William Fuller, 91, proprietor of Electric Ballroom in Camden; North London music venue gave area its trendy reputation
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http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/obituaries/article4581829.ece
William Fuller: proprietor of the Electric Ballroom in Camden
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/multimedia/archive/00386/fuller_185x185_386683a.jpg
Bill Fuller
Bill Fuller was among a wave of Irish immigrants heading to the
building sites of England in the 1930s with no more than the price of
a cup of tea in his pocket. But by the time he died, he had set up the
Electric Ballroom, in Camden Town, and owned a string of nightclubs, a
Nevada mine and a successful building company.
Fuller made his name as the proprietor of the Electric Ballroom, the
North London music venue that played a crucial role in giving the area
its trendy reputation for up-and coming bands. Those who have appeared
on the stage include Sid Vicious, Iggy Pop, the Clash, Joy Division,
Madness, U2, the Smiths, Nick Cave, the Pogues, Public Enemy and
Oasis, while Chas & Dave sell the place out each year for their
Christmas party.
William Fuller was born in Finogue, Co Kerry, in 1917, where among his
schoolfriends was Johnny Byrne, whose career as a property developer
made him, in later years, a fierce rival. After emigrating to London
as a teenager, Fuller ran a building contracting firm, settled into
Camden Town’s Irish community and became a well-known amateur boxer.
The ballroom was then known as the Buffalo Club, and was run by Ginger
Maloney. It had a rough reputation. Trouble would start between groups
of Irish immigrants, and after one dust-up too many, police officers
from Kentish Town told the owners that it had to close.
Fuller, now 20 and already running a club called St Patrick’s in West
London, stepped in. When he heard that the gates of the Buffalo had
been padlocked he saw a chance to get a toehold in the heart of
London’s Irish community. Interviewed in 1997, he said: “I went to the
chief of police in Holmes Road. He was Inspector Harris and a hard man
to bargain with, but I said: ‘I’ll make a deal with you: if you ever
get called in to sort out a fight here, I’ll put the lock back on the
gate’.”
In the 1940s the Blitz gave Fuller the chance to expand. A German bomb
demolished the Tube station next door in 1941 and much of the club’s
terrace had to come down. He bought the site and, using labourers
working for his company, built a larger dance floor.
The club became a magnet for Irish music. With the venue doing well
and his various construction businesses also flourishing, Fuller was
looking for new opportunities. As well as the Buffalo in London, he
would later take on the Apollo in Manchester, and venues across
Ireland. In Dublin his management of the Crystal and the Town and
Country clubs made them the city’s most successful venues.
In the 1950s he travelled to New York. He bought the City Centre venue
in Manhattan which, like the Buffalo in Camden Town, became a haven
for Irish immigrants. In the late 1960s Fuller headed farther west, to
California and Nevada. He was attracted to Las Vegas — apart from the
lure of its nightlife, he saw it as a place where he could make his
mark. With Brendan Bowyer and the Big Eight he established the
tradition of Irish showbands spending a season in the town. But
changing the face of Glitter Gulch was not enough. Like the settlers
who had built the city 100 years before, Fuller saw opportunities in
the surrounding hills and he became involved in the mining industry.
By then, he had bought the famous rock venues the Fillmore East in New
York and the Fillmore West in San Francisco, as well as swaths of
property in the American-Irish centres of Chicago, Boston and New
York.
His fame in Las Vegas increased when he became involved in a murder
case. When Ted Binion, a casino owner, was found dead at his rambling
mansion in 1988 officers believed that the businessman, who had a
history of drug addiction, had taken an overdose of heroin. But eyes
fell on his stripper girlfriend Sandy Murphy and her secret lover,
Rick Tabish. They were both convicted of murder, but Fuller, after
following their plight on the news, felt that they had been treated
unfairly. He provided the legal fees for an appeal and their bail
money. Their conviction was eventually overturned in 2004.
In 1978 the Buffalo Club reopened as the Electric Ballroom. Among
those who performed in the early years were the leading lights of the
punk movement including the Sex Pistols and the Clash as well as
Public Enemy and the Red Hot Chilli Peppers. Fuller also owned the
Astoria in Plymouth Grove, Manchester, where the parents of Noel and
Liam Gallagher — the Oasis brothers — first met.
Fuller never forgot his Irish roots. U2 were regulars at the Electric
Ballroom and the Pogues used it as a rehearsal space. Fuller flew in
from the United States to watch them work, and when they were done, he
cooked them steak with potatoes and cabbage in the upstairs kitchen.
In the past five years the Electric Ballroom, now run by his daughter
Kate, has been threatened by the wreckers ball as Transport for London
eyes up the site as part of a development of Camden Town Tube station.
Fuller vowed to fight the plans, and his family has said that it will
continue the battle to save the venue.
He is survived by four daughters and two sons.
William Fuller, businessman, nightclub owner and mining entrepreneur,
was born on May 6, 1917. He died on July 28, 2008, aged 91
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