Jack Ely, the singer of the Kingsmen’s iconic garage rock hit “Louie Louie,” has died. He was 71 years old.
Ely’s death was confirmed by his son, Sean Ely, in an interview with the Associated Press. According to Rolling Stone, Ely suffered from an unspecified illness. Due to his religious beliefs, the family did not know what the illness was.
Ely was a co-founder of the Kingsmen, who came together in 1959 to record Richard Berry’s 1957 song “Louie Louie.” However, it wasn’t released until 1963 and still changed the rock music landscape.
Berry’s song was actually about a sailor reuniting with his lover in Jamaica. Thanks to the poor recording techniques, Ely’s nearly incomprehensible vocals and the group’s raucous backing, few listeners actually understood the lyrics. The FBI even investigated the “unintelligible” lyrics, writing a 450-page report on a song that cost just $52 to record.
“Right out of his mouth, my father would say, 'We were initially just going to record the song as an instrumental, and at the last minute I decided I'd sing it,” Sean told the AP.
While The Kingsmen released other singles, they never had another big hit like “Louie Louie.” Still, the song lives on, as countless bands have recorded covers. The Beach Boys, Jan and Dean, Iggy Pop, Frank Zappa and even Nirvana all recorded versions of the song.
Ely spent his time after “Louie Louie” training horses in Oregon.
“He wanted to try on different occasions to pursue other endeavors in the music industry, but I think when it was all done and said he was pretty happy that he did 'Louie Louie,’” Sean said.