b. 22 October 1943, Baytown, Texas, USA, d. 18 July 1966, Los Angeles, California, USA. An inventive and compulsive musician, Bobby Fuller made his recording debut in 1961. ‘You’re In Love’ was the first of several outings for local independent labels, but the artist’s development was more apparent on the many demos completed in his home-based studio. Fuller later moved to Los Angeles where his group, the Bobby Fuller Four - Randy Fuller (bass), Jim Reese (rhythm guitar) and DeWayne Quirico (drums) - became a leading attraction, infusing Buddy Holly -styled rockabilly with the emergent British beat. Their early releases were regional hits; nevertheless, in January 1966 the group reached the US Top 10 with an ebullient reading of the Crickets’ ‘I Fought The Law’. This pop classic, later memorably covered by UK punk rockers Clash, was followed up by a Top 30 hit, ‘Love’s Made A Fool Of You’. The singer’s stature now seemed assured, but on 18 July that same year 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.
