Jerry Fuller (November 19, 1938 – July 18, 2024) was an American songwriter, singer, and record producer, best known for writing over 1,100 songs, many of which became major hits, including two number ones.
Jerrell Lee Fuller was born in Fort Worth, Texas on November 19, 1938, to a musical family. Both of his parents were singers. His father, Clarence Fuller, had sung for fiddler and bandleader Bob Wills back in the days when the Light Crust Doughboys band was baking. Mother Lola Fuller did more of the direct music teaching in the family, setting Jerry Fuller and Bob Fuller in motion as the singing Fuller Brothers. The former quickly decided to go on his own, including penning his own numbers. Other family members eventually showed up on Jerry Fuller's production schedule, including Jimmy Fuller and his band Angus and background singer Claudine Fuller.
Jerry Fuller was 21 when he showed up in Los Angeles, having already cut ten sides of his own for a small Texas label, Lin owned by Joe Leonard. Jerry was unable to build a following outside Texas so he moved to Los Angeles, hoping to find a place in the thriving South California music scene. Soon he was signed by Challenge Records, for which he would record a total of 23 singles (1959-1966).
His rockabilly version of "Tennessee Waltz" made No. 63 on the Billboard Hot 100, and earned him an invitation to appear on American Bandstand. In 1961, he wrote "Travelin' Man" which was originally intended for Sam Cooke. Ricky Nelson recorded it instead and the record sold six million copies worldwide. Fuller wrote 11 of Nelson's recordings, including the US Top 10 hits "A Wonder Like You", "Young World", and "It's Up to You".
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| Jerry & The Champs |
Fuller toured as a featured singer with The Champs, whose other members included Glen Campbell, Jimmy Seals, and Dash Crofts, before a period in the U.S. Army where he spent two years stationed in New York at Seneca Army Depot, still writing songs and entertaining the troops there. On his return in 1963, Challenge / Four Star moved him to New York City to run its east coast operation. There he discovered a garage band, The Knickerbockers, and produced their 1965 hit "Lies”. In 1965, Fuller married Annette Smerigan, and they had two children; the couple had first been introduced by Glen Campbell.
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In 1967, he moved to Columbia Records as a producer. His first discovery was Gary Puckett and The Union Gap, whom he found in a San Diego bowling alley lounge. He wrote and produced the group's hits "Young Girl" "Lady Willpower" and "Over You". He also produced Mark Lindsay, The Peanut Butter Conspiracy, and O.C. Smith, for whom he produced the hits "The Son of Hickory Holler's Tramp" and "Little Green Apples". At Columbia, Jerry also produced Johnny Mathis, Andy Williams, Billy Joe Royal and others. He left Columbia in 1970 to start his own company, Moonchild Productions, Inc. and his own publishing firm, Fullness Music, writing and producing the hit "Show and Tell" for Al Wilson in 1973.
Returning to his Texas roots, Fuller began to write songs for the country market and continued to thrive both as a songwriter and a producer, most notably with “Love Me” by Collin Raye. Fuller did return to recording as a singer at a few points after his burst of songwriting and producing success, including an album for MCA in 1979, “It’s My Turn Now.” Beginning in the late ’90s, he started recording some of the greatest hits he’d enjoyed as a writer or producer, in his own interpretations, culminating in four volumes of “From the Vault” released in 2016-18.
Fuller's accomplishments speak for themselves, including 28 gold/platinum records, over 40 Top Ten hits, more than 250 national chart records, and a host of awards and accolades, including 12 BMI achievement awards and 5 BMI "Million-Air Awards."
Fuller died from lung cancer at his home in Sherman Oaks, Los Angeles, on July 18, 2024, at the age of 85.
(Edited from Wikipedia, This Is My Story, Variety & Rocky 52)
