Jeff Lynne (born Jeffrey Lynne, 30 December 1947 in Shard End, Birmingham) is a Grammy Award-winning English rock songwriter, singer, guitarist and record producer. Early career In 1963, Jeff Lynne, Robert Reader and David Walsh formed a group using little more than Spanish guitars and cheap electrical instruments to produce music. They were originally named "The Rockin' Hellcats" however this was changed to "The Handicaps" and finally to "The Andicaps". They practiced at Shard End Community Centre and performed weekly. However, in 1964, Robert Reader and David Walsh left the band and Lynne brought in replacements. At the end of 1964, Lynne decided to leave to replace Mick Adkins of the local band "The Chads"[LINK: http://www.brumbeat.net/andicaps.htm] Brumbeat: The Andicaps biography. In 1966, Lynne joined the line-up of The Nightriders as guitarist, the band would soon change th