Pop star Bobby Vee dead at 73

Vee had a string of hits in the ’60’s, whose break came when he filled in for Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and J.P. “The Big Bopper” Richardson, after they were killed in a 1959 plane crash.

Vee, whose hits included the chart-topping “Take Good Care of My Baby” and who helped a young Bob Dylan get his start, died Monday of advanced Alzheimer’s disease, said his son, Jeff Velline. Vee was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease in 2011, and performed his last show that year.

Born Robert Velline in Fargo, North Dakota, Vee was only 15 when he took the stage in Moorhead, Minnesota, after the Feb. 3, 1959, plane crash in Iowa that killed Holly, Valens and Richardson on their way to the concert. That dark day in rock history was commemorated by singer-songwriter Don McLean in his 1972 pop song “American Pie” as “The Day The Music Died…

He went on to record 38 Top 100 hits from 1959 to 1970, hitting the top of the charts in 1961 with the Carole King-Gerry Goffin song, “Take Care Good of My Baby,” and reaching No. 2 with the follow-up, “Run to Him.” Other Vee hits include “Rubber Ball,” ”The Night Has A Thousand Eyes,” ”Devil or Angel,” ”Come Back When You Grow Up,” ”Please Don’t Ask About Barbara” and “Punish Her.”

By: Alan

Alan Colmes is the publisher of Liberaland.