LouieFest
Encyclopedia
LouieFest is an American music festival featuring the prominent contributions to rock and roll by bands and performers, both emerging and established, from the Northwest region. Organized in 2003http://archives.seattletimes.nwsource.com/cgi-bin/texis.cgi/web/vortex/display?slug=louie25m&date=20030825 by John 'Buck' Ormsby and Kent Morrill, founding members of The Wailers
, LouieFest is an annual fundraising event for the Wailers Performing Arts Foundation which provides scholarships, instruments, music lessons and mentoring for youth music education.
LouieFest is the namesake of "Louie Louie
", the most recorded rock song in history as documented by music historian Peter C. Blecha. According to Blecha’s records and research, “Louie Louie” celebrated its 50 year mark in April, 2007 with 1,600 known recordings.http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/artsentertainment/2003643548_louie01.html
The legacy of this rock and roll song phenomenon is traced directly to The Wailers
of Tacoma, Washington. Rockin’ Robin Roberts (1940-1967), the untamed vocalist of The Wailers, collaborated with founding member and lead guitarist, Richard Dangel (1942-2002) to write an arrangement of the Richard Berry
Jamaican sea shanty from the B-side of a 45-single he found in a record store for ten cents. ‘Rockin’ Roberts interjected one single phrase that is said to have changed rock music forever: “Let’s give it to ‘em right now.” This immortal idiom helped launch “Louie Louie” to the top of rock and roll fame, and subsequently inspired countless garage bands the world over.
The Wailers released “Louie Louie” in 1961http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/artsentertainment/2003643548_louie01.html on their own label, Etiquette Records, history’s first artist-owned label by a garage band. They achieved a huge regional hit with the single. The Kingsmen
, and Paul Revere and the Raiders, are credited with later recordings of “Louie Louie” resulting in chart-topping, national exposure. Etiquette Records also pioneered the career of another notable Northwest garage band, The Sonics
, who expanded the white rhythm and blues sound.
LouieFest celebrates the legacy of the much bemused three-chord sensation by closing every festival with the audience participating as an ensemble, playing “Louie Louie” in unison, rock and roll’s eternally youthful anthem of the Baby Boomer
generation.
The Wailers (rock band)
The Wailers, often credited as The Fabulous Wailers, were an American rock band from Tacoma, Washington. They became popular around the United States Pacific Northwest around the late 1950s and the start of the 1960s, performing saxophone-driven R&B and Chuck Berry rock and roll...
, LouieFest is an annual fundraising event for the Wailers Performing Arts Foundation which provides scholarships, instruments, music lessons and mentoring for youth music education.
LouieFest is the namesake of "Louie Louie
Louie Louie
"Louie Louie" is an American rock 'n' roll song written by Richard Berry in 1955. It has become a standard in pop and rock, with hundreds of versions recorded by different artists...
", the most recorded rock song in history as documented by music historian Peter C. Blecha. According to Blecha’s records and research, “Louie Louie” celebrated its 50 year mark in April, 2007 with 1,600 known recordings.http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/artsentertainment/2003643548_louie01.html
The legacy of this rock and roll song phenomenon is traced directly to The Wailers
The Wailers (rock band)
The Wailers, often credited as The Fabulous Wailers, were an American rock band from Tacoma, Washington. They became popular around the United States Pacific Northwest around the late 1950s and the start of the 1960s, performing saxophone-driven R&B and Chuck Berry rock and roll...
of Tacoma, Washington. Rockin’ Robin Roberts (1940-1967), the untamed vocalist of The Wailers, collaborated with founding member and lead guitarist, Richard Dangel (1942-2002) to write an arrangement of the Richard Berry
Richard Berry
Richard Berry was an African American singer, songwriter and musician, who performed with many Los Angeles doo-wop and close harmony groups in the 1950s, including The Flairs and The Robins....
Jamaican sea shanty from the B-side of a 45-single he found in a record store for ten cents. ‘Rockin’ Roberts interjected one single phrase that is said to have changed rock music forever: “Let’s give it to ‘em right now.” This immortal idiom helped launch “Louie Louie” to the top of rock and roll fame, and subsequently inspired countless garage bands the world over.
The Wailers released “Louie Louie” in 1961http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/artsentertainment/2003643548_louie01.html on their own label, Etiquette Records, history’s first artist-owned label by a garage band. They achieved a huge regional hit with the single. The Kingsmen
The Kingsmen
The Kingsmen is a 1960s garage rock band from Portland, Oregon, United States. They are best known for their 1963 recording of Richard Berry's "Louie Louie", which held the #2 spot on the Billboard charts for six weeks...
, and Paul Revere and the Raiders, are credited with later recordings of “Louie Louie” resulting in chart-topping, national exposure. Etiquette Records also pioneered the career of another notable Northwest garage band, The Sonics
The Sonics
The Sonics are an American garage rock band from Tacoma, Washington, originating from the early and mid-1960s. Among The Sonics' contemporaries were The Kingsmen, The Wailers, The Dynamics, The Regents, and Paul Revere & the Raiders...
, who expanded the white rhythm and blues sound.
LouieFest celebrates the legacy of the much bemused three-chord sensation by closing every festival with the audience participating as an ensemble, playing “Louie Louie” in unison, rock and roll’s eternally youthful anthem of the Baby Boomer
Baby boomer
A baby boomer is a person who was born during the demographic Post-World War II baby boom and who grew up during the period between 1946 and 1964. The term "baby boomer" is sometimes used in a cultural context. Therefore, it is impossible to achieve broad consensus of a precise definition, even...
generation.