Don Wilson, co-founder of the instrumental rock group The Ventures, whose twinkling, hard sound propelled by his dynamic rhythm guitar led to hits such as “Walk — Don’t Run” and helped influence surf music of the early years as well as generations of guitarists. in the 1960s, he died Saturday at a hospital in Tacoma, Wash. He was 88.
His daughter Staci Layne Wilson confirmed the death.
mr. Wilson and Bob Bogle formed the group that became the Ventures in the late 1950s and had modest success performing in the Seattle area when, with Nokie Edwards on bass and Skip Moore on drums, they recorded “Walk – Don’t Run” . ” in March 1960. It was their version of a song by jazz guitarist Johnny Smith previously recorded by Chet Atkins.
They had already released a 45 rpm record; they formed their own label, Blue Horizon, with the help of Mr. Wilson, to do it. But that first record didn’t spark any interest, and neither did “Walk — Don’t Run” until they played it for Pat O’Day, who had the afternoon show on Seattle radio station KJR. He smelled a hit.
The station always played an instrumental introduction to the newscast at the end of the hour, but without introducing it, Mr. O’Day in an interview for “Sonic Boom! The History of Northwest Rock, from ‘Louie, Louie’ to ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’”, a 2009 book by Peter Blecha. “So we put it on every hour like that filler there,” he said, “and of course you know what happened next.”
What happened was that callers flooded the station and wanted to know what that catchy record was. One of the callers was from Dolton Records, which the fledgling group had previously rejected. Dolton signed the Ventures and soon the record reached number 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. It stayed on that chart for months, becoming one of the most recognizable songs of the time.
The group had a number of other successful singles, most notably the theme version from the television series “Hawaii Five-0”, which reached the Top 10 in 1969. The lineup shook a bit – Mr. Bogle, who died in 2009, switched to bass; Mr. Edwards, who passed away in 2018, was the better player and became lead guitarist; and Mel Taylor, who died in 1996, established himself as a drummer. Mr. Wilson played his rhythm accompaniments for 55 years and handed the job over to Ian Spalding, the son of another current member, Bob Spalding, at a show in Tokyo in 2015.
In 2019, the Grammy Museum hosted an exhibition honoring the group, calling the Ventures “the most influential, best-selling instrumental band in rock and roll history.” The group has recorded more than 250 albums, including a series of instructional records for aspiring guitarists, according to the exhibit.
Mel’s son Leon Taylor is the current drummer for the Ventures and had a close-up look at the impact of Mr. Wilson.
“Don has been a part of my life since I was a little kid,” he said by email. “Don was a unique talent that influenced thousands of guitarists around the world.”
Mr. Blecha also mentioned the group’s influence on potential guitarists, as well as his chutzpah in releasing his first records on his own label when no one else would, which was rare for the time.
“But other than that,” he said by email from Mr. Wilson, “you just have to admire a musician who has built such a lucrative and impactful career mainly playing rhythm guitar. Guys who have achieved that make up a pretty short list. ”
Donald Lee Wilson was born on February 10, 1933 in Tacoma. His father, Woodrow, was a car salesman and his mother, Josie, became a record producer and was key to the band’s early success.
“When I was younger, I wanted to learn to play the trombone,” said Don Wilson in an interview for “The Ventures: Stars on Guitars,” a 2019 documentary directed by his daughter Staci. “I thought the trombone had such a soft sound. It was Tommy Dorsey that I really liked.”
He played trombone in an army band, where a band member taught him some chords on the guitar, in addition to the few that his mother had already shown him. After gathering, he was working in his father’s used car parking lot in Seattle when Mr. Bogle walked in, looking for a car. They started talking and it clicked.
mr. Bogle made sure that Mr. Wilson got a job as a bricklayer. They soon realized that, with all the rain in the Pacific Northwest, they had a lot of free time, as many of their jobs were outdoors. And both had rudimentary guitar skills.
“We bought two guitars in a pawn shop in Tacoma, Washington, and we probably paid $10 or $15 each for them,” said Mr. Wilson in the movie.
The group was first in twos, Mr. Bogle played the lead role and Mr. Wilson played rhythm. That necessarily led them to develop a unique sound, supported by Mr. Wilson.
“In the early days, Don had to play very rhythmically and strongly because they didn’t have a drummer,” said Bob Spalding, who first joined the group in 1981 and became a permanent member after Mr. Bogle, by email. “Later on, when they became a quartet with a drummer, his style never changed, and that unique rhythmic guitar drive became a prominent feature of the band’s music.”
In addition to their success in the United States (where their other hits were ‘Walk — Don’t Run, ’64’, a remake of their own hit that also made the Billboard Top 10), the Ventures became hugely popular in Japan – so In to that extent, Mr. Wilson said, there were countless bands that they came to imitate. That led to an unpleasant surprise when the band made its second trip there in 1965, the first as a headliner.
“We had an opening group,” he told The San Diego Union-Tribune in 1984, “and they played all our songs before moving on.”
At his death, Mr. Wilson was living in Covington, Wash. Besides his daughter Staci, there are three other children, Jill Fairbanks, Tim Wilson and Cyd Wilson; and two grandchildren.
In 2008, John Fogerty inducted the Ventures into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. In his introductory remarks, he marveled that the group had recorded more than 250 albums.
“Good heavens, think about that,” said Mr. Fogerty. “Nowadays some of us would like to sell 250 albums.”