Voice Behind AOL’s Iconic ‘You Got Mail’ Dies: Elwood Edwards Was 74

Elwood Edwards, the voice of AOL’s iconic “You’ve Got Mail” greeting message, has died. Edwards on Tuesday, Nov. 5 at age 74 following an undisclosed “long illness,” local Cleveland television station WKYC announced. According to the outlet, he passed away just one day before his 75th birthday.

Edwards was a longtime fixture at WKYC-TV, also known as 3News, and served as graphics guru, camera operator, and general jack-of-all-trades throughout the years. But he was propelled to worldwide recognition in 1989 when he first recorded four different messages for America Online, better known now as AOL.

Edwards took on the role of the now iconic voice behind the messages thanks to his wife, Karen, who worked at Quantum Computer Services, which eventually became AOL, he revealed in an AOL YouTube video in 2012. After overhearing former CEO of America Online, Steve Case, discussing adding a voice to the upcoming AOL software, she volunteered her husband. Earning just $200 for the gig, and not earning residuals, Edwards recorded four different messages – “You’ve Got Mail,” “Welcome,” “Files done,” and “Goodbye” – on a cassette deck in my living room,” he told Inside Edition in 2016.

In the years that followed, AOL rapidly grew, eventually becoming the largest internet service in the US at the time. Edwards’ voice reached millions, with his “You’ve Got Mail” message even inspiring Nora Ephron’s hit 1998 Tom Hanks-Meg Ryan romantic comedy of the same name, per the New York Post.

“I had no idea it would become what it did, I don’t think anybody did,” Edwards said in a 2019 interview on the Silent Giants with Corey Cambridge podcast. “Suddenly, AOL took off… I remember standing in line at CompUSA and seeing (stacks of AOL CDs) and thinking, ‘my voice is on every one of those, and nobody has a clue.’”

After announcing his retirement from WKYC in 2014 after 47 years in the business, Uber went on to drive for Uber in Cleveland. He also appeared on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, reading lines off of cue cards before signing off with “Files done,” and “Goodbye.”

News of his passing was met with a wave of online tributes. News anchor Biran Colleran said, “I got to work with Elwood during my short time at the NBC in Cleveland. Such a nice, soft spoken man. He loved to share the story of how he became the ‘You’ve Got Mail’ voice.”