Services for the late music icon Bobby Vee have been set.
Funeral services announced for music legend Bobby Vee
Visitation will be Tuesday with services Wednesday.
October 28, 2016 at 9:42PM
A public visitation will be held from 4 to 8 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 1, at St. John the Baptist Parish Center in Collegeville, Minn. A Mass, open to the public, will be noon on Wednesday at St. John's Abbey Church in St. Joseph, followed by lunch at the parish center.
Vee, 73, died this week of complications from Alzheimer's disease. He had been in hospice care in Rogers, family members said.
Born Robert Thomas Velline in 1943 in Fargo, N.D., he was just 15 when he took the stage in nearby Moorhead, Minn., to fill in after the 1959 plane crash that killed Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and J.P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson.
He went on to become a teen idol known as Bobby Vee in the early 1960s with the release of a string of chart-topping singles.
During his career, he landed 38 singles in 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 continued to perform until 2011, when he announced his retirement because of Alzheimer's disease.
Just last month, a musical about Vee's life debuted at the History Theatre in St. Paul. "Teen Idol: The Bobby Vee Story" showcases his hit songs and highlights his move back to Minnesota from California to live a balanced life with his wife and their four children in 1980. The musical is scheduled to run through Sunday.
He is survived by four children, Jeffery Robert Velline, Thomas Paul Velline, Robert Bryon Velline and Jennifer Joanne Velline. His wife, Karen, to whom he had been married for more than 50 years, died in 2015.
Tim Harlow • 612-673-7768
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