Andy “Fletch” Fletcher, the modest keyboardist with glasses and red hair who for over 40 years added his synthesizer sounds to Depeche Mode hits like Just Can’t Get Enough and Personal Jesus, has died at the age of 60.
Depeche Mode announced the death of founding member Fletcher on its official social media pages.
A person close to the gang said Fletcher died of natural causes on Thursday at his home in the UK.
“We are shocked and overwhelmed by the overwhelming sadness of the untimely death of our dear friend, family member and bandmate Andy‘ Fletch ’Fletcher,” the band’s publications said.
“Fletch had a real heart of gold and was always there when you needed support, a lively conversation, a good laugh or a cold look.”
English roots ahead of world success
Fletcher formed the group that became British electro-pop giants along with other synthesizers Vince Clarke and Martin Gore, and lead singer Dave Gahan, in Basildon, England, in 1980.
The band exploded a year later with their debut album Speak and Spell, which opened with the modest hit New Life and closed with one of the band’s enduring hits, Just Can’t Get Enough.
Clarke left the group and was replaced by Alan Wilder after the album.
The group was internationally successful with 1984’s Some Great Reward and the single People are People, and grew in prominence throughout the 1980s and early 1990s.
Fletcher lent his keyboards to classic albums such as Music for the Masses, Black Celebration and Violator.
The first of them resulted in a world tour that brought a live album, a documentary and a legendary concert to the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California, which represented the pinnacle of the band’s prominence.
A fan of the Chelsea FC football team with a penchant for chess, Fletcher took a low profile to the group. He did not sing or write songs, and his face was never as familiar as that of his bandmates.
“Martin is the songwriter, Alan is the good musician, Dave is the vocalist and I love it,” he told the tour documentary, 101.
But Fletch was a union figure and often the tiebreaker in the fights of his most famous bandmates.
He also occasionally played bass on the band.
Depeche Mode was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2020. Gahan, Fletcher and Gore had to accept the honor remotely along with everyone else incorporated during the pandemic year. As usual, Fletcher let his bandmates talk about almost everything.
His death leaves Gahan and Gore as the only permanent members.