Del-Fi had its own studio as part of its offices near Hollywood and Vine, and was
technically ahead of its time from Keane's Valens innovations to "the first transistorized eight-track 300 Ampex deck in the city" in the mid-60s. That's where the Bobby Fuller Four, Keane's last great discovery, recorded.

Fuller was a Buddy Holly fanatic from El Paso who came to Del-Fi in '63 with some good material but no single that Keane could hear. Fuller came back over a year later with "Keep On Dancing," which Keane helped transform into "Let Her Dance" (with Keane himself tapping his way into percussive history on a coke bottle) wherein they married the "La Bamba" beat to Fuller's (Hollyesque) West Texas tenor drawl and somehow made the hybrid work.

Fuller's next hit was one of rock 'n' roll's greatest recordings, "I Fought the Law."
"Law" announces its arrival with a classic drum breakdown, followed by monumental hand claps and the best-recorded rhythm guitar (played by Fuller) of the '60s. Fuller's clean, clear vocals find the perfect balance between defiance and resignation on (Holly guitarist) Sonny Curtis' story of desperate action, retribution and lost love.

Unfortunately, the real world was again crueler than fiction; Fuller was found dead from asphyxiation, covered in gasoline and blood in his mother's car in July of '66. The case is unsolved.

This final tragedy was too much, and combined with the change from a singles-based industry to a (much more expensive) album-based industry, drove Keane out of the business. He got divorced, raised three sons (two of whom performed as the Keane Brothers, and at 12 and 13 had their own national TV show in the summer of '77) and golfed.

La Bamba renewed interest in Valens, and Pulp Fiction (with "Bullwinkle" and "Surf Rider") in '94 solidified interest in Del-Fi's surf classics; now Keane has reissued most of his material on a series of excellent CD's and Del-Fi is a sporty presence on the Internet. Not bad for an old clarinetist.