Bobby Vee

Bobby Vee was born Robert Thomas Velline in Fargo, North Dakota.

When Buddy Holly, The Big Bopper and Ritchie Valens died in a plane crash in Iowa in February 1959, the 15-year-old Robert Velline and his band, The Shadows, were given the unenviable job of replacing the fallen rockers at the next date of their schedule in Moorhead, Minnesota. Their performance there was a success and was to be the start of a lifelong career in music for the frontman.

Later, Robert Velline went solo, calling himself Bobby Vee. His first single, the self-penned "Suzie Baby," was inspired by Buddy Holly's "Peggy Sue." Recorded in 1959, it was a local hit in Minnesota and led to a contract with Liberty Records, which signed Vee later that year.