Doug Ingle

Douglas Lloyd Ingle (September 9, 1945 – May 24, 2024) was an American musician, best known as the founder, organist, primary composer and lead vocalist for the band Iron Butterfly. He wrote the band's hit song "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida", which was first released in 1968, and was the last surviving member of the band’s 1967–1969 lineup.

Ingle was born in Omaha, Nebraska, on September 9, 1945. His father Lloyd, a church organist, introduced him to music at an early age. The Ingles moved within three months of his birth to the Rocky Mountains and later the family moved to San Diego.

Ingle founded Iron Butterfly in San Diego in 1966, remaining with the group when they relocated to Los Angeles later that year, and became part of the group's classic lineup, featuring Ingle, drummer Ron Bushy, guitarist Erik Brann and bassist Lee Dorman. His work is featured on the Iron Butterfly albums Heavy (1968), In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida (1968), Ball (1969) and Metamorphosis (1970). He also authored the band's biggest hit, also called "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida". Though it was not recorded until their second album, it was written during Iron Butterfly's early days.

According to drummer Ron Bushy, organist-vocalist Doug Ingle wrote the song one evening while drinking a gallon of Red Mountain wine. When the inebriated Ingle then played the song for Bushy, who wrote down the lyrics for him, he was slurring his words so badly that what was supposed to be "in the Garden of Eden" was interpreted by Bushy as "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida". He co-authored their remaining three hits ("Soul Experience", "In the Time of Our Lives", and "Easy Rider") with other members of the group. The song went to number thirty on the Billboard Hot 100, and charted highest in the Netherlands, where it went to number seven.

Their music has found a significant impact on the international rock scenes, influencing numerous acts such as Black Sabbath, AC/DC, Rush, Alice Cooper, Mountain, Uriah Heep, Soundgarden, Stone Temple Pilots, Slayer, King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard, and Queens of the Stone Age.

Biography summary from English Wikipedia, photograph via Wikimedia Commons.