Jack Ely, original Kingsmen vocalist, to play North Carolina

Jack Ely, the original vocalist for the Kingsmen, who hasn’t done a show in ages, is performing at a special event in North Carolina next month. Here’s the word, direct from the man himself:

It should be announced through the blog that Wendy and I will be attending this: http://www.cammy.org We will be there all weekend and I will be performing LL with some of the bands there. Right now the actual itinerary hasn’t been set in stone so I don’t know exactly where or when, but I have been invited to sing. I know I will sing LL on Sunday at the after show dance and I may just do impromptu sit-ins with other bands on other nights. So now you know what I know.

It should be noted that Jack hasn’t performed live since 1999, when he was invited to Seaside, Oregon with a reunion of his band The Courtmen. After he left the Kingsmen, the band he founded with Lynn Easton, and Mike Mitchell, he created a new band to capitalize on the success of LOUIE LOUIE. As the song became a massive hit, he never had a chance to tour with the original group that recorded the song, so he created an all-new band known as “Jack Ely & the Kingsmen,” which was later renamed as the Courtmen, after some legal disputes with the other guys.

Anyways, it should be pretty exciting that Jack is doing this special show in North Carolina. If anyone has some frequent flyer miles they can share, send ’em my way…..

Here’s a little preview of Jack Ely, live in action on the hottest TV channel of moment- YouTube. This was from the reunion of the Courtmen at Seaside, Oregon on August 21, 1999. For you history buffs, Seaside was the location where the Kingsmen first heard LOUIE LOUIE on a jukebox at the Pypo Club. It also happens to the place where Lewis and Clark ended their expedition to the West Coast.

Jack is joined by Wally Todd on guitar, Billy Truitt on keyboards, and Gordon Hirsch on drums.