Bobby Vee the clean-cut all American pop singer who was a teenage idol and heartthrob in the 1960’s who died yesterday couldn’t have been more worlds apart than the androgynous singer Pete Burns who also passed away this week.
Vee was just 15 years old when got his first break and answered an advert for musicians to fill in for Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and the Big Bopper after they died in a plane crash in 1959. He went on to have 38 singles in the Billboard Hot 100 from 1959 to 1970, including “Take Good Care of My Baby,” which reached No. 1 in 1961. This period may have been known as the ‘Swinging Sixties‘ back in London, but Vee’s appeal was of innocence clinging to old-fashioned ideals with songs such as “Run To Him,” “The Night Has A Thousand Eyes” and “Rubber Ball“.
His long list of hit records set Vee aside from all the one-hit wonders of the period, and although no longer making chart-topping music he continued performing live until 2011 when he was diagnosed with an early stage of Alzheimer’s disease. Vee’s other claim to fame was that he gave the first big break to an unknown pianist who, when we went solo, would change his name to Bob Dylan.
