Randall Fuller (January 29, 1944) is 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 Wales ...
singer, songwriter, and bass player best known for his work in the popular 60s rock 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 m ...
with his older brother,
Bobby Fuller
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 and roll, rock singer, songwriter, ...
.
Early life
Early on, Fuller took up trombone in his school band, later switching to guitar. With a reel-to-reel tape player, he and his brother made their own recordings, dubbing their group "Captain Fuller and the Rocket Squad". With his parents concerned with his troubling behavior, Randy was sent to military school. When Fuller went to military school, he left his guitar behind. At this point, his brother Bobby taught himself how to play guitar. By the time Randy returned, Fuller was already a self-taught professional. When Bobby wanted to start his own band in 1962, he immediately recruited Randy to play bass. While Randy wasn't enthused about the instrument, he nonetheless agreed. Randy was present on all of Bobby's El Paso singles, all of became regional hits. Despite an ever-changing lineup, Randy and Bobby were the two consistent members, though Mike Ciccarelli filled in for Randy on one occasion while he was sick. Randy also helped build the homemade recording studio in the Fullers' home, in which all the independent releases by Fuller were recorded.
Career
By 1963, Randy and the band went to Hollywood to play a set of gigs and look for a major record deal. While they didn't find any takers,
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 ...
of
Del-Fi Records
Del-Fi Records was an American record label based in Hollywood, California and owned by Bob Keane. The label's first single released was "Caravan" by Henri Rose released in 1958, but the label was most famous for signing Ritchie Valens. Valens' fi ...
showed interest. Meanwhile, the band returned to El Paso and put out more singles, the most popular being "
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'' lis ...
". Randy, inspired by the film ''
Rebel Without a Cause
''Rebel Without a Cause'' is a 1955 American coming-of-age drama film about emotionally confused suburban, middle-class teenagers. Filmed in the then recently introduced CinemaScope format and directed by Nicholas Ray, it offered both social com ...
'', convinced Bobby to record the song from ''
In Style with the Crickets
''In Style With the Crickets'' is a rock and roll album by the Crickets. Although it was the band's first release following the departure and subsequent death of their front man, Buddy Holly, it still contains many of the band's most memorable son ...
''. Later that year, Randy pushed Bobby into returning to Hollywood, where they were then signed to Del-Fi by Keane.
After initially struggling to put out a hit, the band, now dubbed The Bobby Fuller Four, found success with "
Let Her Dance
"Let Her Dance" is a song by The Bobby Fuller Four. It was the group's fourth single under Del-Fi Records, and the first to achieve national attention.
"Let Her Dance" is a modified version of an earlier Bobby Fuller song, "Keep on Dancing". The ...
". The song was noted for its bottle-tapping rhythm and catchy bass line, both the result of Randy's input. The success of "Let Her Dance" was later eclipsed by the group's re-recording of "I Fought the Law". With the professional mixing by Keane and Randy's driving bass, the song became a national hit at No. 9 on the national charts. While the band's chemistry began to erode following their breakout success, Bobby's sudden death on July 18, 1966, caused the Bobby Fuller Four to immediately disband.
While initially stricken, Randy was convinced to continue his musical career by former bandmate
DeWayne Quirico
Robert DeWayne Quirico (better known as simply DeWayne Quirico; born June 19, 1942) is a professional drummer, best known for his work with The Bobby Fuller Four. One of his most notable works is his unique percussion work on the band's biggest hi ...
. Fuller released a string of singles as The Randy Fuller Four, but was never able to duplicate the success of his previous band. In 1969, Fuller joined
New Buffalo Springfield, penning many memorable arrangements. Since then, Randy has had many musical endeavors, many of which involve reuniting with former members of the Bobby Fuller Four.
Recently, Randy has revived the Randy Fuller Four with DeWayne Quirico, and performed classic songs of the Bobby Fuller Four to great acclaim.
In 2015, Fuller collaborated with
Miriam Linna
Miriam Linna (born October 16, 1955 in Sudbury, Ontario) is a Canadian-American drummer who has run the Brooklyn-based independent record label Norton Records since 1986, originally with her husband, the late producer and singer-songwriter B ...
to put out ''I Fought the Law: The Life and Strange Death of Bobby Fuller'' - the first authorized biography of Bobby Fuller and the Bobby Fuller Four.
References
General references
*''Shakedown! The Texas Tapes Revisited'' (CD liner). Del-Fi Records. 1996.
Notes
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fuller, Randy
1944 births
Living people
People from Hobbs, New Mexico
American male singer-songwriters
American rock singers
American male pop singers
American pop guitarists
American trombonists
Male trombonists
20th-century American singers
21st-century American singers
20th-century American bass guitarists
21st-century American bass guitarists
21st-century trombonists
20th-century trombonists
Songwriters from New Mexico
Guitarists from New Mexico
American male bass guitarists
20th-century American male singers
21st-century American male singers
American singer-songwriters