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‘Overwhelming sadness’: Depeche Mode keyboardist Andy Fletcher dies

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Agence France-Presse

<div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img alt="Depeche Mode members David Gahan (from left), Martin Gore and Andrew Fletcher pose for photographers in Berlin, October 6, 2008. Rainer Jensen, EPA/file" src="https://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2022/entertainment/05/26/20220526-depeche.jpg"/><figcaption>Depeche Mode members David Gahan (from left), Martin Gore and Andrew Fletcher pose for photographers in Berlin, October 6, 2008. <em>Rainer Jensen, EPA/file</em></figcaption></figure></div><p>Andrew Fletcher, a founding member of the British electronic band Depeche Mode, had died aged 60, the band announced Thursday.</p><p>&quot;We are shocked and filled with overwhelming sadness with the untimely passing of our dear friend, family member, and bandmate Andy &#x27;Fletch&#x27; Fletcher,&quot; it said on Twitter.</p><p>&quot;Fletch had a true heart of gold and was always there when you needed support, a lively conversation, a good laugh, or a cold pint.&quot;</p><p>Born in 1961 in Nottingham, Fletcher was a keyboardist and one of the founders of electronic pioneers Depeche Mode.</p><p>The band have sold more than 100 million albums since they started up in 1980, winning over a global audience with hits like &quot;Personal Jesus&quot; or &quot;Just Can&#x27;t Get Enough&quot;.</p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/entertainment/03/14/13/depeche-mode-pessimists-heart-never-imagined-longevity">Depeche Mode, &#x27;pessimists at heart,&#x27; never imagined longevity</a></li></ul><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><div dir="ltr" lang="und"><a href="https://t.co/RlB7QM6ckW">pic.twitter.com/RlB7QM6ckW</a></div>— Depeche Mode (@depechemode) <a href="https://twitter.com/depechemode/status/1529901182562340864?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 26, 2022</a></blockquote><div><script async="" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charSet="utf-8" type="text/javascript"></script></div><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/entertainment/05/27/22/goodfellas-actor-ray-liotta-dead">‘Goodfellas’ actor Ray Liotta dead</a></li></ul><p>Depeche Mode triumphed with a string of hits in the 1980s and early 1990s, at first becoming synonymous with danceable synthpop but then gradually adopting a darker sound.</p><p>Fletcher was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame along with the other members of Depeche Mode in 2020.</p><p>The band&#x27;s last studio album &quot;Spirit&quot; came out in 2017.</p><p>In an interview with AFP ahead of its release, its members said they were proud to have attracted listeners of other genres, including rock fans who would have rarely stepped into a dance club.</p><p>&quot;One of our legacies is to make electronic music popular to the masses,&quot; Fletcher said.</p><p>Fellow artists mourned the musician online on Thursday.</p><p>Lol Tolhurst, drummer for The Cure, said it was &quot;very sad news&quot;.</p><p>&quot;I knew Andy and considered him a friend. We crossed many of the same pathways as younger men. My heart goes out to his family,&quot; he wrote on Twitter.</p><p>Fletcher leaves behind a wife and two children.</p>

Fletcher, a founding member of the British rock group Depeche Mode and a keyboardist, had died aged 60, the band announced Thursday.