If you’re at least in your mid-30s (give or take), you know the voice of Elwood Edwards, realize it or not. He recorded the phrase, “You’ve got mail!” and three other lines for Quantum Computer Services in 1989. That company later rebranded to America Online, and the rest is early internet history. Edwards died on Tuesday.
WKYC first reported (via Variety) that Edwards passed away one day before what would have been his 75th birthday. He was a longtime off-camera presence at the Cleveland TV station, working as a graphic designer, camera operator and jack-of-all-trades employee.
His wife, Karen Edwards, worked at Quantum when she heard the company’s then-CEO talking about needing a voice for the software that would soon bombard mailboxes across the US. “So, she volunteered my voice,” Edwards said in a 2012 video. “And on a cassette deck in my living room, I recorded the…
