Bobby Fuller

Robert Gaston "Bobby" Fuller (* 22. October 1942 in Baytown , Texas ; † 18th July 1966 in Los Angeles , California ) was an American rock singer, songwriter and guitarist , among other things, with brother Randy The Bobby Fuller Four founded who had their greatest successes between 1964 and 1966 with Let Her Dance (June 1965), I Fought the Law (December 1965) and Love's Made a Fool of You (1966).

biography

Fuller was born in Texas in 1942 to Lawson and Loraine Fuller. He had a half-brother, Jack Leflar, twelve years older than his mother by his first marriage, and a brother Randy three years older. Shortly after he was born, the family moved to Salt Lake City , and when he was 14, he moved with his family to El Paso , Texas. As children, Fuller and his brother Randy began to experiment with their parents' instruments and recorded their first musical attempts under the name of Captain Fuller and the Rocket Squad with the help of a simple tape recorder. After the family moved to Texas, his brother Randy attended military academy while Fuller graduated from school. After graduating from high school in 1960, he began studying music at the University of North Texas , which he broke off a little later against the will of his parents in order to devote himself exclusively to his career as a musician. On February 22, 1961, his half-brother Jack, who had meanwhile become a petty criminal, was found murdered, which spurred Fuller on to pursue his career as a musician in order to make something meaningful out of his life.

Fuller earned a good reputation as a drummer in El Paso in the early 1960s and had also taught himself to play guitar in the meantime . He worked on his songwriting skills with the help of Mary Stone, a friend of his mother's, who wrote the lyrics for his first own songs. Two of them, You're In Love and Guess We'll Fall In Love , were recorded by Fuller with the help of his brother and Yucca, a New Mexico record label , released it as a single in late 1961 . The single sold around 3,000 times, the subsequent single Gently My Love / My Heart Jumped already sold around 8,000 times. This earned him local star status. During this time he was accompanied by the musicians who later emerged The Bobby Fuller Four . His brother Randy was there, and Fuller performed under names like Bobby Fuller and The Cavemen or Bobby Fuller and The Fanatics . He also ran his own club in El Paso under the name Rendezvous and his own record label under the name Eastwood and Exeter Records . In 1964 he moved with the band, which was now called The Bobby Fuller Four , to Los Angeles , where he lived in an apartment in Hollywood with his brother Randy and his mother . Fuller made his acting debut in the feature film Bikini Party in a Haunted House .

death

On July 18, 1966, Fuller died under circumstances that have not yet been clarified beyond doubt. His mother found him lifeless that afternoon in her car that Fuller had borrowed. The coroner arrived at autopsy to the conclusion that Fuller must be choking on exhaust fumes, as he indeed was blood, but did not notice any injuries such as broken bones, bruises and tests for alcohol and other drugs should have been negative. Rumors that the Bobby Fuller Four had decided to break up the night before raised suspicions that it might have been suicide. Other rumors said that Fuller was murdered in order to receive payment for the life insurance policies that the band members mutually agreed to. Others are certain that Fuller was killed by members of the drug milieu. Shortly before his death, in an interview with Record Beat magazine, he indirectly admitted that he consumed LSD , and he is said to have been in contact with the drug mafia . In another theory, an unfamiliar woman named Melody or Melanie, girlfriend of a rival club owner, plays a role that Fuller may have had a love affair with. The club owner reportedly hired thugs to beat Fuller out of jealousy and died as a result of the beating.

Although private detectives were hired to investigate, the exact circumstances of the death have not yet been clarified. Various authors also attribute this to negligence in the investigation by the police. No fingerprints were taken, and Fuller was probably "just a rock'n'roll punk" for the police officers.

Discography (excerpt)

as Bobby Fuller

Guess We'll Fall in Love / You're in Love (Yucca, 1961) ^Note.
My Heart Jumped / Gently, My Love (Yucca, 1962)
Nervous Breakdown / Not Fade Away (Eastwood, 1962)
Saturday Night / Stringer (Todd, 1963)
Wine, Wine, Wine / King of the Beach (Exeter, 1964)
I Fought the Law / She's My Girl (Exeter, 1964)

with The Bobby Fuller Four

see The Bobby Fuller Four # discography

Note:

^Note as Bobby Fuller w / guitarist Jim Reese and The Embers

literature

Nick Talevski: Knocking on Heaven's Door: Rock Obituaries . Omnibus Press, 2006, ISBN 0-85712-117-0 , p. 187 f .
Michael Joseph Corcoran: All over the map: true heroes of Texas music . University of Texas Press, Austin 2005, ISBN 0-292-70955-2 , pp. 145-148 .

Web links

Bobby Fuller in the Internet Movie Database (English)
Aaron J. Poehler: The Strange Case of Bobby Fuller. aaronpoehler.com, accessed January 30, 2012 .
Terry E. Gordon: Fuller, Bobby (Discography). accessed on January 31, 2012

Individual evidence

^ Aaron J. Poehler: The Strange Case of Bobby Fuller. (No longer available online.) Aaronpoehler.com, archived from the original on February 26, 2014 ; accessed on January 30, 2012 (English). Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2
↑ ^a ^b Nick Talevski: Knocking on Heaven's Door: Rock Obituaries . Omnibus Press, 2006, ISBN 978-1-84609-091-2 , pp. 187 f .
^ ^A ^b Michael Joseph Corcoran: All over the map: true heroes of Texas music . University of Texas Press, Austin 2005, ISBN 978-0-292-70976-8 , pp. 145-148 .
↑ ^a ^b ^c Dean Kuipers: Who Killed Bobby Fuller? In: Spin . April 1991, p. 42 .
^ Scott Stanton: The Tombstone Tourist: Musicians . Simon & Schuster, 2003, ISBN 978-0-7434-6330-0 , pp. 84, 85 .
^ ^A ^b Michael Joseph Corcoran: All over the map: true heroes of Texas music . University of Texas Press, Austin 2005, ISBN 978-0-292-70976-8 , pp. 146 .

personal data
SURNAME	Fuller, Bobby
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Fuller, Robert Gaston
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	American rock singer, songwriter, and guitar player
DATE OF BIRTH	October 22, 1942
PLACE OF BIRTH	Baytown , Texas
DATE OF DEATH	July 18, 1966
Place of death	Los Angeles , California

[1] Aaron J. Poehler: The Strange Case of Bobby Fuller. (No longer available online.) Aaronpoehler.com, archived from the original on February 26, 2014 ; accessed on January 30, 2012 (English). Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2

[talevski-2] Nick Talevski: Knocking on Heaven's Door: Rock Obituaries . Omnibus Press, 2006, ISBN 978-1-84609-091-2 , pp. 187 f .

[Corcoran-3] A ^b Michael Joseph Corcoran: All over the map: true heroes of Texas music . University of Texas Press, Austin 2005, ISBN 978-0-292-70976-8 , pp. 145-148 .

[spin-4] Dean Kuipers: Who Killed Bobby Fuller? In: Spin . April 1991, p. 42 .

[5] Scott Stanton: The Tombstone Tourist: Musicians . Simon & Schuster, 2003, ISBN 978-0-7434-6330-0 , pp. 84, 85 .

[Corcoran146-6] A ^b Michael Joseph Corcoran: All over the map: true heroes of Texas music . University of Texas Press, Austin 2005, ISBN 978-0-292-70976-8 , pp. 146 .