"Louie Louie" is a rhythm and blues song written and composed by American musician Richard Berry in 1955, recorded in 1956, and released in 1957. It is best known for the 1963 hit version by the Kingsmen and has become a standard in pop and rock. The song is based on the tune "El Loco Cha Cha" popularized by bandleader René Touzet and is an example of Afro-Cuban influence on American popular music.
Richard Berry, Jr. was an American singer, songwriter and musician, who performed with many Los Angeles doo-wop and close harmony groups in the 1950s, including The Flairs and The Robins.
The Kingsmen are a 1960s rock band from Portland, Oregon, United States. They are best known for their 1963 recording of R&B singer Richard Berry's "Louie Louie", which held the No. 2 spot on the Billboard charts for six weeks and has become an enduring classic.
The music of Oregon reflects the diverse array of styles present in the music of the United States, from Native American music to the contemporary genres of rock and roll, country, rhythm and blues, jazz, pop, electronic music, and hip hop. However, throughout most of its history, the state has been relatively isolated from the cultural forces shaping American music. Much of modern popular music traces its roots to the emergence in the late 19th century of African American blues and the growth of gospel music in the 1920s. African American musicians borrowed elements of European and Indigenous musics to create new American forms. As Oregon's population was more homogeneous and more white than the United States as a whole, the state did not play a significant role in this history.
Paul Revere & the Raiders were an American rock band formed in Boise, Idaho, in 1958. They saw considerable U.S. mainstream success in the second half of the 1960s and early 1970s. The band was known for including Revolutionary War-style clothes in their attire.
Mark Lindsay is an American musician, best known as the lead singer of Paul Revere & the Raiders.
Merrilee Rush is an American singer, best known for her recording of the song "Angel of the Morning", a top-10 hit which earned her a Grammy nomination for female vocalist of the year in 1968.
"Louie, Go Home" is a song written by Paul Revere and Mark Lindsay as a sequel after Richard Berry declined their request for a follow-up to "Louie Louie". It was recorded by Paul Revere and the Raiders in 1963 and released in March 1964.
"Have Love, Will Travel" is a 1959 song written and recorded by Richard Berry. While the song may have been recorded before the end of 1959, the correct release date appears to be January, 1960. The title is based on a popular television/radio western serial Have Gun, Will Travel.
Touch was a 1960s American progressive rock band who recorded one album, 1968's eponymous Touch. They consisted of John Bordonaro, Don Gallucci, Bruce Hauser, Jeff Hawks (vocals), and Joey Newman AKA Vern Kjellberg.
Highs in the Mid-Sixties, Volume 7 is a compilation album in the Highs in the Mid-Sixties series, featuring recordings that were released in Washington and Oregon. Highs in the Mid-Sixties, Volume 14 and Highs in the Mid-Sixties, Volume 16 are later volumes in the series that feature bands from these states.
Drake Maxwell Levin was an American musician best known as the guitarist for the pop-rock band Paul Revere & the Raiders.
Phillip Edward Volk is an American musician. As the bassist of Paul Revere & the Raiders from 1965 to 1967, Volk appeared in over 750 television shows, 520 of which were episodes of the Dick Clark production, Where the Action Is, which aired daily from 1965 to 1967. The band themselves had 23 charted hits and 14 gold albums and Volk was a member of the band during the period of its greatest success. Volk's bass lines, as heard in songs such as "Hungry", "Just Like Me" and "Kicks", helped to revolutionize how the bass guitar was used in rock music. Volk was seen frequently in such fan magazines as 16 Magazine, popular during the 1960s.
Jack Brown Ely was an American guitarist and singer, best known for singing the Kingsmen's version of "Louie Louie". Classically trained in piano, he began playing guitar after seeing Elvis Presley on television. In 1959, he co-founded the Kingsmen and with them recorded "Louie Louie" in 1963; Ely's famously incoherent vocals were partly the result of his braces and the rudimentary recording method. Before the record became a hit Ely was forced out of the group and began playing with his new band, the Courtmen. Ely died in Terrebonne, Oregon, on April 28, 2015 at age 71.
The Kingsmen in Person is the first album by the rock band The Kingsmen, released in 1963. The album featured "Louie Louie", the band's biggest success. Jack Ely, the singer of "Louie Louie", appeared on no other track on the album because he left the group before it was recorded.
The Kingsmen on Campus is the fourth album by the rock band The Kingsmen, released in 1965.
The Kingsmen Greatest Hits is the seventh album by the rock band The Kingsmen, released in 1966.
"Farmer John" is a song written by Don "Sugarcane" Harris and Dewey Terry, and first recorded by the two as the American R&B duo Don and Dewey, in 1959. Although the original version of the composition did not receive much attention, it was reinvigorated by the garage rock band the Premiers, whose raving remake of the song was released in 1964. The song's raw and partying atmosphere was immensely popular, reaching number 19 on the Billboard Hot 100. Following the group's national success, several additional interpretations of "Farmer John" were released, making the tune a classic of garage rock.
The Wilde Knights were an American garage rock band from Longview, Washington, who were active in the 1960s. They emerged from a group known as the Furys and later the Pipers VI, who recorded several frat rock records. After becoming the Wilde Knights, they wrote and recorded two songs in 1965 which were both released as singles that year and are now recognized as garage rock classics, "Beaver Patrol" and "Just Like Me", the latter of which later provided a huge hit for Paul Revere & the Raiders. In the late 1960s they evolved into Genesis, the King Biscuit Entertainers, and American Cheese, and issued records under those various names.
"Ooh Poo Pah Doo" is a song written and performed by Jessie Hill. It was arranged and produced by Allen Toussaint. The single reached No. 3 on the Billboard R&B chart and No. 28 on the Hot 100 in 1960.
