(b. 22 October 1943, Baytown, TX, d.18 July 1966, LA, CA)

An inventive and compulsive musician, Bobby Fuller made his recording debut in 1961. The Bobby Fuller Four’s early releases were regional hits, then in January 1966 the band reached the US Top 10 with an ebullient reading of the Crickets’ I Fought The Law. This pop classic, later covered by the Clash, was followed up by a Top 30 hit, Love’s Made A Fool OF You.  The singer’s stature seemed assured, but on 18 July 1966 any hope for a bright future was cut short when Fuller’s badly beaten body was discovered in a parked car in Los Angeles. His death was attributed to asphyxia through the forced inhalation of gasoline, but further investigations as to the perpetrators of this deed remain unresolved.

At the time of his death, Fuller had been keeping company with a young woman named “Melody,” whose ex-boyfriend was a jealous club owner reported to be tied to the local crime syndicate. After Fuller’s death, she disappeared and has only recently surfaced to deny complicity in Bobby’s death. Other mysterious circumstances took place in the days just after the discovery of Fuller’s body. Dalton Powell had been confronted by “three real mean-looking dudes” who had come to the apartment he shared with Reese looking for the guitarist, telling Powell they would return, but Powell and Reese left town after Fuller’s funeral and never returned to California. Randy Fuller and the band’s road manager were nearly run off the road one evening by a car that had been following them. A private investigator, hired by Fuller’s parents and Bob Keane, quit the case after a few days when he was shot at by a would-be assassin. The questions have remained unanswered. ~Bryan Thomas, Director of Publicity :DEL-FI RECORDS