Classic '60s Rock 'N Roll: I was Supposed to Marry Bobby Fuller

How could fate be so good to me? My Dad was transferred with his job to El Paso in 1962 and we bought a home on Cosmos in the Eastwood neighborhood. My best friends lived on Aberdeen and Greenock. It would be another year before I discovered that in between our houses lived Bobby Fuller and Randy Fuller. All I knew about music before The Bobby Fuller Four was that my sister owned every 45 single that Elvis Presley recorded and my Dad, who was a musician with the MBC Trio and played with Lionel Hampton, was a big Connie Francis fan.

Then, one sunny summer day, while taking my daily walk past the Circle K store on McRae to meet my friends, I heard real live Rock 'N Roll music for the first time. The music I heard from the open garage of a small house was not like anything I had heard before. I slowed down to check it out and saw eye candy that was even better than Elvis Presley and Buddy Holly. Who were these El Paso hotties that were sure to be famous? It was love at first sight and I knew I would marry Bobby Fuller some day although I didn't know who he was.

I raced to my friends' houses to gather them and share my discovery. Luckily, the house across the street from the Fuller house had some bushes that became our daily hiding place where we had a bird's eye view of the live classic Rock 'N Roll Bobby Fuller concerts. We packed lunches and retreated to our Bobby Fuller Four heaven every afternoon hoping to learn the identities of our future husbands. When we heard the band sing I Fought The Law And The Law Won, a song by Sonny Curtis and The Crickets, we knew they had to be famous even though it would be December 1965 before it was recorded by what would become The Bobby Fuller Four band. The Bobby Fuller Four cover of the song is named #175 on Rolling Stones' list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time and reached the Top 10 charts in 1966.

Our excitement grew even more uncontrollable as we witnessed hundreds of people arriving and leaving from the Fuller house. This surely confirmed that our dreams of finding our famous soul mates would come true. We suspected that all the pretty women were sisters and cousins coming to support their Rock and Roll family members. We had only one problem, but it was not an insurmountable problem: they were hot and we were tots. I was seven years old and Bobby Fuller was 20 years old. I would have to wait behind the bushes for another 10 years before I could marry Bobby Fuller.

My heart was crushed and my world seemingly ended in 1964 when we sat across the street and the Bobby Fuller band did not appear. We decided they must be on tour and would return soon. Weeks passed and nobody appeared at the house. Bobby Fuller and his band had moved to Hollywood and our dreams were suddenly empty. When we saw The Bobby Fuller Four on television in 1965 singing I Fought The Law and The Law Won, we only proudly could tell stories of distant memories about our summer of '63 in the bushes of Eastwood in El Paso, Texas.

Fate would intervene again, and in a tragic way I was not to marry Bobby Fuller. Rock 'N Roll lost a legend on July 18, 1966 when Bobby Fuller was found dead at the age 23. In what remains the greatest unsolved mystery in the history of Hollywood, The Mysterious Death of Bobby Fuller provides details of the bizarre circumstances and investigations of Bobby Fuller's death, including Gary James' interviews with Randy Fuller, guitarist Jim Reese, road manager Rick Stone, and friend Charlene Nowak. Additional details about the mysterious death of Bobby Fuller can be found in this press release by Bryan Thomas.

Before his untimely death, Bobby Fuller wrote the brilliant Rock 'N Roll songs, "Let Her Dance", "Another Sad and Lonely Night", "She's My Girl", "Take My Word", "Phantom Dragster", "King of the Wheels", "Fool of Love", "Never to Be Forgotten", "My True Love", "Only When I Dream", "Little Annie Lou", "A New Shade of Blue", "Saturday Night", "You Kiss Me", and "Don't Ever Let Me Know". The Bobby Fuller Four songs have been covered by music legends in all genres including The Clash, Grateful Dead, Stray Cats, Bryan Adams, Marshall Crenshaw, Phil Seymour, Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Tom Petty, and Bruce Springsteen.

During the height of the wildly successful British invasion of Rock 'N Roll in America, Bobby Fuller and The Bobby Fuller Four from El Paso, Texas made their legendary mark on Rock 'N Roll history. Here are some links to video performances of the classic Rock and Roll songs of the 1960s made famous by The Bobby Fuller Four. There are also links for where you can purchase classic 1960s Rock and Roll music from The Bobby Fuller Four and where you can read more about the lives of Bobby Fuller and The Bobby Fuller Four.

The Bobby Fuller Four video performance of I Fought The Law

The Bobby Fuller Four video performance of Never To Be Forgotten

The Bobby Fuller Four video performance of Love's Made A Fool Of You

Bobby Fuller: Rock 'n Roll King of the Southwest by Nick Carroll
May 2008. A video documentary about the life and music of Bobby Fuller. It was created as a senior computer art thesis project at the School of Visual Arts in New York City.

The Bobby Fuller Four history by fan Bill Holdship in August 1997

The Bobby Fuller Four and Bobby Fuller solo MP3 Clips and Photos

The Bobby Fuller Four collection of classic 1960s Rock 'N Roll at Amazon

Over forty years later, in 2007, I decided to email Randy Fuller to see if the Fuller house of our dreams was actually the Fuller house in El Paso. In a most gracious reply, Larry Thompson and Randy Fuller not only said yes it was, but sent me pictures of the house today. Randy Fuller's family still owns the Eastwood house and the city of El Paso named a street after Bobby Fuller. The picture of Larry Thompson and Randy Fuller on Bobby Fuller Drive in El Paso is included with this article.

As I often reflect back on my childhood years in El Paso, I will never forget the most fond childhood memory of all: watching Bobby Fuller and his band perform the classic 1960s Rock 'N Roll hits at their house down the street, and dreaming of marrying Bobby Fuller. My many thanks and best wishes to Randy Fuller and the other friends and family of Bobby Fuller for your musical genius and your legendary role in Rock 'N Roll history. I hope one day you are inducted into the Rock 'N Roll Hall of Fame. You earned your spot and your music will live on forever!

Sources:

http://www.rollingstone.com/news/coverstory/500songs/page/2

http://www.rockabillyhall.com/BobbyFuller.html

http://r.duffy.home.att.net/fuller/

http://www.kellyhogan.com/bands/rock/fuller.html

http://www.classicbands.com/MysteryofBobbyFuller.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CPXnoLAEUSQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0JYWBd3V-xc&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F0w3d7Q4tT0&feature=related

http://www.amazon.com/Bobby-Fuller-Four/dp/B000008FU0

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/814097/best_fathers_day_songs_and_music_videos.html?cat=7