R.I.P.: '60s Pop Singer Bobby Vee Dead At 73

Pop music legend Bobby Vee — an icon for music fans around the world, and a champion for charitable causes around Central Minnesota — died early Monday morning of complications of Alzheimer's disease.

He was 73, according to The St. Cloud Times.

Vee had been in hospice care at a memory care facility where the Avon resident lived for the final 13 months of his life.

"It's kind of a blessing," said Dr. Rick Rysavy, Vee's primary care physician and close friend. "There was no reason for him to suffer any longer."

Born Robert Thomas Velline April 30, 1943, in Fargo, Vee burst onto national musical prominence at age 15 after the plane crash that claimed the lives of rock 'n' roll stars Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and The Big Bopper. Vee and his band The Shadows filled in at the Winter Dance Party stop in Moorhead, launching his career.

That career subsequently included 38 singles that reached the Billboard Hot 100 between 1959-1970, including "Suzie Baby," "Devil Or Angel," "Rubber Ball," "Take Good Care of My Baby," "Run To Him" and "The Night Has a Thousand Eyes."





Vee was diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer's disease on Jan. 7, 2011, at age 67.

For a few days in 1959, Vee employed a young Robert Zimmerman as the piano player in the Shadows, even though the future Bob Dylan didn’t really know how to play piano at that point.

The Star-Tribune reports Dylan never forgot Vee’s kindness and influence. In 2013, he paid tribute to Vee during a 2013 concert at Midway Stadium in St. Paul, where he performed “Suzie Baby” and reconnected with Vee backstage.

“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 between,” said Dylan, usually a man of few words in concert.

“But the most beautiful person I’ve ever been on the stage with was a man who’s here tonight, who used to sing a song called ‘Suzie Baby.’ I’m gonna say that Bobby Vee is actually here tonight. Maybe you could show your appreciation with just a round of applause. So we’ve been trying to do this song, like I’ve done it with him before once or twice — ‘Suzie Baby.’ ”