Andrew "Fletch" Fletcher performing with Depeche Mode in Milan, 2018. Picture: Sergione Infuso/Corbis via Getty Images


Depeche Mode in the mid 1980s: Dave Gahan, Andrew "Fletch" Fletcher, Martin Gore and Alan Wilder. Picture: David Corio/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images

Depeche Mode's Andrew Fletcher dies, aged 60

Quote:"Fletch" was one of the founder members of the British electronic pop act.

Andrew "Fletch" Fletcher, one of the founding members of Depeche Mode, has died aged 60. Rolling Stone has confirmed that he died of natural causes.

The band broke the news on social media on Thursday evening (May 26th), saying: "We are shocked and filled with overwhelming sadness with the untimely passing of our dear friend, family member and bandmate Andy 'Fletch' Fletcher."

Fletch helped form Depeche Mode in 1980 in Basildon, Essex with Vince Clarke, who would later leave to become one half of Erasure. Together with bandmates Dave Gahan and Martin L. Gore, Fletcher as Depeche Mode was inducted into the Rock 'N' Roll Hall Of Fame in 2020.

The musician has appeared on all of Depeche Mode's fourteen studio albums, including Black Celebration (1986), Music For The Masses (1987) and Violator (1990). The band has had 14 top ten studio albums in the UK, and international chart success with songs including "Enjoy The Silence", "Personal Jesus" and "Just Can’t Get Enough". He also enjoyed a successful DJing career and launched his own label, Toast Hawaii, in 2002.

Fletcher is survived by his wife Grainne and their two children.

Quote:With the band having not always employed a full-time manager, Fletcher handled many of the band's business, legal, and other non-musical interests over the years.

He was also said to be the member who was "the tiebreaker" and the one that "brings the band together". According to interviews, Fletcher built the compromise between Gahan and Gore that settled their serious dispute following 2001's Exciter album and tour over future songwriting duties within Depeche Mode. In the studio and during live shows, Fletcher contributed a variety of supporting synthesizer parts, including bass parts, pads, strings and drone sounds, and various samples.

However, he was notably the only member of Depeche Mode who did not sing. Although he can be seen singing in videos of Depeche's past live performances, usually Fletcher's vocals were either mixed very low or heard only through his own stage monitors. Fletcher was renowned for his skill at chess. Neil Arthur of Blancmange has mentioned in interviews "never winning a game of chess with Andy Fletcher!" According to sources, in later years, "Fletcher's deepening depression resulted, in the summer of 1994, in a full nervous breakdown."


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http://pic.twitter.com/RlB7QM6ckW
— Depeche Mode (@depechemode) May 26, 2022

Artist: Depeche Mode
Album: Violater
Song: "Enjoy The Silence"
March 19, 1990 Mute Records/Sire Records