by Patrick H. Moore
There have been many tragic yet fascinating rock and roll murders and in this post we present five of the most interesting. First comes the immortal Wall of Sound producer Phil Spector who shot and killed model and actress Lana Clarkson. Then we have two famous pop and soul stars, Marvin Gaye and the late great Sam Cooke. For those of you too young to remember Sam Cooke, he is the immortal King of Soul who sang such classic hits as “Cupid (Draw back Your Bow),” “Chain Gang,” “and “Twistin’ the Night Away”. After these two giants comes the great rock drummer, Jim Gordon, of Derek and the Dominoes, who — in an advanced state of schizophrenic delirium — killed his mother because he believed she kept telling him not to eat. We round out our group with Bobby Fuller of “I Fought the Law” fame who either committed suicide or was murdered in mysterious circumstances in 1964.
So without further ado (drum roll please):
#1: Phil Spector
Phil Spector was a troubled genius. His invention of the Wall of Sound approach to recording, a simple yet elegant technique in which overdubbing was eschewed in favor of simply recording an entire orchestra all playing at once, provided the musical backdrop to many great artists including the Righteous Brothers, Ike and Tina Tuner and John Lennon (who of course was also murdered). Spector’s brilliance was so revolutionary that Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys, no mean musician in his own right, considered Spector his main rival.
On February 3, 2003, Phil Spector shot and killed Lana Clarkson, a model and actress that he had met sometime after midnight at the House of Blues on the famous Sunset Boulevard. Spector and Clarkson left the club in Spector’s limousine and drove to his mansion in Alhambra in the San Gabriel valley east of downtown Los Angeles. (For those of you who familiar with the great crime writer, James Ellroy, Spector’s house was only a few miles from where Ellroy’s mother was murdered in mysterious circumstances many years earlier.) 
Spector and Clarkson went inside the mansion while his driver waited outside in the car. An hour later, a gunshot sounded and Spector exited his house through the back door carrying a gun. According to affidavits, he was quoted as saying, “I think I just shot her.” In his defense, Spector stated that Clarkson’s death was an “accidental suicide” and that she “kissed the gun”.
Spector went on trial for the murder of Clarkson four years later in 2007. The case was initially declared a mistrial with the jury hung 10 to 2 in favor of conviction. He was tried again, this time for second-degree- murder, in October of 2008. Six months later, on April 13, 2009, the jury found Spector guilty of the second- degree-murder of Lana Clarkson. He was sentenced to 19-years-to-life in state prison.
Spector’s fall from grace was a huge loss to rock and rock. His personal problems aside, he was a true genius who created magnificent sounds that will live on long after he has breathed his final breath.
#2: Marvin Gaye
Marvin Gaye was undoubtedly one of the greatest rhythm & blues singer of his era. He helped to shape and create the Motown sound in the 1960s. His early hit records included “How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You)” and “I Heard It Through the Grapevine” as well as duet recordings with Mary Wells and Tammi Terrell. During the 1970s, Gaye recorded the concept albums What’s Going On and Let’s Get It On and was among the first Motown artists to declare his independence Barry Gordy and his rigid — albeit effective — approach to recording hit records.
The late 1970s was a fallow period for Gaye and little was heard from him. In the early 1980s, however, he launched a comeback and toured behind his album Midnight Love, which featured the hit song “Sexual Healing”. For still unexplained reasons, during his triumphant comeback tour, Gaye began to suffer from depression and paranoia and believed his life was in danger.
Oddly when the tour ended, Gaye moved in with his parents. Things did not go well, however, and when he wasn’t threatening suicide, he was constantly arguing with his father, Marvin Gaye Sr. On April 1, 1984 – one day before Gaye Jr.’s 45th birthday – he attempted to break up an argument between his parents, and his father shot and killed him with a gun Gaye Jr. had given Gaye Sr. four months earlier. At the time of the shooting, it was reported that it was over an insurance dispute between father and son but the question as to what motivated Gaye Sr. to kill his massively talented son has never really been answered.
#3: Sam Cooke
With his good looks, smooth honeyed voice and undeniable talent for writing simple catchy songs, Sam Cooke seemed to have it all. Not only that, he was an astute businessman. He had one fatal flaw, however, which was to cost him his life one fateful night in December of 1964. Cooke was one of those souls whose blessing was also his curse. He had an eye for the ladies and attracted them like flies to honey. His philandering was legendary at a time when even Presidents had carte blanche to pursue and seduce with impunity.
On the night of December 10, 1964, Sam met a beautiful inter-racial woman of perhaps questionable character named Elisa Boyer at a Los Angeles night club. They spent the night tooling between watering holes in Sam’s cherry-red Ferrari as Sam grew increasingly intoxicated. Then Sam drove Boyer to the Hacienda Motel at 9137 South Figueroa Street in Los Angeles, California, which was apparently his out-of-the-way trysting spot.
According to Elisa Boyer, Cooke drove her to the motel against her will. She claimed she had repeatedly asked him to take her home but he had ignored her pleas. Once they had checked into one of the motel’s rooms, Boyer claimed that Cooke physically forced her onto the bed. She was certain he was going to rape her. Seizing an opportune moment when Cooke had stepped into the bathroom, she grabbed her clothes and ran from the room, scooped up, she claimed, most of Cooke’s clothing by mistake. She said that she ran first to the manager’s office and knocked on the door seeking help. The manager didn’t come to the door, so fearing Cooke would soon be hot on her heels, she fled the motel altogether before the manager ever opened the door. Boyer stated that she then got dressed in her own clothes, hid Cooke’s clothing, and went to the telephone booth from which she called police.
The police found Cooke’s body, clad only in a sports jacket and shoes. He had no shirt, pants or underwear and a gunshot wound to the chest. It was later determined that the bullet had pierced his heart. The motel’s manager, Bertha Franklin, reported that she had shot Cooke in self-defense after he broke into her office residence and attacked her in a rage, demanding to know the whereabouts of a woman who had accompanied him to the hotel.
According to Franklin, she grappled with Cooke, the two of them fell to the floor, she got away, retrieved her gun, and fired at Cooke in self-defense, because she feared for her life. The bullet struck Cooke in the chest. According to Franklin, he exclaimed, “Lady, you shot me”, and charged her. Franklin said that she beat him over his head with a broomstick before he finally fell, mortally wounded by the gunshot.
A coroner’s inquest, that was convened to investigate the incident, was inconclusive. Boyer was arrested for prostitution not long after Cooke’s death. There is naturally speculation that she had robbed him which would explain why he was in such a rage when he charged into the motel manager’s office.
In the inquest, police officials testified that both Boyer and Franklin had passed lie detector tests. This was enough to convince the coroner’s jury to accept Franklin’s explanation, and return a verdict of justifiable homicide. With that verdict, the case was officially closed.
#4: Jim Gordon, Rock Drummer Extraordinaire
Jim Gordon was one of the great rock ‘n roll drummers. In his prime, he played with a list of rock notables that sounds like a “Who’s Who in Rock ‘n Roll.” Jim, who was born in 1945, has been serving time in the California Sate Prison system since 1984 for killing his mother with a hammer. Jim played with the Everly Brothers, the Bryds, Delaney & Bonnie, Derek and the Dominoes (Jim played on the group’s acclaimed 1970 double album Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs and composed and played the elegiac piano coda for the title track, Layla), Joe Cocker, Traffic and Frank Zappa. Jim was also an in-demand session player and worked with literally dozens of acclaimed musicians during classic rock’s great era.
Sadly, toward the end of the 1970s, when he was in his late 30s, Jim began hearing voices in his head, primarily that of his mother, telling him to starve himself. This reportedly filled him with violent rage, particularly if he disobeyed her and ate. Strangely, his physicians failed to diagnose his mental illness and instead treated him for alcohol abuse. Perhaps they thought the voices were the result of his abusing alcohol, a side effect of delirium tremens.
In any event, Jim went untreated and his condition worsened. On June 3, 1983, he brutally murdered his mother with a hammer and a butcher’s knife. Finally, at his trial the following year, he was properly diagnosed with acute paranoid schizophrenia. Unable to use the insanity defense, which California had recently narrowed (Remember the “Twinkie Defense”), Gordon was convicted of second-degree murder and sentenced to sixteen years to life in prison with the possibility of parole.
Over the years, he has been repeatedly denied parole at his hearings.
#5: Bobby (“I Fought the Law”) Fuller
Bobby Fuller of the Bobby Fuller Four could rock like crazy. A throwback to the early Elvis and Buddy Holly, he had one huge smash hot, a scorching rocker called “I Fought the Law”. Make no mistake about it, this is one helluva song and, even today, is well worth a listen. No less a notable than Lou Reed himself recorded it.
Within months of “I Fought The Law” becoming a top 10 hit in 1964, Fuller was found dead in an automobile parked outside his Hollywood apartment. An autopsy performed by Los Angeles deputy medical examiner, Jerry Nelson reported that Bobby’s face, chest, and side were covered in “petechial hemorrhages” probably caused by gasoline vapors and the summer heat. The examiner found no bruises, no broken bones, and no cuts. There was no evidence that Fuller had been beaten. Oddly, the boxes for “accident” and “suicide” were marked on the form, but there were question marks next to the boxes.
Despite the official cause of death, there were those who believe Fuller was murdered. Unfortunately, the theories surrounding the alleged murder are wild and sensationalistic. For example, Fuller’s bandmate, Jim Reese, suspected that Charles Manson may have had something to do with Fuller’s death but never provided any credible evidence. There has also been speculation that the LAPD may have been involved because of Bobby’s connection to a Mafia-related woman.
The sad truth is that this case will never be solved. In fact, based on the fact that the official cause of death is suicide, it’s barely a case at all.