1961 No. 1, Penned By The Legendary Carole King, Hit The Top 65 Years Ago Today

On September 20, 1961, the brand-new biggest hit in the land was the earnest and bittersweet dance tune "Take Good Care of My Baby," by emerging star Bobby Vee. The tune was actually co-composed by iconic songwriter and future superstar performer Carole King, alongside her then-spouse and writing partner Gerry Goffin. It's among the many famous songs that Carole King wrote before her solo career took off, and her second work to hit No. 1, following the Shirelles' "Will You Love Me Tomorrow?"

King got her start in show business as a staff songwriter at music publishers that matched label-signed performers with the right material. When Vee's handlers needed a surefire hit for the singer, they pulled up King and Goffin's pre-existing "Take Good Care of My Baby," which King then rewrote and expanded to suit Vee. It all worked perfectly, because in the early fall of 1961, Vee took "Take Good Care of My Baby" to the No. 1 spot on the pop chart for three weeks.

North Dakota teenager Robert Velline, aka Bobby Vee, a '60s musician we completely forgot about, ascended from rock 'n' roll fan to pop sensation in a little over a year. He also knew firsthand what it was like "the day the music died," since after Buddy Holly died in a plane crash in 1959, Vee's band filled in on an emergency basis with a set of Holly covers. That led to more gigs and a minor hit in the summer of 1959, "Suzie Baby."

Vee got a deal with Liberty Records, and in 1960 he reached the Top 10 with "Devil or Angel" and "Rubber Ball." On a trip to music publisher Adlon Music in New York in search of songs for his client, Vee's producer and mentor Snuff Garrett happened upon a demo co-created by Carole King called "Take Good Care of My Baby." But Garrett didn't think the song was ready, so he asked King to write a new verse that better explained the themes of the song, a gentle rebuke from the narrator to the guy who stole his girlfriend.

Within the 1960s, Vee reached the Hot 100 with over 30 songs, but the biggest hit of them all was "Take Good Care of My Baby." It's the sole No. 1 of Vee's career, and he later attempted a '70s comeback by reworking the single as a slow and mournful number; that one missed the pop chart.