TACOMA, Wash. — Bob Bogle — the co-founder of legendary Tacoma, Wash., garage-rock band the Ventures and the architect behind the distinctive guitar sound of early hits "Walk, Don't Run" and "Wipe Out" — has died.
Bogle, a resident of Vancouver, Wash., was 75 when he died on Sunday. He suffered from non-Hodgkin lymphoma and became too frail to play with The Ventures in his waning years, but lived long enough to see his band inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in March 2008.
Bogle became ill over the weekend and was taken to a hospital, where he died, according to Ventures co-founder Don Wilson, Bogle’s friend and musical collaborator of more than five decades.
“Even though you know it’s gonna happen, when it does it’s like a bomb dropping on you,” said Wilson, who lives in Sammamish.
“Boy, I tell you, he’s the brother I never had,” he said. “And he is much more than any brother could be. He and I were partners for, like, 52 years. And to tell you the honest truth, we had never, ever had an argument in all that time – never.”
Friends, peers and admirers recalled the lack of ego that accompanied Bogle’s virtuosity.
“He was a very creative, talented person,” said Buck Orsmby of the Fabulous Wailers, the Tacoma band that paved the way for the Ventures.
“He looked like he was so relaxed in everything he did,” Ormsby said. “He could accomplish a whole lot just by looking like he was not accomplishing it. And he was a great guy, just one of the nicest guys you’ll ever want to meet.”
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