Bobby Vee (ববি ভি) known professionally as Bobby Vee, was an American singer who was a teen idol in the early 1960s and also appeared in films.According to Billboard magazine, he had thirty-eight Hot 100 chart hits, ten of which reached the Top 20. He had six gold singles in his career.

Bobby Vee was born Robert Thomas Velline in Fargo, North Dakota on April 30, 1943 into a musical family. His father Sidney played the violin and piano, his uncle played sax, and his two older brothers, Bill and Sidney, Jr. both played guitar. By the age of fifteen Bobby’s musical career was already under way. “I played saxophone in the high school band,” remembers Bobby, “but I wanted to rock out. We were playing all the standard band pieces and I wanted to do ‘Yakety Yak.’ My brother Bill went out and bought a guitar and I saved up enough money from my paper route to eventually buy a new (but sun faded) thirty dollar Harmony guitar for myself. We used to go to all the country music shows that came through the area and then would come home after and do our own version of the show in the living room of our small home in Fargo.”

Before long Bill had become an excellent guitar player and began jamming with bass player Jim Stillman and drummer Bob Korum. Bobby tried every angle imaginable to join the group sessions but Bill thought he was too young. “I kind of backed into the band. I used to make all kinds of deals with my brother to come along and practice. When he finally let me join him (if I would promise to keep quite) I was aware that they didn’t know any of the songs lyrically and I just happened to know them all. I was fifteen years old and my ears were glued to the radio. It didn’t take long before I started singing the songs and they started rockin’ along.” Before long, Dick Dunkirk took Stillman’s place on bass guitar and the “Shadows” became one of the top new bands in the area.