with the album “Some Great Reward” from 1984 and the single “People are People”.
Reserved and modest
Fletcher was considered to be rather reserved and modest. The red-haired keyboardist with a fondness for London football club Chelsea FC and the game of chess did not sing or write songs. He never became as popular as his bandmates.
“Martin is the songwriter, Alan is the good musician, Dave the vocalist, and I just laze around,” Andy “Fletch” Fletcher once said laconically in a documentary about his status in the band. However, the keyboardist often acted as a mediator when disputes broke out among his more famous colleagues. Now Gahan and Gore remain as the only permanent band members.