Bobby Vee biography, Bobby Vee discography
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mymenu.The Chiffons, Brian Hyland and Chris Montez.Tour Information last updated Novermber 17, 2008
This schedule is subject to change.For another 1960s singer, see Bobby Vinton.Bobby Vee (born Robert Thomas Velline, April 30, 1943, Fargo, North Dakota, United States) is an American pop music singer.Known primarily as a performer of Brill Building pop material, he went on to record a string of international hits in the 1960s, including "Devil or Angel" (U."Come Back When You Grow Up" (U.When Vee recorded "Come Back When You Grow Up" in 1967, he was joined by a band called 'The Strangers'.Liberty Records, which signed him to their label later that year."Devil or Angel", that brought him into the big time with U.His next single, "Rubber Ball", was the record that made him an international star.He is a 1999 inductee of the North Dakota Roughrider Award.He is mentioned in the movie No Direction Home, with regards to his brief musical association with Bob Dylan and Dylan's suggestion that he was 'Bobby Vee' after Vee's regional hit.UK released 'The Very Best of Bobby Vee' on May 12th 2008.The day the music died
Vee's career began amid tragedy.Winter Dance Party', Buddy Holly, Richie Valens, and The Big Bopper were killed in the crash of aircraft N3974N near Clear Lake, Iowa while en route to the next show on the tour itinerary in Moorhead, Minnesota.Despite the circumstances of his debut, Vee went on to become a bona fide star, and regularly performs at the Winter Dance Party memorial concerts in Clear Lake to this day.Personal
As a child Bobby spent summers on the Tuomala Family Farm in Perth, North Dakota with his cousins.He is still active and touring internationally as a performer as of 2008, along with his backup band, The Vees, which includes his two elder sons, Jeff and Tommy Vee.Bobby Vee is a recipient of the state of North Dakota's Roughrider Award and his contribution to the genre has been recognized by the Rockabilly Hall of Fame."The Very Best of Bobby Vee" (12th May 2008) The Very Best of Bobby Vee as been certified silver in the UK.Scenes were added of Ray Charles (doing "What'd I Say") and Bobby Vee (doing "More Than I Can Say").Meanwhile, there's a parade of pop stars including Freddy Cannon, Ketty Lester, Jeremy Lloyd, Bobby Vee, The Crickets, The Springfields, Jet Harris, Tony Meehan, Joe Brown and the Bruvvers, The Tornadoes, Brian Poole and the Tremoloes and Johnny Tillotson.Bobby sings "All You Gotta Do Is Touch Me," and "The Night Has A Thousand Eyes."C'MON, LET'S LIVE A LITTLE (1967) Paramount Pictures, color, 85 minutes DIRECTOR: David Butler PRODUCERS: John Herelandy, June Starr SCREENPLAY: June Starr
Bobby Vee stars as a country boy gone to college.Official Bobby Vee website
Bobby Vee fansite
Classicbands.This page was last modified on 4 November 2008, at 09:43.AVAILABLE IN BOOK STORES EVERYWHERE!And prefacing almost
every Top 10 hit is the tiresome fable of how the song nearly wound up in the garbage
until some DJ in Peoria played it by accident.Because these three future rock gods never make it to the concert hall, which
at the same moment is packed with teenagers ready to jump, jive 'n' wail, replacements are
needed, with bells on.The group hastily chosen to perform that night is called The
Shadows.Top 10 most consistent
chart makers ever.Rock and
roll was so new and exciting and to lose three of the main guys in a plane crash took a
big piece out of me because I was such a huge Holly fan.But they didn't ask us for our credentials.They just
said, come on down, and we did a fifteen minute set at the beginning of the evening.What
I remember from the moment of getting on that stage and being introduced is that the noble
part of it was over with.And I remember enjoying it while I was
on stage.Jeff, Tom and Robbie,
all of whom are in their 30s.Today, in his fifties, he sounds more like a CEO, but it's only due
to a deepened, controlled authority in his voice.At
seventeen I had my first hit.Snuffy Garrett (later to become a legendary record producer)
was 19 or 20.It was flat exciting
and we were all over the place.Beatle era, and Bobby was able to straddle the fence between teen idol and serious
young man.Frankie Laine, Johnny Ray and stuff like that.I've been able to walk in the rock and roll camp and the pop camp.Most people don't realize that, for a
very short time, Vee had a band member named Robert Zimmerman, who later became better
known under an assumed name: Bob Dylan.We hired him to come out and work that
weekend with us.The gig was in a
church basement.When he wasn't playing, he would come up behind me and do handclaps.It
was a Gene Vincent thing.He must have seen Gene Vincent do it.Of course, Dylan went on to whatever
he went on to do and was never heard from again.We tried a couple of
things.We were going all over the place.And not only
once but twice!My time had
pretty much come and gone, but there were still radio stations out there who were willing
to give it a spin.Billboard magazine, plugging the song,
and that time it was number one in Billings, Montana, and top five in Green Bay,
Wisconsin, and number one in Spartanburg, South Carolina.If they're willing to belly
up to the bar and buy my record, that counts.Things quieted down again until the early seventies, when heads starting turning back to the more
innocent fifties and early sixties.Then
you have the whole story.In England, the very country that
almost shut him down, fans go nuts for Bobby Vee.Johnny Preston and Little Eva.At this time of my life
to be able go out and work with friends who love each other and have known each other for
over 40 years is a great feeling.By then, I was having hits so I got in on that ride.In the early days,
you could have many versions of the same songs as hits all over the place.Del Shannon and Neil Sedaka and Gene Pitney.And I went over in '85 and it was like I never
left.At last, Vee comes home with his
tribute to his original influence.Buddy Holly
was my primary influence.Robert Thomas Velline was born in Fargo, North Dakota on April 30,1943.His father Sidney, who was a professional chef, played fiddle and
piano.Vee first played saxophone, which he studied in junior high
school.From paper route
earnings Bobby bought a guitar.When twenty year old Billy joined with to other nineteen
year olds, Dick Dunkirk and Bob Korum to form a combo, Bobby was left out.After much
persistence, Bobby was allowed to join as the lead vocalist as he was the only one that
knew the words to all the songs.Buddy Holly was on a bus tour
through the Upper Midwest, performing at shows with Ritchie
Valens, the Big Bopper, Dion, and others.Tired of the
bus tour and wishing to get to the next stop in order to do some laundry, Holly chartered
a light plane to fly him to the tour's next stop in Moorhead, Minnesota, which is just
across the state line from Fargo.Shortly after takeoff near Clear Lake, Iowa in the early
morning hours, the plane developed instrumentation problems and crashed, killing Holly and the three
others who were aboard the plane.It was Jim Stillman that called the Armory and asked if they could open the show.Asked
if they had experience, without hesitation Sillman replied yes and got the job.They knew six songs maybe.They didn't
even have a name, but when asked said they were the Shadows.The Shadows were left in Fargo.The dance was held in the school's gymnasium that
had no stage.Improvising they pushed several benches together.At one point in the
performance, the benches parted with amplifiers crashing to the floor.However there were two problems.Zimmerman
could only play in one key and he didn't have his own piano.After a few dates, he and the
band parted.Zimmerman enrolled at the University of Minnesota.Shadows went to Minneapolis for their first recording session.The records were credited to Bobby Vee and the Shadows.Liberty offered to release the single nationally on its own label with an option for a
second single.The understanding was if the records were successful there would be a long
term contract.Vee
was offered a one year contract with Liberty and as were the Shadows.Vee was rushed to Los Angeles to
record under the direct supervision of Liberty's staff.Lubbock, Texas, by way of Dallas.Bobby Vee was given the assignment of
covering the song to sell in the US market, but his recording did not meet with success.The
breakthrough song for Bobby Vee was Devil Or Angel, one that made it to the top ten
late in 1960, when Vee was only seventeen.UK, where it reached number four.In 1961 he recorded a Carole King
composition and came up with his only number one song, Take Good Care Of My Baby.While
it had the trademarks of previous gold records, it ran afoul of conservatives because it
was about a fight over a girl.It only sold 500,000 copies because of sporadic boycotts.April, Vee began a three week tour of Australia and New Zealand.This split the sales of the single and it spent a short month on the pop charts.Bobby Vee Meets The Crickets.The album was well received by
critics.He also appeared in movies: Swingin' Along, It's Trad,
Dad, and C'mon Let's Live A Little, among others.On December 28, 1963, Vee married Karen Bergan, age twenty at Holy Rosary Church in
Detroit Lakes, Michigan.Suddenly the innocent songs and the wholesome image of Bobby
Vee were no longer in vogue, and even criticized in some circles.He fell off the charts
completely for a few years.Bobby Vee in the minds of
rock music fans.He had some other minor hits before leaving the charts for good in 1968.In 1972 an album that he recorded under his own name, Nothin' Like A Sunny Day,
went nowhere.In 1970 Liberty was bought by United Artists and Vee had two Columbia releases that
went nowhere.Vee soon left the company.Shady Brook Records released three
singles in two years with the same results.As
Americans turn a deaf ear, Vee packed the houses in Britain, Europe and the Far East.In 1988, he toured America with the reformed Crickets.He was asked to return to Clear
Lake, Iowa to participate in the Buddy Holly Memorial Concert on February 3, 1989.The
audiences reaction has caused him to be invited back every year.In early 1992, he produced a mail order only cassette, Last of the Great Rhythm
Guitars.Through all the highs and lows, Vee maintained a rock solid hold
on reality.He is still married to Karen and
they have three sons and a daughter.He lived in Bel Air, California, but since 1981 has
resided in St.Bobby still makes a hundred or more personal
appearances with the Vees, a band that features his sons: Robby (Guitar), Tommy (bass) and
Jeff (drums).He has always been well liked by people in the music business, and continues
to perform on oldies tours before appreciative audiences.The Bobby Vee Connection
St.Bobby Vee was born Robert Thomas Velline in Fargo, North Dakota on April 30, 1943 into a musical family.My brother Bill went out and bought a guitar and I saved up enough money from my paper route to eventually buy a new (but sun faded) thirty dollar Harmony guitar for myself.We used to go to all the country music shows that came through the area and then would come home after and do our own version of the show in the living room of our small home in Fargo."Bobby tried every angle imaginable to join the group sessions but Bill thought he was too young.It didn't take long before I started singing the songs and they started rockin' along."Before long, Dick Dunkirk took Stillman's place on bass guitar and the "Shadows" became one of the top new bands in the area.At this point, as the result of a tragic twist of fate, Bobby's story begins to take on a bitter sweet flavour.News of the tragedy traveled fast.Billboard top 100 charts, six gold singles, fourteen top forty hits and two gold albums.But that night, instead of a seat in the audience, Bobby and his brother Bill along with the "Shadows" took the stage in memory of three of rock 'n' roll's brightest stars.In the middle of the show the benches pulled apart and the amps smashed to the floor.Not exactly the kind of impact they were looking for.June 1st 1959, Bobby and the group went to Minneapolis, Minnesota to record a song for Soma Records that Bobby had written called "Susie Baby."Bobby Vee and the Shadows signed with Liberty Records in the fall of '59 and the band continued on until 1963, when Bill, deciding the road was not to his liking, left to pursue interests closer to home.Following the record's success in Pittsburgh, "Devil or Angel" went on to reach the top ten in city after city.Liberty Records exercised its option and signed Bobby to a five year contract.Bobby followed with "Rubber Ball" later in 1960.His fame appeared to wane after the Top Ten single "The Night Has a Thousand Eyes," due in large part to the success of the Beatles and other English acts.Vee appeared in several movies, including "Just for Fun" and "Play It Cool"."Bobby Vee Sings the New Sound from England!"His tours took him to Japan, Australia and Europe as well as the United Kingdom.Gold Album from England for his 1981 "Singles" L.Billboard Magazine called him, "One of the top ten most consistent chart makers ever."To coincide with his sold out 1990 tour of England, Bobby issued a 17 song collectors edition cassette called "U.Tour '90," on his own Rockhouse Record label.In 1994, critics and collectors gave great reviews to his "Last Of The Great Rhythm' Guitar Players" CD.On June 20, 1999, Bobby was presented The Theodore Roosevelt Rough Rider Award by North Dakota's Governor Ed Schafer.The Rough Rider Award is the highest recognition given by the state to native North Dakotans.When he is not touring or working on his own music, he is involved in the production of various other musical projects at his Rockhouse Recording Studio, located outside of St.CLASSIC TRIVIA:
Bobby Vee once kicked Robert Zimmerman out of his band because he thought he had no future as a musician.
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