A Thousand Eyes for Bobby Vee
Birthday salute to an under-rated singer-songwriter and pop music pioneer
Rock & Roll was on a roll in the 1950s, but good times came to an end the night of Februry 3rd, 1959, when a plane crash took out Buddy Holly, Big Bopper, and Richie Valens. Not long after, Elvis Presley entered the armed forces and his career lost direction. Surf rock was still at the beach. Folk singers, Motown, and girl groups were still vying for mainstream acceptance. As rock & roll lost steam in the early 60s, producers grabbed young bucks, slathered them with Brylcreem, and put them in front of a microphone. However, as Paul Anka remembered it, they might’ve been pretty faces but they all loved music, and talent mattered.
In that wave of pretty boys came Robert Thomas Velline a.k.a. Bobby Vee, an under-rated singer-songwriter who came up in the matrix of early rock’n’roll, crooner pop, and rockabilly. After “the day the music died” in 1959, some in the industry looked to Vee to pick up with Buddy Holly left off. Bob Dylan recalled that Vee "had a metallic, edgy tone to his voice, and it was as musical as a silver bell." Nearly forgotten today, Vee sold millions of records, was a pioneer of the music video format, and maintained an international touring schedule until a few years before he passed (from Alzheimer's complications) in 2016.
Early in Vee's career, a musician calling himself Elston Gunn toured as a keyboardist with Vee’s band. Gunn was actually Bob Dylan, and it was Dylan’s first paid gig. In a concert in St. Paul MN (July 10, 2013), Dylan spoke from the stage, “Thank you everyone…I lived here a while back, and since that time, I've played all over the world, with all kinds of people…everybody from Mick Jagger to Madonna…and everybody in there in between…but the most beautiful person I've ever been on the stage with, was a man who is here…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.” Then Dylan gave an emotional rendition of Vee's hit, "Suzie Baby.”
Some dismissed Vee as “teen idol fluff,” a tag that dogged similar and highly talented artists like Brian Hyland and Rick Nelson. Like them, however, Vee had talents to beat the typecast and may have suffered through the “big band pop” production of his day. However, looking beneath the studio ornamentation, he nailed sophisticated songs like “The Night Had a 1000 Eyes.”
Even his lightweight pop sides were of quality. He did album collaborations with The Crickets and The Ventures and, after the chart hits dried up in 1967, he experimented with bubblegum soul, folk rock, and chamber pop—cutting a notable version of “The Girl I Left Behind Me”, a song designed for The Monkees:
In 1972 Vee teamed with Red Rhodes, The Dillards, The 5 Man Electric Band, and The Wrecking Crew to create the masterwork album NOTHING LIKE A SUNNY DAY, released under his real name. It was a strong platform for his songwriting skills and featured stunning vocal work on par with The Eagles and Crosby Stills & Nash. Velline’s LP got global attention but it's now an obscurity from the Golden Age of Country Rock—it’s well worth seeking out:
Meanwhile, thank you Bobby for sharing the songs of your heart.
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