Iron Butterfly’s Founding Singer Doug Ingle Passed Away At 78

Doug Ingle, Iron Buitterfly’s lead and founding singer, organist, and main composer passed away at 78. This was confirmed by his son, Doug Ingle, Jr. via social media.

“It’s with a heavy heart & great sadness to announce the passing of my Father Doug Ingle. Dad passed away peacefully [Friday] evening [May 24] in the presence of family. 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.”

Born in Nebraska, Ingle moved to San Diego at an early age. His dad, Lloyd, a church organist introduced music to him at an early age. Back in 1966, Ingle helped start the psychedelic rock band Iron Butterfly in San Diego before relocating to Los Angeles the year after. Heavy, their debut was released in January 1968. Just after six months, the band achieved huge success launch of their second album.

Their 1968 multi-platinum album In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida, released in June 1968, stayed at 81 weeks in the U.S. Top 10. The album’s title track written by Ingle was originally a 17-minute psychedelic rock epic which was trimmed to a three-minute radio version that hit the Top 40 charts. The song remains one of the most influential tunes of the era and has been covered decades later including Slayer to The Simpsons.

Iron Butterfly became a mainstay on the stage performing with popular 60’s artists including the Doors, Cream, the Who, Buffalo Springfield, and Janis Joplin. The band was also set to perform at the 1969 Woodstock festival, however, they got stranded at LaGuardia Airport in New York and didn’t make it.

Iron Butterfly released two more studio albums with Ingle: Ball released in 1969 and Metamorphosis later in 1970. Both albums, unfortunately, didn’t match the commercial success that In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida had.

Ingle Faces Substantial After Iron Butterfly Disbanded

After disbanding in 1971, Ingle got into huge debt because of mismanagement and tax arrears. As he relayed to the Los Angeles Times:

“I was a child among men. I was dealing with people who were competent but not necessarily [working] in my interest. I took the luxury of playing ostrich. I didn’t involve myself at the business level at all. I just went out and performed. It was, ‘Isn’t life great?’ Then everything crashed down. I still maintain life is great, but now I base it on something [real] rather than wishful thinking.”

The singer was forced to sell his home and most of his belongings to settle his debts, and afterward spent several years managing a recreational vehicle park in the Los Angeles National Forest.

Ingle rejoined Iron Butterfly in 1978 and continued touring with the band throughout the ‘80s and ‘90s, then officially retired from performing in 1999.