BOBBY VEE

(Bobby Velline)

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IZZY YOUNG:
(Dylan.) Played piano with Bobby Vee -- would have been a millionaire if he stayed with him.

The Izzy Young Notebooks, Oct 23, 1961; reprinted in The Telegraph #56, Winter 1997, p. 61.

JOHN BUCKLEN:
Bob went off one summer [1959] for quite a while, and I knew he was spending some time in Fargo, North Dakota, playing with a group there called The Shadows -- or so he said.

Now sometimes, as I said, he had this habit of putting people on, or making the truth a little different each time. So he came back one weekend and he was really telling me the ins and outs of showbusiness, as far as making it is concerned -- who you have to know, what you have to do. And I found this very fascinating because he seemed vastly knowledgeable. Anyway, a little while later, this record came out called Suzie Baby by Bobby Vee, and I read of Bobby Vee being from Fargo, North Dakota and playing with this group called The Shadows. And so I sort of put one and a half and two together, and I came up with Bobby Zimmerman!

So... I was downtown one day and I saw Abe Zimmerman and I said, "How's Bobby?" He said, "Oh he's home now." So I called, and I said, "Whatcha been doin', Bob? Huh?" And he said, "Well, I've been recording for this record label by the name of Bobby Vee." And I was really impressed, of course, because Bobby Vee was rather big in that particular area. Of course, we all know who Bobby Vee is now, but back then I just let it go at that. And by the time I got to know who Bobby Vee was, it didn't make much difference anyway.

John Bucklen, My Friend Bob, reprinted in The Telegraph #56, Winter 1997, p. 24.

A "DINKYTOWN FRIEND":
He had this whole mythology about being Bobby Vee, the rock singer. He used to go to parties and introduce himself as Bobby Vee, or have friends point him out to strangers as Bobby Vee.... I was sceptical. But then I heard him play the piano and I never knew really that he could play the piano, so I began to accept his stories at face value. Even part of the Bobby Vee thing. One of the Bobby Vee stories was that Dylan used to play with him, sometimes went on for Vee when he was sick. And we could believe that, at least in the beginning.

Quoted by Anthony Scaduto, Bob Dylan, London, 1973, p. 29.