| California Sun / She Loves You | |
| Type: | Studio album |
| Artist: | The Crickets |
| Cover: | California Sun She Loves You.jpg |
| Released: | February 1964 |
| Genre: | Rock and roll |
| Length: | 27:45 |
| Label: | Liberty LRP-3351 |
| Producer: | Buzz Cason |
| Prev Title: | Just for Fun |
| Prev Year: | 1963 |
| Next Title: | A Collection |
| Next Year: | 1965 |
California Sun / She Loves You is a rock and roll album by the Crickets, recorded during their time with Liberty Records. It is The Crickets' fourth and final album for Liberty following the departure and subsequent death of their front man, Buddy Holly. The album's title is somewhat confusing, as it follows the then-popular industry practice of filling the album cover with the titles of as many popular songs as possible. The record label simply lists "The Crickets" name.
Originally released as an LP record on February 1964, the album was re-released on CD in 1995 by BGO Records alongside the UK-only LP A Collection which compiled non-album singles.
Spurred by minor hit singles in 1963, "My Little Girl" and "Don't Ever Change", the Crickets next release sought to capitalize upon the rise of Beatlemania and the Beatles' vocal appreciation of the Crickets' records. The album contains five Lennon-McCartney songs and another song the Fab Four famously covered. Throughout this period The Crickets would enjoy greater popularity in the UK.
The Crickets appeared in two jukebox musicals: the British movie Just for Fun (1963) in which they performed "My Little Girl" and "Teardrops Feel Like Rain," and The Girls on the Beach (1965) in America, where they performed "La Bamba". The group was derailed in 1965 when vocalist Jerry Naylor suffered a near-fatal heart attack. By the later sixties, bassist Joe B. Mauldin ceased performing, while drummer J.I. Allison and Sonny Curtis continued as working in the music industry as session musicians, before reviving the group in 1968 and again in 1970.