Andy Flechter, keyboardist and co-founder of British band Depeche Mode, has died at the age of 60. The band reports this on Twitter.
“We are shocked and filled with overwhelming sadness at the untimely passing of our dear friend, family member and bandmate Andy “Fletch” Flechter,” the band wrote on Twitter. “Fletch had a real heart of gold and was always there when you needed support, a lively conversation, a good laugh, or a cold pint.”
A cause of death was not disclosed.
Flechter was born in Nottingham in 1961 but later moved to Basildon. There he founded the band Composition of Sound in the late 1970s with Martin Gore and Vince Clarke. The trio later recruited vocalist Dave Gahan and the name changed to Depeche Mode.
Later, the line-up of the group changed again, with the departure of Clarke and the arrival of Alan Wilder. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, the group enjoyed national and international success with the hits Enjoy the silence in I feel you. In the mid-1990s, Wilder also left the group.
In 2020, the band was inducted into the Rock and Rock Hall of Fame. The group is best known for hits like Just Can’t Get Enough, People are People in Enjoy the Silence† The album “Violator” from 1990 is their absolute masterpiece, with next to it Enjoy the Silence also Personal Jesuswhich was later covered by Johnny Cash.