THE KINGSMEN
The Kingsmen formed in Portland, Oregon in 1959. As young teenagers, they played high school parties, teen dances, supermarket openings, and fashion shows. Like many fledgling bands of the day, they copied what they heard on the radio: Elvis, The Ventures, Country music,
R&B, and the burgeoning Northwest Sound.
They became one of the most popular bands in the Portland area. The band's first LP resulted from a live recording in 1963 at The Chase, a teen nightclub in Milwaukee, Oregon (production costs were less than $800). Wand included the studio version of "Louie" to which they added taped crowd noise to simulate a live performance (a practice Wand continued for several subsequent studio LPs). "Money," their second Wand single was taken from the live LP. Many more releases followed. At one point, the Kingsmen had two singles and three LPs on the charts at the same time. They became the #1 touring band in the United States.
Rock 'n' roll frightened adults in the early '60s, and "Louie Louie"
became especially suspect because The Kingsmen's recording was mumbly
(some say because singer Jack Ely didn't know all the words and
other because of his position at the mic during the recording),
and virtually indecipherable to parents' non-rock ears. Rumors of obscene
lyrics and crumpled notes passed between teenagers professing to
contain the 'real lyrics' fueled a public controversy around the
Richard Berry penned song. This all served, of couse, to
make the song more popular than ever!
In 1965, during a series of one-nighters, The Kingsmen set 56 consecutive attendance records in colleges, ballrooms, arenas, state fairs, and community dances. Many promoters used the Kingsmen as a promotional gimmick to "repel" the British Invasion (a joke to the band, as they loved that music). They appeared in concert and on television with the Rolling Stones, Zombies, Kinks, Searchers, Peter and Gordon, Chad and Jeremy, Dusty Springfield, and others; and North American acts such as the Beach Boys, Righteous Brothers, Four Seasons, Isley Brothers, Guess Who, Turtles, Shangri-Las,
Byrds, Lovin' Spoonful and all their Scepter/Wand label mates. They were featured on the top TV music shows including Shindig, Hullabaloo, American Bandstand, Lloyd Thaxton, Action; and in the beach party movie, "How to Stuff a Wild Bikini." With two breaks (during the psychedelic and disco eras), and several personnel changes along the way, they have performed ever since at concerts, corporate events, beach parties, and "Louie Louie" parades throughout North America.
Three of the Kingsmen, Mike Mitchell, Dick Peterson, and Barry Curtis, have been together since 1963.
The band who brought us one of the greatest party songs of all
time rocks on!
