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.
Please Help Me I
Bobby Vee Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Please help me, I'm fallin'
In love with you;
Close the door to temptation,
Don't let me walk through!
Turn away from me, darlin',
I'm beggin' you to;
In love with you;
I belong to another
Whose arms have grown cold,
But I promised for ever
To have and to hold!
I can never be free, dear,
But when I'm with you,
I know that I'm losin'
The will to be true!
Please help me, I'm fallin',
And that would be a sin;
Close the door to temptation,
Don't let me walk in!
For I mustn't want you,
But darlin' I do!
Please help me, I'm fallin'
In love with you.
The lyrics to Bobby Vee's "Please Help Me I'm Fallin'" tell the story of a man who is falling in love with someone while still committed to another. He pleads with this person to "close the door to temptation" and "turn away" from him to prevent him from acting on his growing feelings. He acknowledges that he belongs to someone else who he promised to be with forever, but admits that he is losing his will to be true in their presence. He knows that his attraction to this person is a sin, and that he shouldn't want them, yet he can't help but fall in love with them.
The song highlights the internal struggle between love and loyalty, and the unavoidable temptation that comes with being attracted to someone. The singer is in a difficult situation, where he is trying to do the right thing, but his heart is leading him elsewhere.
Overall, "Please Help Me I'm Fallin'" is a poignant ballad that captures the pain and passion of falling in love with the wrong person. It conveys the powerful emotions that arise in difficult situations, and the challenge of making tough choices.
Line by Line Meaning
Fallin, fallin!
The singer is metaphorically falling in love with someone and is in a vulnerable emotional state.
Please help me, I'm fallin' In love with you;
The singer is asking for assistance with managing their feelings of love towards the person addressed in the song.
Close the door to temptation, Don't let me walk through!
The singer is asking the addressee to avoid behavior that would encourage or facilitate the singer's infidelity.
Turn away from me, darlin', I'm beggin' you to;
The singer is requesting that the addressee distance themselves from the singer romantically.
I belong to another Whose arms have grown cold, But I promised for ever To have and to hold!
The singer is in a committed relationship with someone else whose affection for the singer has diminished. The singer remembers their vow to be with this person for the rest of their life.
I can never be free, dear, But when I'm with you, I know that I'm losin' The will to be true!
The singer is expressing that they can never fully be with the addressee, but when they are together, the singer is losing their commitment to their current partner.
Please help me, I'm fallin', And that would be a sin;
The singer believes that giving in to their feelings for the addressee would be morally wrong.
For I mustn't want you, But darlin' I do!
The singer knows that desiring the addressee is not acceptable given their current relationship status, but the feelings are present regardless.
Please help me, I'm fallin' In love with you.
The singer reiterates their request for assistance with managing their feelings towards the addressee.
Lyrics © Warner/Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: DON ROBERTSON, HAL BLAIR
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind