DEL-FI RECORDS FOUNDER DIES AT 87

Bob Keane, the colorful Hawaiian shirt-wearing record man whose independent label Del-Fi Records produced hits by Latino rock star Ritchie Valens and Texas-bred singer-guitarist Bobby Fuller, died Saturday in Los Angeles. He was 87.
Keane had been living in a home for the elderly for the last year and died of natural causes, according to former Del-Fi staffer Bryan Thomas.
Born Robert Kuhn on Jan. 5, 1922, he was raised in El Segundo, south of L.A., and spent some of his formative years in Mexico. A clarinet student as a youth, he decided to pursue a music career after seeing Benny Goodman in concert.
After service during World War II, he played with such top swing names as Artie Shaw and Woody Herman, and gigged with West Coast luminaries like Shelly Manne, Red Norvo, and Nelson Riddle.
After changing his last name to Keene and finally Keane during the ‘50s, he hosted his own TV show on CBS’ L.A. outlet KNXT and played the lounges in Las Vegas.
In 1957, Keane founded an independent label, Keen, with Greek businessman John Siamas. Former Specialty Records A&R man Bumps Blackwell brought the new imprint a former gospel singer making his first move as a pop performer.
However, a falling-out with his partner saw Keane exiting the label just as Keen released its first 45: "You Send Me" by Sam Cooke.
In 1958, Keane established a new Hollywood label, Del-Fi Records (after the Oracle of Delphi, in a possible slap at his former partner). He quickly hit pay dirt with a Pacoima teen named Richard Valenzuela, whom he rechristened Ritchie Valens.
The singer-guitarist reached the charts with the No. 2 ballad "Donna" and the No. 22 rocker "La Bamba," a rewrite of a Mexican dance tune. But Valens’ success was short-lived: On Feb. 3, 1959, he was killed in the same Iowa plane crash that took the lives of Buddy Holly and the Big Bopper. (Keane was played by Joe Pantoliano in the 1987 Valens biopic "La Bamba.")
Del-Fi recorded prolifically into the ‘60s, scoring minor hits by rocker Chan Romero ("Hippy Hippy Shake"), R&B group Little Caesar and the Romans ("Those Oldies But Goodies Remind Me of You"), surf acts Dick Dale and the Del-Tones and the Lively Ones (whose "Surf Rider" was used in Quentin Tarantino’s "Pulp Fiction"), teen idol/TV star Johnny Crawford and the young Frank Zappa.
Keane numbered Kim Fowley, Steve Barri, Gary Paxton, David Gates and, later, Barry White among his house producers and songwriters.
Del-Fi had another major shot at the top of the charts when the El Paso quartet the Bobby Fuller Four reached No. 9 in 1966 with"I Fought the Law." But that July, singer-guitarist Fuller was found dead, beaten and soaked in gasoline, in his car near Hollywood Boulevard. Unbelievably, police found no evidence of foul play.
Keane folded Del-Fi in 1967. In the late ‘70s, he went on to host a network musical variety show, which featured his young sons.
He reactivated Del-Fi in the 1990s, overseeing a young staff that lovingly reissued the label’s old masters. Keane also released "Delphonic Sounds Today," a collection of fresh interpretations of the company’s catalog by indie-rock acts, and created a new imprint, Del-Fi 2000, for contemporary artists. He sold the company to Warner Music Group in 2003. He published his autobiography "The Oracle of Del-Fi" in 2006.
Keane is survived by his sons Tom, John and Bobby and his daughter Chanelle.