{"id":12783,"date":"2022-01-27T13:55:44","date_gmt":"2022-01-27T20:55:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.louielouie.net\/blog\/?p=12783"},"modified":"2023-06-19T15:29:34","modified_gmt":"2023-06-19T22:29:34","slug":"rip-don-wilson-of-the-ventures","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.louielouie.net\/blog\/?p=12783","title":{"rendered":"RIP: Don Wilson of the Ventures"},"content":{"rendered":"

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On Saturday, January 22, Don Wilson<\/strong>, a founding member of the Ventures<\/strong>, died at the age of 88 at his home in Tacoma, Washington. The Ventures were formed in 1958 in Tacoma by Don Wilson and Bob Bogle<\/strong>. Within a few years, Nokie Edwards<\/strong> would be recruited to join the band, followed by Mel Taylor<\/strong> in 1962. which would become the primary configuration for many years.<\/p>\n

Their first album, \u201cWalk, Don\u2019t Run\u201d in 1960, became a big hit record that launched a very successful career that included unprecedented popularity in Japan and Hong Kong.<\/p>\n

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With over 100 million records sold, the Ventures are the best-selling instrumental band of all time. The Ventures had 14 singles in the Billboard Hot 100. They were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2008. <\/p>\n

While they were not the first rock band from Tacoma, they were the first rock band from Tacoma to sell millions of records. Of course, as a rock band from that town in the early 1960s, playing LOUIE LOUIE seemed like a perfectly natural thing to do. <\/p>\n

The Ventures released their version of the song on their album “The Ventures a Go-Go” in 1965.<\/p>\n