New York (CNN) — Elwood Edwards, a graphic designer and behind-the-scenes cameraman at local Cleveland television station WKYC, whose voice became famous around the world after recording the AOL e-mail greeting, “You’ve Got Mail,” died, according to his former employer. He was 74 years old.

WKYC said he died following an undisclosed “long illness.”

Any former AOL user may recognize his voice. More than 30 years ago, Edwards recorded four iconic lines for what was then a little-known company called America Online.

His wife, Karen, worked at Quantum Computer Services, which eventually became AOL, Edwards said in a 2012 AOL YouTube video. In 1989, she heard former America Online CEO Steve Case discussing adding a voice to the next AOL software.

She proposed to her husband and Edwards recorded the phrases on a cassette deck in her living room. These four phrases – “Welcome,” “You have mail,” “Files Completed” and “Goodbye” – would eventually be heard by hundreds of millions of people and become an essential part of the AOL experience. AOL and CNN shared common ownership for about 15 years, but are no longer related.

“I didn’t know it would turn into what it did, I don’t think anyone knew,” Edwards said in a 2019 interview on the “Silent Giants with Corey Cambridge” podcast. “Suddenly AOL took off…I remember standing in line at CompUSA and seeing (stacks of AOL CDs) and thinking, ‘My voice is on every single one of them, and no one has any idea.'”

For years, Edwards worked at television station WKYC in Cleveland, Ohio, where the station said he was a jack of all trades, from cameraman to graphic designer.

Frank Macek, senior broadcast director at WKYC, was friends with Edwards for 15 of the 30 years he worked at the station. He said Edwards was generous with his broadcasting knowledge, willing to guide his colleagues through the new systems.

“Every time someone came to visit him at WKYC, he would introduce themselves and they would recognize him,” Macek said. “There was such an association between his voice and AOL for so long that he became an instant celebrity.”

Edwards even appeared on “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” where he also said lines that were different from the audience’s suggestions.

Edwards was born in New Bern, North Carolina, and graduated from high school in the Tar Heel State, he said in an interview on the “Silent Giants with Corey Cambridge” podcast.

He started working in radio in high school, then moved up to become a television booth host and host a radio show.

“I didn’t enjoy being on camera as much as I did behind the scenes,” Edwards said on the podcast.