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.
Love You More Than I Can Say
Bobby Vee Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
I love you more than I can say
I'll love you twice as much tomorrow
Woh, woh, love you more than I can say
Woh, oh oh, yeah, yeah
I miss you every single day
Why must my life be filled with sorrow
Woh, woh, love you more than I can say
Tell me please, I gotta know
Do you mean to make me cry
Am I just another guy?
Woh, oh oh, yeah, yeah
I love you more than I can say
I'll love you twice as much tomorrow
Woh, woh, love you more than I can say
Don't you know I need you so
Tell me please, I gotta know
Do you mean to make me cry
Am I just another guy?
Woh, oh oh, yeah, yeah
I love you more than I can say
I'll love you twice as much tomorrow
Woh, woh, love you more than I can say
The lyrics to Bobby Vee's Love You More Than I Can Say are filled with raw emotion and vulnerability of a person who deeply loves someone but also feels the pain of uncertainty and fear of losing that someone. The first verse establishes the depth of the love that the singer feels for the person, stating that they love them more than they can say. The repetition of this line throughout the song emphasizes the intensity of this love.
In the second verse, the singer expresses the pain of missing the person they love every single day and questions why their life has to be filled with sorrow. This could suggest that the singer is going through a phase of emotional turmoil and instability, which is further emphasized in the following lines. The lyrics talk about the fear of being just another guy and the worry that the person they love might not feel the same intensity of emotion towards them.
The chorus ends on a hopeful note, with the singer promising to love the person even more tomorrow. This could suggest that despite the singer's worries, they will continue to love and cherish the person they love, no matter what.
Overall, the lyrics to Love You More Than I Can Say are a poignant expression of love, fear, and uncertainty that can resonate with anyone who's ever been head over heels in love.
Line by Line Meaning
Woh, oh oh, yeah, yeah
Expressing enthusiasm and agreement with what has been said or done
I love you more than I can say
Words cannot express the depth of love that I have for you
I'll love you twice as much tomorrow
My love for you will only grow stronger with time
Woh, woh, love you more than I can say
Reiterating the depth of love that I have for you
I miss you every single day
Thinking about you is a daily occurrence for me
Why must my life be filled with sorrow
Expressing a sense of sadness and questioning the difficulties in life
Don't you know I need you so
My need for you is great and undeniable
Tell me please, I gotta know
Asking for clarification and a deeper understanding of the situation
Do you mean to make me cry
Wondering if the other person is intentionally causing emotional pain
Am I just another guy?
Feeling uncertain about one's importance and standing in the other person's life
Woh, oh oh, yeah, yeah
Expressing enthusiasm and agreement with what has been said or done
I love you more than I can say
Reiterating the depth of love that I have for you
I'll love you twice as much tomorrow
Expressing that my love for you will only continue to grow
Woh, woh, love you more than I can say
Reiterating the depth of love that I have for you
Lyrics © Peermusic Publishing
Written by: Sonny Curtis, Jerry Allison
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@miltonmoore5294
Sadly, everyone
sitting on that lawn is now either
dead, or a "geezer."
You can deduce
to which of the two groups I belong. One of the
most touchingly
arranged orchestrations for
any of his recordings. Hard
to limit listening to this enthralling
recording just one
time in one sitting.
I'm good for 3 or 4. The gal in the brief close-ups with the nerdy guy is actress Barbara Parkins, who is now 75 as of 2/24/18. "Dolls" like this were just
crawling out of the woodwork during this era in Hollywood. Diane
Baker was another. (I left a couple of remarks earlier
which are about 30 remarks into
the "newest comments" section.) Oh, if
our lives could
have been as pleasant and uncomplicated , more
often, as the scene depicted in
this charming video.
@ryjo555
Woah woah yay yay
Love you more than I can say
I'll love you twice as much tomorrow
Whoa-oh, love you more than I can say
Woah-woah yay yay
I miss you every single day
Why must my life be filled with sorrow
Whoa-oh, love you more than I can say
Don't you know I need you so
Tell me please, I gotta know
Do you mean to make me cry
Am I just another guy
Woah woah yay yay
Love you more than I can say
I'll love you twice as much tomorrow
Whoa-oh, love you more than I can say
Don't you know I need you so
Tell me please, I gotta know
Do you mean to make me cry
Am I just another guy
Woah woah yay yay
I love you more than I can say
I'll love you twice as much tomorrow
Whoa-oh, love you more than I can say
@syntaxerror2409
I'm 22 and I am thankful for my parents for raising while listening to these good old music, people tend to call me old soul as I am really in love with old music.
@Programa_Incrivel_23
Eu tenho 21 anos e também amo músicas antigas nacionais e internacionais. Pra eu qualquer música é boa dependendo da letra, voz e instrumental.
@DavidJones-qw9jl
Where have the years gone, brings back good feelings
@john86779
o lord take me back to the good days when music was this good
@amirault58
Im 28 and he's still one of my favorite singers. My grandparents raised me and we listened to him all the time.
@user-hf3ed7mm5q
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@keanuvarga4866
Amen brother 🙏
@sheliaturner9508
Your so right!!
@whitefender
... and the girls were dressing that elegant
@maggieestepona1361
What a beautiful song, beautiful voice....priceless memories of a time when love and life were pure and simple...thank you Bobby Vee for being part of my happy memories❤