In the early 60s in El Paso, Texas, Bobby Fuller was a local hero, a renaissance man – or kid. He had his own club, Bobby Fuller’s Teen Rendezvous, led his own band, The Fanatics, ran a label, Exeter Records, and booked tours for his band and other artists. Fuller was an impresario in the making.
By 1965, burning ambition lured him to Los Angeles, where he got drawn into the Mob-tied music business. The Fanatics fell in with Bob Keane, a smooth operator with links to guys named ‘Handsome Johnny’ and ‘The Chin’, signing with his label Del-Fi Records and rechristening themselves The Bobby Fuller Four. But chasing the brass ring meant compromise, in the form of payola, favours, tie-ins and endless back-scratching.
