His son Sean Ely said the musician died at home in Redmond, Oregon, after a long battle with an illness, reported BBC News.
"Because of his religious beliefs, we're not even sure what (the illness) was," he said.
Ely co-founded the Kingsmen in 1959, with the group recording its cover of Richard Berry's 1957 tune "Louie Louie" and releasing it in 1963.
"Louie Louie" told the story of a sailor on his way back to Jamaica to reunite with his love.
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Ely's incoherent singing led the FBI to investigate the famous track on the grounds that it might be obscene.
The law enforcement agents concluded, in a lengthy investigative report, that the song was "unintelligible at any speed".
Ely had a falling out with the band shortly after the song was recorded and he then began playing with his new band, the Courtmen, - who recorded their own "Louie Louie '66" - and later a group called Jack E. Lee and the Squires, who released a single titled "Love That Louie.