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Birmingham rock legend Jeff Lynne has instructed his lawyers to stop a Midland singer from using the name Electric Light Orchestra as he sings the band’s greatest hits on tour.

Phil Bates, 60, from Tamworth, Staffordshire has been playing songs including Mr Blue Sky and Sweet Talking Woman during gigs in Europe and South Africa under names such as The Music Of ELO.

Bur promoters invariably bill him simply as ELO, one even describing him as the group’s ‘legendary frontman’.

And that has not gone down well with Lynne, who recently received a star on Birmingham’s Broad Street Walk of Stars amid much fanfare, and who owns the rights to the ELO and Electric Light Orchestra brands.

“It’s illegal,” said Lynne, 66. “He’s not supposed to be using the name. All we can do is keep serving notice to desist.

“Hopefully, he will take notice.”

Lynne famously took action to reclaim the ELO name after former bandmate Bev Bevan formed ELO Part II and toured successfully, playing several gigs with symphony orchestras in the 1990s.

The matter was resolved out of court and, although details of the settlement were not disclosed, Lynne now has the rights to the ELO brand.

“It’s all settled, and it was settled amicably,” he said. “There was no animosity.”

Bates’ only links with ELO are that he was guitarist in ELO Part II for six years, and used to play in a band called Trickster, who supported Lynne’s ELO on their legendary 1978 ‘spaceship’ tour.

In recent years he has toured as The Music Of ELO and ELO Klassik. He has also appeared alongside ex-ELO members in The Orchestra, and in Blue Violin, a duo with ex-ELO violinist Mik Kaminski.

But media previews of recent gigs in South Africa describe his act as ‘Electric Light Orchestra with Phil Bates’.

Last night Bates, who now lives in Berlin and celebrates his 61st birthday next Sunday, was unrepentant and, in a statement on his website, pledged to carry on playing the ELO hallmark hits.

“I have been thinking about my situation, my position, my status – whatever you want to call it – in relation to Jeff Lynne and ELO,” he said. “I play the music of Jeff Lynne and ELO for very clear reasons.

“Of course, I need to earn a living, and this has proven to be the best way for me to do this. I am like pretty much everyone else in the world – I have a mortgage, I have bills, I have had kids to feed, clothe, support and educate.

“Everyone knows how expensive and challenging that can be, especially when you are prey to the vagaries of the music business. I have never, as some people might feel, ‘made a fortune’ out of my association with any of my ELO-related projects.

“The other key reason I do this because I love the music. I have the utmost respect and admiration for what Jeff Lynne has achieved, and I have been made very aware that there are thousands of fans of ELO music, and they want to hear it played ‘live’.

“If this were not the case, we wouldn’t play to large and very appreciative audiences all over Europe. And I have to say that these fans have probably not been served as well as they could have been over the years.

“In absolutely no way do I ever attempt to advertise or market my projects as ‘Electric Light Orchestra’.

“If this sometimes happens, it is always as a result of a local promoter ignoring the instructions of myself and my representatives.

“Sometimes we only discover this when we arrive in the city we are playing in. Anyone who cared to inspect our posters, handouts, flyers and press releases would see that this is true.”

Jeff Lynne's Broad Street Star event

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Bates, who resembles bearded rock star Lynne, says he would welcome an ELO comeback, but will carry on playing the band’s songs himself.

“Of course, everyone would be happy if Jeff Lynne decided to come out of his retirement from ‘live’ concerts and play this fantastic music to his fans all over the world, but while that is not happening, I see no reason why I, with my current projects, or the Orchestra, should not continue to play this music,” he said.

“As long I am physically able to stand up on a stage and do justice to this music, and as long as there are people who want to come and hear me do it, I will carry on doing it alongside my own music.”