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Died: April 16, 2021. MIKE Mitchell, who has died aged 77, was a guitarist whose solo on The Kingsmen’s version of Richard Berry’s song, Louie Louie, helped define a sound that helped shift rock and roll out of the school hop and into infinitely rawer territory. The song was recorded by the teenage band in a three-track studio, where, according to Mitchell in a 1999 interview with John Broughton on Casey Radio, Melbourne, Australia, the Kingsmen’s one-take wonder of Louie Louie and two more songs took an hour all in, costing a cool $36 to make. The result saw Berry’s three-chord construction ingested with new life as a bratty piece of almost incoherent bubblegum trash that became an inspiration for every garage band in town. Despite the messiness of the recording, it was released as a single in 1963, and eventually spent several weeks at number two in the U.S. charts.
Kingsmen guitarist Mike Mitchell, who made ‘Louie Louie’ a breakout hit, was playing guitar days before he died in Oregon
Updated Apr 20, 2021;
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International ‘Louie Louie’ Day is a thing, celebrated every April 11.
All this because of a sloppy, slurry version of the song produced in 1963 by a Portland group called the Kingsmen. The recording is driven by what The Guardian newspaper has deemed “the song’s ultra-primitive riff, which bludgeoned its way into your brain through endless repetition.”
Mike Mitchell, who died Friday at 77, is one of the men responsible for that riff, which helped propel the recording up the charts in 1963, lifting the 8-year-old, Richard Berry-penned ditty out of obscurity. That riff made Mitchell and the Kingsmen rock ‘n’ roll icons.
Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
(L-R) Dick Peterson, Norm Sundholm, Lynn Easton, Barry Curtis and Mike Mitchell of the rock and roll band The Kingsmen pose for a portrait in circa 1965.
If you love Louie Louie, Mitchell is the reason.
Mike Mitchell, the guitarist who performed one of garage rock s most iconic solos on The Kingsmen s version of early rock classic Louie Louie, has died at 77. Mike Mitchell, our legendary guitarist and co-founder passed away on his birthday, April 16, 2021, wrote the band in a tribute. We are deeply saddened by Mike’s passing. He was the kindest and most generous man on the planet. Mike is irreplaceable and he will be greatly missed not only by us but the fans as well. Mike was a favorite for his kindness, comedic nature as well as his musicianship. He is survived by his children Samantha and Max.