Robert Gaston Fuller (October 22, 1942 – July 18, 1966)Bashe, P. R., & George-Warren, H., ''The Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock & Roll'' (Third ed.). New York, Fireside, 2005, p. 360 was an American

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wale ...

singer, songwriter, and guitarist best known for " Let Her Dance" and his cover of

the Crickets The Crickets were an American rock and roll band from Lubbock, Texas, formed by singer-songwriter Buddy Holly in January 1957. Their first hit record, "That'll Be the Day", released in May 1957, peaked at number three on the ''Billboard'' Top ...

' "

I Fought the Law "I Fought the Law" is a song written by Sonny Curtis of the Crickets and popularized by a cover by the Bobby Fuller Four, becoming a top-ten hit for the band in 1966. Their version of the song was ranked No. 175 on the ''Rolling Stone'' li ...

," recorded with his group

the Bobby Fuller Four The Bobby Fuller Four (sometimes stylized as Bobby Fuller 4) was a popular mid-1960s American rock & roll band started by Bobby Fuller. First formed in 1962 in Fuller's hometown of El Paso, Texas, the group went on to produce some of its most ...

Early life

Fuller was born in

Baytown, Texas Baytown is a city in the U.S. state of Texas, within Harris County, Texas, Harris and Chambers County, Texas, Chambers counties. Located in the Greater Houston, Houston–The Woodlands–Sugar Land metropolitan statistical area, it lies on the nor ...

, to Lawson Sheppard Fuller and Eva Lorraine Barrett Fuller, the middle of three boys, having a maternal older half-brother, Jack, and a younger brother,

Randy Randy is a given name, popular in the United States and Canada. It is primarily a masculine name. It was originally derived from the names Randall, Randolph, and Miranda, and may be a short form (hypocorism) of them. '' Randi'' is approximat ...

. Fuller moved as a small child to

Salt Lake City, Utah Salt Lake City, often shortened to Salt Lake or SLC, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities and towns in Utah, most populous city of the U.S. state of Utah. It is the county seat of Salt Lake County, Utah, Salt ...

, where he remained until 1956, when he and his family moved to

El Paso, Texas El Paso (; ; or ) is a city in and the county seat of El Paso County, Texas, United States. The 2020 United States census, 2020 population of the city from the United States Census Bureau, U.S. Census Bureau was 678,815, making it the List of ...

. His father got a job at El Paso Natural Gas at that time. It was the same year that

Elvis Presley Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977) was an American singer and actor. Referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Elvis Presley, one of the most significant cultural figures of the ...

became popular, and Bobby Fuller became mesmerized by the new

rock and roll Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock-n-roll, and rock 'n' roll) is a Genre (music), genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It Origins of rock and roll, originated from African ...

star. Fuller soon adopted the style of fellow Texan

Buddy Holly Charles Hardin Holley (September 7, 1936 – February 3, 1959), known as Buddy Holly, was an American singer, songwriter, and musician who was a central and pioneering figure of rock and roll. He was born to a musical family in Lubbock, Texa ...

, fronting a four-man combo and often using original material.

Career

During the early 1960s, he played in clubs and bars in El Paso, and recorded on

independent record label An independent record label (or indie label) is a record label that operates without the funding or distribution of major record labels; they are a type of small and medium-sized enterprise, small- to medium-sized enterprise, or SME. The labels ...

s in

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

with a changing line-up. The only constant band members were Fuller and his younger brother,

, on bass. These independent releases (except two songs recorded at the studio of

Norman Petty Norman Petty (May 25, 1927 – August 15, 1984) was an American musician, record producer, publisher, and radio station owner. He is considered to be one of the founding fathers of early rock & roll. With Vi Ann Petty—his wife and vocalist—he ...

Clovis Clovis may refer to: People * Clovis (given name), the early medieval (Frankish) form of the name Louis ** Clovis I (c. 466 – 511), the first king of the Franks to unite all the Frankish tribes under one ruler ** Clovis II (c. 634 – c. 657), ...

), and an excursion to Yucca Records, also in

New Mexico New Mexico is a state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States. It is one of the Mountain States of the southern Rocky Mountains, sharing the Four Corners region with Utah, Colorado, and Arizona. It also ...

, were recorded in the Fullers' own home studio, with Fuller acting as the producer. He even built a primitive

echo chamber Echo chamber of the Dresden University of Technology Hamilton Mausoleum has a long-lasting unplanned echo An echo chamber is a hollow enclosure used to produce reverberation, usually for recording purposes. A traditional echo chamber is cove ...

in the back yard. The quality of the recordings, using a couple of microphones and a mixing board purchased from a local radio station, was so impressive that he offered the use of his "studio" to local acts for free so he could hone his production skills. Fuller moved to

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

in 1964 with his band

and was signed to Mustang Records by producer

Bob Keane Robert Verrill Kuhn (January 5, 1922 – November 28, 2009), professionally known as Bob Keane, and also sometimes known as Bob Keene, was an American musician, producer and the founder and owner of the record label Del-Fi Records. He was the ...

, who was noted for discovering

Ritchie Valens Richard Steven Valenzuela (May 13, 1941 – February 3, 1959), better known by his stage name Ritchie Valens, was an American guitarist, singer and songwriter. A rock and roll pioneer and a forefather of the Chicano rock movement, Valens died i ...

and producing many

surf music Surf music (also known as surf rock, surf pop, or surf guitar) is a genre of rock music associated with surf culture, particularly as found in Southern California. It was especially popular from 1958 to 1964 in two major forms. The first is inst ...

groups. By this time, the group consisted of Fuller and his brother Randy on vocals/guitar and bass respectively, Jim Reese on guitar and DeWayne Quirico on drums. This lineup recorded "I Fought The Law". (There are actually two versions of "I Fought The Law" by Fuller, the original hit that was released as a 45-rpm single and the re-recording that was issued on an album. The arrangements are identical, but the vocals by Fuller are slightly different.) At a time when the

British Invasion The British Invasion was a cultural phenomenon of the mid-1960s, when Rock music, rock and pop music acts from the United Kingdom and other aspects of Culture of the United Kingdom, British culture became popular in the United States with sign ...

and

folk rock Folk rock is a fusion genre of rock music with heavy influences from pop, English and American folk music. It arose in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom in the mid-1960s. In the U.S., folk rock emerged from the folk music re ...

were the dominant genres in rock, Fuller stuck to Buddy Holly's style of classic

with Tex Mex flourishes. His recordings, both covers and originals, also reveal the influences of

Eddie Cochran Ray Edward Cochran ( ; October 3, 1938 – April 17, 1960) was an American rock and roll musician. His songs, such as " Twenty Flight Rock", " Summertime Blues", " C'mon Everybody" and " Somethin' Else", captured teenage frustration and desire in ...

the Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band formed in Liverpool in 1960. The core lineup of the band comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are widely regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatle ...

Little Richard Richard Wayne Penniman (December 5, 1932 – May 9, 2020), known professionally as Little Richard, was an American singer, pianist, and songwriter. He was an influential figure in popular music and culture for seven decades. Described as the "Ar ...

, and

the Everly Brothers The Everly Brothers were an American rock duo, known for steel-string acoustic guitar playing and close-harmony singing. Consisting of Isaac Donald "Don" Everly and Phillip "Phil" Everly, the duo combined elements of rock and roll, country, ...

, as well as surf guitar. Less well known was Fuller's ability to emulate the

reverb In acoustics, reverberation (commonly shortened to reverb) is a persistence of sound after it is produced. It is often created when a sound is reflected on surfaces, causing multiple reflections that build up and then decay as the sound is a ...

-laden surf guitar of

Dick Dale Richard Anthony Monsour (May 4, 1937 – March 16, 2019), known professionally as Dick Dale, was an American Rock music, rock guitarist. He was a pioneer of surf music, drawing on Middle Eastern music scale (music), scales and experimenting wit ...

and

the Ventures The Ventures are an American instrumental rock band formed in Tacoma, Washington, in 1958, by Don Wilson (musician), Don Wilson and Bob Bogle. The band, which was a quartet for most of its existence, helped to popularize the electric guitar acro ...

. His first

Top 40 In the music industry, the Top 40 is a list of the 40 currently most popular songs in a particular genre. It is the best-selling or most frequently broadcast popular music. Record charts have traditionally consisted of a total of 40 songs. "To ...

hit was the self-penned " Let Her Dance". His second hit, "I Fought the Law", peaked at No. 9 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 on March 12–19, 1966. The song was originally written and recorded by

Sonny Curtis Sonny Curtis (born May 9, 1937) is an American singer and songwriter. Known for his collaborations with Buddy Holly, he was a member of the Crickets and continued with the band after Holly's death. Curtis's best known compositions include " Wa ...

, who became a member of Buddy Holly's former group

after Holly's death. The group's third Top 40 single was a cover of Holly's "Love's Made a Fool of You".

Death

Within months of "I Fought the Law" becoming a top 10 hit, Fuller was found dead in an automobile parked outside his Hollywood apartment. The Los Angeles deputy medical examiner, Jerry Nelson, performed the autopsy. According to Dean Kuipers, "The report states that Bobby's face, chest, and side were covered in ' petechial hemorrhages,' probably caused by gasoline vapors and the summer heat. He found no bruises, no broken bones, no cuts. No evidence of beating." Kuipers further explains that boxes for "accident" and "suicide" were checked, but next to the boxes were question marks. Despite the official cause of death, some commentators believe Fuller was murdered. Fuller was buried at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in the Hollywood Hills of Los Angeles. His death was profiled in a segment of ''

Unsolved Mysteries ''Unsolved Mysteries'' is an American mystery documentary television series, created by John Cosgrove and Terry Dunn Meurer. Documenting cold cases and paranormal phenomena, it began as a series of seven specials, presented by Raymond Burr, Kar ...

''. His death was also explored in the May 11, 2015, episode of the

NPR National Public Radio (NPR) is an American public broadcasting organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It serves as a national Radio syndication, syndicator to a network of more ...

program ''All Things Considered.'' The program references the book ''I Fought the Law: The Life and Strange Death of Bobby Fuller'' by

Miriam Linna Miriam Linna (born October 16, 1955) is a Canadian-American drummer who has run the Brooklyn, Brooklyn, New York-based independent record label Norton Records since 1986, originally with her husband, the late producer and singer-songwriter Bill ...

, with contributions by Randy Fuller. Sometime after the ''Unsolved Mysteries'' segment in question initially aired, the cause of Fuller's death was officially changed from "suicide" to "accident".

In popular culture

New York City

Celtic rock Celtic rock is a genre of folk rock, as well as a form of Celtic fusion which incorporates Celtic music, instrumentation and themes into a rock music context. It has been prolific since the early 1970s and can be seen as a key foundation of the ...

band Black 47 released a song titled "Who Killed Bobby Fuller?" on their second album, ''Home of the Brave'', in 1994, and Atlanta

indie rock Indie rock is a Music subgenre, subgenre of rock music that originated in the United Kingdom, United States and New Zealand in the early to mid-1980s. Although the term was originally used to describe rock music released through independent reco ...

band The Rock*A*Teens released an identically titled song on their 1996 self-titled debut album.

Lou Reed Lewis Allan Reed (March 2, 1942October 27, 2013) was an American musician and songwriter. He was the guitarist, singer, and principal songwriter for the rock band the Velvet Underground and had a solo career that spanned five decades. Althoug ...

referenced both Bobby Fuller by name and "I Fought the Law" on the track "Dirt" from his 1978 album ''

Street Hassle ''Street Hassle'' is the eighth solo studio album by American rock musician Lou Reed, released in February 1978 by Arista Records. Richard Robinson and Reed produced the album. It is the first commercially released pop album to employ binaural r ...

'', as did indie rock band

Metric Metric or metrical may refer to: Measuring * Metric system, an internationally adopted decimal system of measurement * An adjective indicating relation to measurement in general, or a noun describing a specific type of measurement Mathematics ...

on their 2006 single " Monster Hospital". In 2013, producer and artist

Terry Manning Terry Don Manning (December 29, 1947 – March 25, 2025) was an American recording engineer, record producer, musician and photographer. In a career spanning more than 50 years, he worked with Led Zeppelin, Iron Maiden, Bryan Adams, ZZ Top, the ...

released a tribute album to his friend and mentor Bobby Fuller entitled ''West Texas Skyline''. In 2016 the Austin band Holy Wave (whose members are originally from El Paso) released the song "California Took My Bobby Away" about Bobby Fuller, featured on their album ''Freaks of Nurture''. In 2017, Chuck Prophet released an album titled '' Bobby Fuller Died for Your Sins''.

Discography

Studio albums

*'' KRLA King of the Wheels'' (1965) *''

'' (1966)

Live albums

* ''Celebrity Night at PJ's'' (cancelled — originally to be released as Mustang M-902 ono/ MS-902 tereo finally issued in the ''Never to Be Forgotten: The Mustang Years'' box set) ⁵

Original US singles

* "You're in Love"/"Guess We'll Fall in Love" (Yucca 45-140, 1961) ¹ * "You're in Love"/"Guess We'll Fall in Love" (Yucca 45-140 e-recordings 1962) ¹ * "Gently My Love"/"My Heart Jumped" (Yucca 45-144, 1962) ² * "Nervous Breakdown"/"Not Fade Away" (Eastwood NO8W-0344/NO8W-0345, 1962) ² * "Saturday Night"/"Stringer" (Todd 45-1090, 1963) ² * "Wine, Wine, Wine"/"King of the Beach" (Exeter EXT-122, 1964) ² * "She's My Girl"/"I Fought The Law" (Exeter EXT-124, 1964) ² * "Fool of Love"/"Shakedown" (Exeter EXT-126, 1964) ³ * "Those Memories of You"/"Our Favorite Martian" (Donna 1403, 1964) ³ * "Wolfman"/"Thunder Reef" (Mustang 3003, recorded 1964/released January 1965) ⁴ * "Take My Word"/"She's My Girl" (Mustang 3004, 1965) ⁵ * " Let Her Dance"/"Another Sad and Lonely Night" (Mustang 3006, 1965) ⁵ * "Let Her Dance"/"Another Sad and Lonely Night" (Liberty 55812 eissue 1965) ⁵ * "Let Her Dance"/"Another Sad and Lonely Night" (Mustang 3012 e-release 1965) ⁵ * "Never to Be Forgotten"/"You Kiss Me" (Mustang 3011, 1965) ⁵ * "

"/"Little Annie Lou" (Mustang 3014, 1965) ⁵ * " Love's Made a Fool of You"/"Don't Ever Let Me Know" (Mustang 3016, 1966) ⁵ * "The Magic Touch"/"My True Love" (Mustang 3018, 1966) ⁵ * "The Magic Touch"/"I'm a Lucky Guy" (Mustang 3018 lternate issue 1966) ⁵ * "It's Love, Come What May"/"It's Love, Come What May" (Mustang 3020 J promo 1966) ⁵ * "It's Love, Come What May" (with Randy Fuller's over-dubbed vocal)/"Wolfman" (Mustang 3020, 1966) ⁵

Compilations and reissues

* ''The Bobby Fuller Memorial Album'' (LP, President 1003, 1968) ⁵ * ''The Best of the Bobby Fuller Four'' (LP, Rhino RNDF-201, 1981) ⁵ * ''KRLA King of the Wheels'' (LP, Line LP-5146, 1981) ⁵ * ''I Fought the Law'' (LP, Line LP-5133, 1981) ⁵ * ''The Bobby Fuller Memorial Album'' (LP, Strand 6.24885, 1982) ⁵ * ''Let Them Dance (The Rare Sides)'' (LP, OutLine OLLP-5272, 1983) ⁵ * ''Live on Stage'' (LP, OutLine OLLP-5302, 1983) ⁵ * ''I Fought the Law'' (LP, Eva 12032, 1983) ⁵ * ''Live Again'' (LP, Eva 12046, 1984) ⁵ * ''The Bobby Fuller Tapes, Volume One'' (LP, Rhino RNLP-057, 1983) ² * ''The Bobby Fuller Tapes, Volume Two'' (LP, Voxx 200.028, 1984) ² * ''Memories of Buddy Holly'' (LP, Rockhouse 8407, 1984) ² * ''The Bobby Fuller Instrumental Album'' (LP, Rockhouse 8504, 1985) ² * ''The Best of the Bobby Fuller Four'' (CD, Rhino 70174, 1990) ⁵ * ''The Bobby Fuller Four'' (CD, Ace CDCHD-956, 1990) ⁵ * ''Live at PJ's...Plus!'' (CD, Ace CDCHD-314, 1991) ⁵ * ''The Best of the Bobby Fuller Four'' (CD, Ace CDCHD-388, 1992) ⁵ * ''The Bobby Fuller Four'' (CD, Del-Fi DFCD-70174, 1994) ⁵ * '' Shakedown! The Texas Tapes Revisited'' (2-CD box set, Del-Fi DFBX-2902, 1996) ² * ''Never to Be Forgotten: The Mustang Years'' (3-CD box set, Mustang/Del-Fi DFBX-3903, 1997) ⁵ * ''El Paso Rock: Early Recordings, Volume 1'' (CD, Norton 252, 1996) ² * ''El Paso Rock, Volume 2: More Early Recordings'' (CD, Norton 260, 1997) ² * ''The Mustang Years'' (2LP, Munster MR-184, 2000) ⁵ * ''I Fought the Law and Others'' (7-inch EP, Munster 7141, 2000) ⁵ * ''I Fought the Law: The Best of the Bobby Fuller Four'' (CD, Del-Fi/Rhino 71904, 2001) ⁵ * ''I Fought the Law and Other Hits'' (CD, Flashback/Rhino 78170, 2004) ⁵ * ''Rhino Hi-Five: The Bobby Fuller Four'' (CD, Rhino 7????, 2006) ⁵ * ''Rock And Roll King of the Southwest: The Best of the Texas Years 1962-64'' (LP, Norton 325, 2007) ² * ''Bobby Fuller Live!!!'' (LP, Norton 326, 2007) ² * ''El Paso Rock: Early Recordings, Volume 3'' (CD, Norton 318, 2010) ² * ''Magic Touch: The Complete Mustang Singles Collection'' (CD, Now Sounds KWCRNOW-57, 2018) ⁵ ¹ Released as by 'Bobby Fuller / Guitarist Jim Reese and the Embers, Vocal'. Note: issued twice with the same catalog number, but with completely different versions of both tracks.
² Released as by Bobby Fuller
³ Released as by Bobby Fuller and the Fanatics
⁴ Released as by the Shindigs
⁵ Released as by the Bobby Fuller Four

References

External links

* * Bobby Fullerat

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

*
Bobby Fuller entry at Rockabilly Hall of Fame

*
Mysterious Deaths: Bobby Fuller, Rock Icon
Borderlands (EPCC) {{DEFAULTSORT:Fuller, Bobby 1942 births 1966 deaths American rock guitarists American male guitarists Burials at Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Hollywood Hills) Norton Records artists Musicians from El Paso, Texas Deaths from asphyxiation University of North Texas alumni Liberty Records artists People from Baytown, Texas Music of Denton, Texas 20th-century American singers Death conspiracy theories 20th-century American guitarists 20th-century American male singers