Paul Revere, Leader of the Raiders, Dead at 76

Pictured left to right: Jim Valley, Paul Revere, Mark Lindsay, Philip Volk, Michael Smith

Paul Revere, the organist and ringleader behind the 1960s garage rock band Paul Revere & the Raiders, has died, Rolling Stone reports. He was 76.

Revere, born Paul Revere Dick, was an Idaho native pianist who met singer and sax player Mark Lindsay in 1959. In 1961, their band Paul Revere & the Raiders gained an instrumental hit with “Like Long Hair”. Though the band temporarily went on hiatus after Revere was drafted, they soon reformed. In 1963, they became the first rock’n’roll act to be signed to Columbia Records.

Though their gimmick had them dressing up in colonial outfits—a U.S. response to the British Invasion—they made hits, too, including “Good Thing”, “Kicks”, “Hungry”, their version of “Louie, Louie”, and more. In 1965, they became the house band on Dick Clark’s “Where the Action Is” TV show. Lindsay and Revere also co-hosted the TV show “Happening ’68″. In 1971, they got a No. 1 hit with “Indian Reservation”. 

Like the Dave Clark Five before them, Paul Revere was the band’s namesake, but not their frontman. Still, the back cover of their album Spirit of ’67 describes Revere as the group’s leader—the “moneyman, organist, direction-finder, hirer, firer, wheeler, dealer,” and “the man who holds the whip of group leadership.” He’s also called a “very fine clown”, which is echoed in the memorial about Revere on the band’s website.

While the band went through many lineup changes through the years, Revere was always there. He finally took a break from the band in July 2014 when he was forced by doctor’s orders to stay home while the band went on tour.

Read a note remembering Revere on the band’s website.

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