Jerry Fuller, Songwriter-Producer Whose Hits Spanned Decades & Genres, Dies at 85

Entertainment

From power-pop to ballads; from pop/soul to country, Fuller’s songs defied easy categorization.

Jerry Fuller, at a recording session in Los Angeles, California. Image dated Jan. 22, 1970.

CBS via Getty Images

Jerry Fuller, who wrote and/or produced hits that spanned decades and genres, died of lung cancer on Thursday (July 18) at his home in Sherman Oaks, Calif. He was 85.

Fuller wrote two songs that reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100: Ricky Nelson’s “Travelin’ Man” in 1961 and Al Wilson’s “Show and Tell” in 1974. He also produced the latter song, which in addition to topping the Hot 100 reached No. 10 on what was then known as Billboard‘s Best Selling Soul Singles.

He also wrote Nelson’s “A Wonder Like You,” his follow-up to “Travelin’ Man,” which reached No. 11 on the Hot 100, as well as two subsequent Nelson singles that went top 10: “Young World” (No. 5) and “It’s Up to You” (No. 6).

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Fuller had another solid run of hits in 1968 with Gary Puckett & the Union Gap. He wrote the group’s punchy pop hits “Young Girl” and “Lady Willpower,” which spent a combined five weeks at No. 2 on the Hot 100, and the mellower, adult contemporary-oriented “Over You,” which reached No. 7. All three of those singles went gold.

“What can I say about a guy whose vision defined my musical identity and destiny,” Puckett said in a statement in the wake of Fuller’s death. “What can ANYONE say about a man who gave SO much to SO many through his talents and efforts in the world of music. Thank you, Jerry! The world was a better place with you in it.”

Fuller was born in Fort Worth, Texas on Nov. 19, 1938, and moved to Los Angeles in early 1959. In 1960, while touring with The Champs (best known for their 1958 smash “Tequila”), Fuller got to know Glen Campbell, who remained a lifelong friend.

Early in his career, Fuller worked as a demo singer, which led to a recording and songwriting contract with Gene Autry’s Four Star Music and Challenge Records.

Fuller had four Hot 100 hits as an artist from 1959-61, the highest-charting of which (a rockabilly cover version of the standard “Tennessee Waltz”) reached No. 61. But he had far more success working with other artists. He originally wrote “Travelin’ Man” for Sam Cooke — it has the pop flavor of such Cooke hits of the period as “Only Sixteen,” “Wonderful World” and Cupid” — but it made its way to Nelson instead.

Fuller was unique among writer/producers in that he also produced songs he didn’t write, including O.C. Smith’s recording of Bobby Russell’s “Little Green Apples,” which reached No. 2 on both the Hot 100 and Billboard‘s Best Selling Rhythm & Blues Singles (as the chart was then known) in 1968.

He also produced but did not write Gary Puckett & the Union Gap’s breakthrough hit “Woman, Woman” (which was written by Jim Glaser and Jimmy Payne); Mark Lindsay’s solo hits “Arizona” and “Silver Bird” (which were written by Kenny Young, the latter in tandem with Artie Butler); and The Knickerbockers’ 1965 hit “Lies” (which was written by Beau Charles and Buddy Randell).

The power-pop hit “Lies,” which has the energy of Beatles hits of the era, also underscores Fuller’s range. From power-pop to ballads; from pop/soul to country, his hits defied easy categorization.

In the early ’90s, Fuller co-produced (with John Hobbs) Collin Raye’s “Love, Me,” which topped Billboard‘s Hot Country Songs for three weeks in early 1992. The song brought Raye, Fuller and Hobbs a nomination for single of the year at the 1991 CMA Awards.

Elsewhere, Fuller also wrote numerous country hits for Ray Price, including “That’s All She Wrote,” “To Make a Long Story Short” and “Feet.”

In the 1970s, Fuller formed his own companies, Moonchild Productions In. and Fullness Music Company.

Fuller was never personally nominated for a Grammy, though some of the records he worked on were. And, somewhat surprisingly, he was not inducted into either the Songwriters Hall of Fame or the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame. But he wrote and/or produced many songs that are fondly remembered.

Fuller is survived by his wife, the former Annette Smerigan, and their two children, Adam Lee and Anna Nicole.

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