Doug Ingle, Iron Butterfly founder, dead at 78
On Friday, May 24th, Iron Butterfly lead singer and icon of the psychedelic age, Doug Ingle, passed away at the age of 78. In addition to being a founding member of the group, Ingle was the last surviving bandmate of Iron Butterfly’s most popular line-up.
The news of Ingle’s death was broken on social media. In a post to Facebook, Doug Ingle Jr – the singer’s son – wrote, “It’s with a heavy heart & great sadness to announce the passing of my Father Doug Ingle. Dad passed away peacefully this evening in the presence of family,” adding, “Thank You Dad for being a father, teacher and friend. Cherished loving memories I will carry the rest of my days moving forward in this journey of life. Love you Dad”.
At the time of writing, no cause of death has been revealed, but it is thought that the singer passed away peacefully among family. His death means that guitarist Danny Weis is the only surviving member of Iron Butterfly’s original lineup from their formation in 1966.
The San Diego band was among the most iconic groups of the late 1960s counterculture age and psychedelic rock movement. Their defining track ‘In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida’, originally released in 1968, became a beloved psychedelic anthem, yet it was also incredibly influential on the development of hard rock and metal.
While many other psychedelic rock outfits were concerned with pop-adjacent tracks, Iron Butterfly favoured long, complex and uncompromising original compositions. Although it is not often credited as such, the band’s material was pretty experimental for the time period that it was created in. A lot of this was due to Ingle’s talents as a songwriter, which was continuously re-affirmed over the course of his musical career.
Iron Butterfly disbanded in 1971, with Ingle devoting himself to the management of a park in the Los Angeles National Forest. He would reunite with his former bandmates sporadically over the next few decades, most recently in 1999.
Although the lead singer, organist and rock legend Doug Ingle has passed, the music he helped to create remains as captivating and beloved as ever. ‘In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida’, originally written under the influence of a gallon of wine, is still hailed as one of the greatest psychedelic and hard rock anthems of all time, and rightfully so.
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