Bobby Vee (the story behind the scenes) Part 1

Back when we moved Cruise Port Travel in July of 2009 it remined me of another time in my radio career. It reminded me of one of the more difficult times I ever spent in radio immediately following the Agnes Flood of 1972. At the time I was working for WMPT AM FM in South Williamsport, Pa and was doing a variety of jobs, as I always seemed to do. Well anyway the station received some 9' of back water which would not have been too bad except all the offices and studios were on the first floor! Once the waters receded, and after days of cleaning and washing, we managed to get back on the air with very limited operations capabilities, wires strung across the floor, limited equipment etc. That fosters an expression I still use today. “Anything that is temporary for more than three weeks is permanent.”

“Like A Rubber Ball I'll Come Bouncing Back To you” and “Take Good Care of My Baby” are just two of my favorite Bobby Vee songs. I had the opportunity to talk with him back in 2007 during the time he was performing at the Dick Clark Theater in Branson, Mo. As was the case with most my Legendary Artist Series interviews, I came away with a lot of new stories and facts about the artist. In an early article I mentioned how Bobby Vee (Veline) got his start, I would like to expand on that story a bit. It was February 3, 1959, the Richie Vallens, Buddy Holly, and the Big Bopper were scheduled to perform in Morehead , MN, a suburb of Fargo, ND. 15 year old Bobby Vee came home from high school for lunch and when he came into the house he heard the radio talking about the plane crash that killed those three artists. The local promoter decided to go on with the remaining acts, and local talent. Bobby at the time had a “garage band” and called the station to volunteer his band to help fill in along with scheduled acts Dion & The Belmont's, and The Crickets (Buddy Holly's Band), that at the time had the Legendary Waylon Jennings as a member. Anyway come show time and Bobby said “ the M.C. asked the name of the band, we didn't have a name, so I thought a minute and said The Shadows. “Then our moment of truth came when we were introduced, my life flashed in front of my eyes, and we started to play I thought I was going to die. It was one thing to volunteer, but now I've got to do this.” Bobby was planning to go to the show, “I even had a ticket,” he said.

In the audience that night was a fellow named Bin Bingson, who managed a chain of Drive In Theaters in the Fargo, Morehead area. After the show he came up to Bobby and said “if you want work give me a call.” A couple of days later Bobby did just that and that was the start of a music career that has spanned five decades. Some four months later Bobby and his band went to Minneapolis and recorded a song called “Susie Baby.” According to Bobby, “for a five hundred dollars we got 1000 records, we jumped into an old Oldsmobile and went around to radio stations. Every one of them said come in they interviewed us and played the record and by September of 1959 it was the #1 song in the upper Midwest.

Bobby and I talked about the “Dick Clark Experience,” as I mentioned before this was a party that Dick threw for the acts, and everyone drew the name of another act and did their songs at the artist party. Bobby said, “it was a lot of good natured fun.” What did he do? Well he was Freddy “Boom Boom” Cannon.

1960 took Bobby to Liberty records, one of the hottest labels at the time, with artists like Gene Pitney, Dick & Dee Dee, The Fleetwood's and more, to record “Devil or Angel.”

Bobby said, “If it hadn't been a hit it, would have been the last shot for me at Liberty Records.”

Trivia: What movie did the Bing Crosby classic song “White Christmas” come come from? This classic Irving Berlin song originally appeared in the 1942 movie Holiday Inn staring Bing and Danny Kaye and then again as the title song in the 1954 movie. The song has been recorded by dozens of artist and has sold in excess of 400 million copies!

I will continue the look at an artist I referred to as “Durable, the next time.