Nokie Edwards, whose surfer-suave guitar with The Ventures helped create the genre of instrumental rock and influenced generations of younger artists, has died, the band said Tuesday. He was 82. The Ventures' bassist turned lead guitarist died Monday after several months of battling an infection related to a hip surgery, the band said in a statement.
Emerging in the Seattle area in the early 1960s, several years before the Beatles would transform pop music, The Ventures are considered the best-selling instrumental rock band of all time, with the group estimating sales of more than 100 million records.
They are best known for the theme to the television show "Hawaii Five-O," the song's jangly edge and rapid pace seeming to match the program's plots of police drama amid the waves. The Ventures remained especially well-loved in Japan, a feat that Edwards attributed to the lack of a language barrier, with the Tokyo-inspired song "Ginza Lights" remaining in regular rotation in the country.
Born in Oklahoma with Cherokee roots before heading west, Edwards, whose given first name was Nole, had his start playing back-up on country songs before he met fellow guitarists Don Wilson and Bob Bogle who were forming The Ventures.