Jack Ely, Louie Louie singer, dies at 71

Jack Ely singer of the one hit wonder song ‘Louie Louie’ died on Tuesday at the age 71.

Jack Ely the singer and lead vocalist of the 1963 band ‘Kingsmen’ famous for having sung the song ‘Louie Louie’ passed away on Tuesday. Ely was at his home in Redmond, Oregon at the time of his death. The singer apparently battled a long term unknown illness but finally succumbed to it at the age of 71. 

Jack Ely became famous as the lead vocalist of the band ‘Kingsmen’ for having sung the song ‘Louie Louie’ with famously unintelligible lyrics in 1963. The song ‘Louie Louie’ was written by Richard Berry originally and covered by many artists since then but none was as famous.

The band Kingsmen’s version sung by Jack Ely gained the most popularity in 1963 and has come to be known as a one hit wonder since then as Ely abruptly quit the band only a few months after the song came out. 

What made the song ever more famous in the music industry is its apparent investigation by the FBI at the time. The FBI investigated the song for apparently obscene lyrics as they could not determine what the singer was singing in the song, but found out the lyrics were simply ‘unintelligible at any speed’.

According to BBC, Ely reportedly credited the use of a sub-par microphone for difficulty in understanding the lyrics of the song. 

According to Ely’s son Sean the singer dies due to unknown medical issues as his religious beliefs prevented diagnosis. Sean also shared Ely’s one hit wonder career didn’t bother him and he wanted to try different things in life and music but was ultimately pretty happy about having sung ‘Louie Louie’. Currently Ely worked as a horse trainer before his demise.