Bobby Vee in 2009/ Associated Press
Bobby Vee, Minnesota's first rock star known for the early 1960s hits "Rubber Ball" and "Take Good Care of My Baby," has announced that he has Alzheimer's.
On his website, the 69-year-old St. Cloud area resident explained that he was diagnosed a year ago.
Vee wrote: "Needless to say it was a moment that stunned my family and myself to the core. Since this time I have chosen to remain private and to focus on what is most important to me: my family and my music. It has been a time to reflect and to just be. To create memories for my grandchildren and to celebrate life's goodness. To throw baseballs and catch fish. To be the audience."
Born Robert Velline in Fargo, N.D., he got his break filling in for Buddy Holly in 1959 in Moorhead, Minn., after Holly died in a now-famous plane crash in Clear Lake, Iowa.
Using the stage name Bobby Vee, he recorded "Suzie Baby" in Kay Bank Studios in Minneapolis in 1959, and it became a regional hit on Soma Records. That led to a contract with Liberty Records and a series of hits, including six that landed in Billboard's Top 10. "Take Good Care of My Baby" spent three weeks at No. 1 in 1961. "Run To Him" reached No. 2. He also scored with "Devil or Angel," "Rubber Ball," "The Night Has A Thousand Eyes" and "Come Back When You Grow Up."
Vee's other claim to fame is giving the musician soon to be known as Bob Dylan his first professional gig. In 1959, Vee hired the mysterious pianist from Hibbing who said his name was Elston Gunn to play in his backup band, the Shadows. Gunn lasted only a couple of gigs. The story is corroborated in Dylan's memoir, "Chronicles: Volume 1."
For decades, Vee, who moved to St. Cloud in 1981, has performed on the oldies circuit.
In addition to his own health issues, Karen Velline, his wife of 48 years, is awaiting a lung transplant at Duke University in North Carolina.
Meanwhile, Vee is continuing to record music with his sons, his longtime accompanists whose band is known as the Vees.
