Mike Mitchell, a founding member of the influential 1960s rock band Kingsmen, and guitarist on their hit single “Louie Louie,” has died. Drummer Dick Peterson confirmed the news Rolling Stone, claiming that Mitchell died on Friday (April 16th) at the age of 77. No cause of death has been revealed, but Peterson said r that Mitchell “died in peace.”
Kingsmen began in Portland, Oregon, in 1959. In 1960, Mitchell and bassist Bob Nordby joined then-drummer Lynn Easton and vocalist Jack Ely (who died in 2015). In 1963, the group recorded their famous version of Richard Berry’s 1957 song “Louie Louie”. The song rose to the Billboard singles chart, spending six non-consecutive weeks at number two on the Hot 100.
Kingsmen’s version of “Louie Louie” supported rock garage styles by gaining traction at the time – it was much more distorted and harsh than Berry’s melodic original. Mitchell’s only guitar icon and Ely’s inarticulate songs fascinated listeners and even the FBI, which launched a famous investigation to determine whether or not Ely’s lyrics were full of obscenities. In the end, they decided that the song was “incomprehensible at any speed.” The controversy didn’t hurt, Ely once said Rolling Stone that sales of the single increased when, in 1964, it was banned in the state of Indiana.
Although Ely and Nordby left the group in 1963, Mitchell was the last founding member to remain in Kingsmen. He played guitar with a rotating band for 62 years, cutting six albums between 1963 and 1966 and playing countless live concerts. In addition to “Louie Louie,” Mitchell starred in Kingsmen’s recordings, “Money (That’s What I Want),” “Little Latin Lupe Lu,” and more.
In a statement to Rolling Stone, Dick Peterson said he was “deeply saddened” by Mike’s death, adding: “He was the best and most generous man on the planet.”