JIM FULLER — GUITAR
a founding member of the Surfaris

Jim grew up in suburban Glendora, CA (east of LA, near the foothills in the San Gabriel Valley). Having picked up the guitar at age 13 in 1960, just in time for the new surf trend, he started a band with some local pals in ’62 to get in on the action. (See the Surfaris’ story on the history page for details about their rise to fame.)

Owing to the band’s huge success, Jim lived the life of a rock ‘n roll star throughout the early ‘60s. In the mid-to-late part of that decade, after the surf trend had subsided and yielded center-stage to folk-rock and garage band music, Jim adapted to the times and played locally with a number of such bands. Most noteworthy was a stint with The Seeds around 1968 (just after they had hit with “You’re Pushing Too Hard”). During these years he also spent some time traveling in Europe, with an extended stay in Denmark (where he lived for six months).

Through the ‘70s, Jim worked a day job and played only occasionally; but the ‘80s were a time of rebirth for him, as a full-fledged revival of interest in the surf sound was by then under way. Accordingly, he hooked back up in ’81 with his original Surfaris bandmates Jim Pash and Bob Berryhill to reform the band and get in on the action once again. Berryhill soon left to pursue his own goals; but Fuller and Pash continued on with a band that eventually evolved into the lineup it has today, traveling nationally and playing (to big crowds at high-profile venues) the very music that he had first made famous in the early ‘60s!

Today, Jim Fuller is often touted as “the Godfather of surf guitar.”

He can be heard occasionally at LA area clubs playing blues-rock, soul and R&B (with a little surf thrown in) with his side band, Jim Fuller & the Beatnik.

Jim is single and lives in Monrovia CA.