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Robert Gaston Fuller (October 22, 1942 - July 18, 1966), known professionally as Bobby Fuller, was an American Rock'n Roll Singer, songwriter and guitar player best known for his singles "I Fought The Law" and "Love's Made A Fool Of You," recorded with his mid-'60s group The Bobby Fuller Four.
Born in Baytown, Texas, Robert Gaston Fuller spent most of his youth in El Paso, Texas, where he idolized Buddy Holly. He played in clubs and bars and recorded on independent record labels in Texas, with a constantly changing line-up, during the early 1960s. The only constant band members were Fuller himself (on vocals and guitar), and his younger brother, Randy Fuller on bass. Most of these independent releases (except two songs that were recorded at the studio of Norman Petty in Clovis, New Mexico and an excursion to Yucca Records, also in New Mexico) were recorded in Fullers' own home studio, with Fuller acting as the producer. He even built a primitive echo chamber in the backyard. 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 even offered the use of his 'studio' to local acts for free so he could hone his production skills.
Fuller moved to Los Angeles in 1964 with his band The Bobby Fuller Four, and was signed to Mustang Records by producer Bob Keane, who was noted for discovering Ritchie Valens and producing many surf music groups. By this time, the group consisted of Bobby and brother Randy on vocals/guitar and bass respectively, Jim Reese on guitar and DeWayne Quirico (later replaced by Dalton Powell) on drums.
At a time when the British Invasion and folk rock were the dominant genres in rock, Fuller stuck to Buddy Holly's style of classic rock'n roll with Tex Mex flourishes. Less well known was Fuller's ability to emulate the reverb-laden surf guitar sounds of Dick Dale and the Ventures. His first hit was "Let Her Dance," written by Bobby Fuller. His second hit, "I Fought the Law," hit #8 on Billboard. It was written by Sonny Curtis, a former member of Holly's group The Crickets and recorded by the line-up of the Fuller brothers, James Reese on guitar and Dalton Powell on drums. His third Top 40 hit was the Buddy Holly cover song "Love's Made a Fool of You."
Just after "I Fought The Law" became a top ten hit, Bobby Fuller was found dead in his car, which was parked outside his Hollywood apartment. The police considered the death an apparent suicide/accident, however, some people believe Fuller was murdered The investigation was botched from the start. The crime scene was not secured and no fingerprints were obtained. A witness also claimed seeing a police officer throw a can of gasoline found at the scene into the trash. Fuller was found with multiple wounds all over his body and covered in gasoline, leading many to speculate that the perpetrators fled before they could set the car on fire. Police later changed the cause of death to "accidental asphyxiation" citing no evidence of foul play. Despite the official cause of death stated by authorities, rumors and speculation still surround Fuller's mysterious death. Fuller is buried in the Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Los Angeles.
My own humble contribution to all this is a rather straight forward instru version of "I Fought The Law", laid down in my by now rather infamous (hm!) 1997 living room session, cut on a common 6-track cassette recorder (!!) through a Jerry Donahue (check him out!) designed Sessionmaster pre-amp, using a Charvel solid body for the rhythm and lead parts, plus drums! Couldn't be simpler than that and I like to keep it simple...sometime, lol! The video/graphics are created by my very good friend, Erik Adelfred, in Denmark, so all credits go to him for that! Hope you enjoy! Hank C...
Tags: hotrock 109 hank c. burnette legendary rock'n roll rockabilly guitar instru's johnny dorsey rocky sweden roots music up-tempo
