Jack Ely, lead singer of band The Kingsmen, which was best known for 1960s hit "Louie Louie", has died aged 71.
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.
But because Ely had howled the lyrics into an awkwardly dangling microphone, coupled with his bandmates' raucous, three-chord racket, his vocals sounded muffled and led to confusion as to what words he actually sang.
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.
