Sources used:
youtube.
http://rateyourmusic.com/release/comp/various_artists_f2/the_louie_louie_collect…
https://www.amazon.com/Louie-Collection-Various-Artists/dp/B000001C08
I have seen several references to an earlier (1961) release on Topaz Records, but have located further information about it.
See,
http://www.louielouie.net/blog/?p=5567
Little Bill’s recording of the song was released in 1961, four years after Richard Berry’s initial release on Flip Records in Los Angeles. Bill’s version came out around the same as another version was released by Rockin’ Robin Roberts with the Fabulous Wailers, another local band from Tacoma, Washington. As fate would have it, Rockin’ Robin was actually an early member of Little Bill & the Blue Notes, as was bassist Buck Ormsby, who joined the Wailers and formed the record label that released Rockin’ Robin’s version… all of which happened a few years before the Kingsmen or Paul Revere & the Raiders released their versions…..
http://www.anacortesh2o.com/events/little-bill-bluenotes/
This performance is sometimes attributed to "Little Bill and the Bluenotes, but this seems in error.
http://nw-music-archives.blogspot.com/2014/12/little-bill-and-bluenotes-tacomas-…
Little Bill and the Bluenotes carried on with new members, but by 1960 even Engelhart moved on, recording one single (“Sweet Cucumber”) with the backing of the Frantics, and also joining a popular and very talented Auburn-based band, the Adventurers. It was while with this group that in about March of 1961 he recorded a version of “Louie Louie.”
See, generally,
https://www.discogs.com/artist/1480003-Little-Bill
https://www.discogs.com/Various-Love-That-Louie-The-Louie-Louie-Files/release/36…
