The Kingsmen’s Jack Ely, Singer Behind "Louie Louie", Has Died

Jack Ely was the lead singer of the Kingsmen in the 1960s. He’s best known for providing the unintelligible and iconic vocal on the band’s 1963 hit “Louie Louie”. He died at home in Redmond, Oregon following a battle with illness, the Associated Press reports. He was 71.

The FBI famously launched an investigation to determine whether or not Ely was singing obscene lyrics. They ruled that the song was “unintelligible at any speed”. 

Ely left the band shortly after the song was recorded, and later, started a band called Jack Ely & the Courtmen. He trained horses in Oregon.