Bobby Vee RIP

Very sorry to hear of the death of Bobby Vee at the age of 73. Although disregarded by some in later years as just a sixties pop singer, Bobby had a great voice and made some of the best pop records of the early sixties. Eleven of his records made it into my personal top ten between 1960 and 1963 and he was the eighth highest point scorer. His version of the Clovers' Devil Or Angel was superb and is there a better pop record of the era that Take Good Care Of My Baby? Other records that scored

highly were More Than I Can Say, Baby Face, Run To Him and Please Don't Ask About Barbara. Bobby's voice had a Buddy Holly-like hiccup which he used to good effect and he recorded a successful LP with the Crickets and another called I Remember Buddy Holly. Indeed his career began when he and some friends, making up a group called the Shadows, filled in for Holly at the show he was due to attend in Moorhead, Minnesota.
Born in Fargo, North Dakota, his first record was Suzie Baby for the Soma label. After Devil or Angel he made it big with Rubber Ball and other successes included How Many Tears, Sharing You, The Night Has A Thousand Eyes and Run Like The Devil. I saw Bobby in 1962 when he toured with Tony Orlando and Clarence 'Frogman' Henry and a couple of times in later years when he performed with his own group the Ricochets on oldies shows. These included a memorable one at Wembley in 1992 when Little Richard (celebrating his 60th birthday), Jerry Lee Lewis, Lloyd Price, Chris Montez, Johnny Preston, Little Eva and Duane Eddy also appeared. RIP Bobby.
The Vinyl Word also says farewell to Joan Marie Johnson of New Orleans girl group The Dixie Cups, who had great success with Chapel Of Love, Iko Iko, People Say, You Should Have Seen The Way He Looked At Me and Gee The Moon Is Shining Bright for the Red Bird label. I saw the group many times at Jazzfest and they were always excellent.
Also to Phil Chess, record producer and co-founder of Chess records, who has died aged 95. Phil was involved in producing many of the great blues and rock and roll records produced by Chess. Here's his obituary in The Guardian.  https://www.theguardian.com/music/2016/oct/20/phil-chess-records-chicago-south-side-blues