According to Billboard magazine, he had 38 American Hot 100 chart hits, 10 of which hit the Top 20.
Vee was born in Fargo, North Dakota, to Sydney Ronald Velline and Saima Cecilia Tapanila. His first single, "Suzie Baby," was written by Vee with a nod to Buddy Holly's "Peggy Sue" and recorded for the Minneapolis-based Soma Records in 1959; it drew enough attention and chart action to be purchased by Liberty Records, who signed him later that year. His followup single, a cover of Adam Faith's UK number-one "What Do You Want?", charted in the lower reaches of the Billboard pop chart in early 1960. His fourth release, a revival of the Clovers' doo-wop ballad "Devil or Angel", brought him into the big time with U.S. buyers. His next single, "Rubber Ball", made him an international star.
Vee's 1961 summer release "Take Good Care of My Baby" went to number one on the Billboard U.S. listings and number three in the UK Singles Chart. 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.S. number six), "Rubber Ball" (1961, U.S. number six, Australia number one), "More Than I Can Say" (1961, U.K. number four), "Run to Him" (1961, U.S. number two), "The Night Has a Thousand Eyes" (1963, U.S. number three), and "Come Back When You Grow Up" (U.S. number three). When Vee recorded "Come Back When You Grow Up" in 1967, he was joined by a band called the Strangers. He also recorded, in 1961, a version of the song "Lollipop", originally by Ronald & Ruby, which also became a success.
Vee was also a pioneer in the music video genre, appearing in several musical films, as well as in the Scopitone series of early film-and-music jukebox recordings.
He received the North Dakota Roughrider Award in 1999.
He is mentioned in the film No Direction Home regarding his brief musical association with Bob Dylan and Dylan's suggestion that he was "Bobby Vee" after Vee's regional hit.
The Very Best of Bobby Vee, released by EMI/UK on May 12, 2008, charted in the UK top five. On January 17, 2011, EMI/UK released Rarities, a double-CD package with 61 tracks, many of which were previously unreleased. Others included were alternate takes and first-time stereo releases as well as tracks from the album Bobby Vee Live on Tour minus the "canned" audience.
On March 28, 2011, he became the 235th inductee into the Rockabilly Hall of Fame. In 2014 he was inducted into the Scandinavian-American Hall of Fame.
Vee's career began amid tragedy. On February 3, 1959, "The Day the Music Died", three of the four headline acts in the lineup of the traveling Winter Dance Party—Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and the Big Bopper—were killed, along with the 21-year-old pilot, Roger Peterson, in the crash of a V-tailed 1947 Beechcraft Bonanza airplane (Dion, the second headliner, opted not to travel on the plane). It crashed near Clear Lake, Iowa, en route to the next show on the tour itinerary in Moorhead, Minnesota. Velline, then aged 15, and a hastily assembled band of Fargo schoolboys calling themselves the Shadows volunteered for and were given the unenviable job of filling in for Holly and his band at the Moorhead engagement. Their performance there was a success, setting in motion a chain of events that led to Vee's career as a popular singer.
In 1963, Vee released a tribute album on Liberty Records called I Remember Buddy Holly. In the liner notes, Vee recalled Holly's influence on him and the events surrounding Holly's death:
Like so many other people, I became a Buddy Holly fan the very first time I heard him sing. I've been a fan ever since and I guess I always will be. I remember a few years ago when Buddy was scheduled to appear at a dance in my home town of Fargo, North Dakota. It was going to be a big event for the whole town, but even more so for me. I was anxiously looking forward to seeing Buddy in action.
The day he was to arrive disaster struck, taking Buddy's life, along with the lives of two other fine singers, Ritchie Valens and the Big Bopper. The shocking news spread through Fargo very quickly. The local radio station broadcast a plea for local talent to entertain at the scheduled dance. About a week before this, I had just organized a vocal and instrumental group of five guys. Our style was modelled after Buddy's approach and we had been rehearsing with Buddy's hits in mind. When we heard the radio plea for talent, we went in and volunteered. We hadn't even named the group up to that time, so we gave ourselves a name on the spot, calling ourselves The Shadows. We appeared at the dance and were grateful to be enthusiastically accepted. Soon afterwards, I made my first record. It was called "Suzie Baby" and I was pretty lucky with it; it was a fair-sized hit.
For some time now, I have wanted to make an album in tribute to Buddy, but I wasn't sure it was the proper thing to do. However, during the past year, I have received many requests to do such an album. These requests came not only from my fans and from DJs, but also from Buddy's loyal following---still a large group of devoted fans. It.... gave me the confidence to do the album. From "Suzie Baby" to this present album, I have made many records, but I have never forgotten Buddy Holly and his influence on my singing style and my career.
Vee went on to become a bona fide star and regularly performed at the Winter Dance Party memorial concerts in Clear Lake. His sons are all musicians and have performed with him there.
Early in Vee's career, a musician named Elston Gunnn [sic] briefly toured with the band. "Gunnn", whose birth name was Robert Allen Zimmerman, later went on to fame as Bob Dylan.
Dylan's autobiography, Chronicles, Volume One, mentions Vee and provides complimentary details about their friendship, both professional and personal.
In a concert at Midway Stadium in St. Paul, Minnesota, on July 10, 2013, Dylan said he had been on the stage with many stars, but that none of them were as meaningful as Vee. He said Vee was in the audience and then played Vee's hit "Suzie Baby" with emotion. Dylan said (in an audio recording of the concert),
Thank you everyone, thank you friends. I left here a while back, and since that time, I've played all over the world, with all kinds of people. And everybody from Mick Jagger to Madonna. And everybody in there in between. I've been on the stage with most of those people. But the most meaningful person I've ever been on the stage with, was a man who is here tonight, who used to sing a song called "Suzie Baby". I want to say that Bobby Vee is actually here tonight. Maybe you can show your appreciation with just a round of applause. So, we're gonna try to do this song, like I've done it with him before once or twice.
Vee and Karen Bergen were engaged July 1, 1963, and married December 28, 1963. They had four children: Jeffery Robert Velline (b. Jan 3, 1965), Thomas Paul Velline (b. October 25, 1966), Robert Bryon Velline (b. August 4, 1967), and Jennifer Joanne Velline (b. May 31, 1972). Karen died of kidney failure on August 3, 2015.
On April 29, 2012, Vee announced on his website that a year prior he had been diagnosed with an early stage of Alzheimer's disease and consequently would withdraw from the music business.
On October 24, 2016, Vee died in Rogers, Minnesota, from complications of early onset Alzheimer's disease.
Earth Angel
Bobby Vee Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Will you be mine
My darling dear
Love me all the time
I'm just a fool
(just a fool)
A fool in love, with you
Earth angel, earth angel
Lovely for ever and ever more
(I'm just a fool)
I'm just a fool
(oh what a fool)
A fool in love with you
Yes in love with you
I fell for you
And I knew
The vision of my love's loveliness
I hope and I pray
that some day
I'll be the vision
(vision)
The vision of your happiness
Angel my darling
Last night I fell in love with a little piece of heaven on Earth
It was you
The way you walk, the way you talk
The way you bat your eye lids as I pull up in my open-top chevvy
I don't know what I'd do without you
Earth Angel I will never let you go
Angel of angels
Earth angel - oh
Earth angel, earth angel
Will you be mine
My darling dear
Love me all the time
(I'm just a fool)
I'm just a fool
(Oh what a fool)
A fool in love with you
Oh - my love
I'm just a fool
(Just a fool)
A fool in love
With
You
Fool in love with you
The lyrics to Bobby Vee's song "Earth Angel" express the purest form of love, adoration, and admiration that one person could have for another. The opening lines when he says, "Earth angel, earth angel, will you be mine?" sets the tone of the song, which is a plea to the person he loves to be with him forever. The repetition of the phrase, "My darling dear, love me all the time," reinforces the message that he wants to spend the rest of his life with her. However, he is also very aware of his foolishness for being so in love with someone, as expressed in the repeated line, "I'm just a fool, a fool in love with you."
The second verse of the song expresses the singer's hope that he will one day be the vision of his love's happiness. This verse indicates that the singer is not only in love with the person but also has deep respect for his beloved's happiness and well-being. The last verse of the song is particularly touching, wherein the singer becomes completely vulnerable and confesses that he is just a fool in love with the person. The lyrics convey the depth of feelings that one can experience when in love, and the melody further enhances the emotions displayed in the lyrics.
Line by Line Meaning
Earth angel, earth angel
Addressing the loved one as an angel
Will you be mine
Asking the loved one to commit to a romantic relationship
My darling dear
Addressing the loved one affectionately
Love me all the time
Requesting continuous love and affection from the loved one
I'm just a fool
Admitting to be foolishly in love
(just a fool)
Repeating the above line for emphasis
A fool in love, with you
Admitting to be foolishly in love with the addressed person
Earth angel, earth angel
Addressing the loved one as an angel
The one I adore
Expressing admiration for the loved one
Lovely for ever and ever more
Expressing the desire for the love to last forever
(I'm just a fool)
Repeating the first admission of foolishness
I'm just a fool
Admitting to the foolishness of being in love
(oh what a fool)
Stressing the degree of foolishness
A fool in love with you
Repeating the well-known admission of being in love with the addressed person
Yes in love with you
Affirming the love
I fell for you
Admitting to have fallen in love with the addressed person
And I knew
Expressing certainty about the love
The vision of my love's loveliness
Imagining or remembering the beauty of love
I hope and I pray
Expressing the wish and the prayer for something
that some day
Expressing the hope for a future event
I'll be the vision
Wishing to become the embodiment of something
(vision)
Describing the desired state
The vision of your happiness
Wishing to be the cause of someone's happiness
Angel my darling
Addressing the loved one affectionately
Last night I fell in love with a little piece of heaven on Earth
Expressing the loved one's importance or beauty
It was you
Stating the loved one's identity
The way you walk, the way you talk
Describing the loved one's attractive qualities
The way you bat your eye lids as I pull up in my open-top chevvy
Describing a specific situation where the loved one showed attractive qualities
I don't know what I'd do without you
Expressing dependence on the loved one
Earth Angel I will never let you go
Promising commitment to the loved one
Angel of angels
Addressing the loved one as the most angelic
Earth angel - oh
Addressing the loved one as an angel
Oh - my love
Addressing the loved one affectionately
I'm just a fool
Admitting to the foolishness of being in love
(Just a fool)
Repeating the admission of foolishness for emphasis
A fool in love
Describing the state of foolishness in love
With
Introducing the object of being in love
You
Addressing the loved one
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: GREG ROBERTS, HERMAN EZEKIEL WILLIAMS
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@rosalieharvey-bond3723
Those were the days.The singers could sing, were clean cut, gorgeous, the songs were unforgettable whether you were 2 or 102 and left the listeners feeling fabulous.
@chrispines9509
Bobby Vee, Johny Tillotson, Bobby Vinton....legends
@deniscastellanos9895
Steve Lawrence, Frankie Avalon.
@helenmarshall7785
Bobby Rydell, Ricky Nelson....
@polybius223
Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and the Big Bopper ):
@franciscoprazzio225prazzio
I bet people born in the late 40s,and early 50s loved listening to this song in the summer.
@debbies977
Oh Bobby I am your earth angel from what seems like the beginning of time!!! I fell in love listening to these songs!!Always and forever!
@geronimomendivil3325
U GO DEBBY JARVIS.
@geronimomendivil3325
OOPS DEBBIE
@SuperLoveandfaith
Love his unique voice.