Bobby Darin
Encyclopedia
Bobby Darin born Walden Robert Cassotto, was an American
singer, actor and musician.
Darin performed in a range of music genres, including pop, rock, jazz, folk and country. Although unknown to the public, his health was dangerously fragile and this motivated him to succeed within the limited lifetime he feared he would, and ultimately did, have.
In 1960 after romancing singer Connie Francis
, and being run out of the house by her strict Italian father, with a shotgun, breaking her heart, Darin married "Gidget" actress Sandra Dee
, whom he met while making his first film Come September
(1961). They made a few more movies together at Universal Studios that were moderately successful. They had one son, Dodd Mitchell Darin (also known as Morgan Mitchell Darin) before divorcing in 1967.
He was also an actor, singer/songwriter and music business entrepreneur. His wish for a legacy was "to be remembered as a human being and as a great performer." Among his many other contributions, he became a goodwill ambassador for the American Heart Association
.
to a poor, working-class family of Italian descent. The person he believed to be his father (who was actually his grandfather, Saverio Antonio Cassotto) died in jail a few months before he was born. It was the height of the Great Depression
, and Darin once remarked that his crib was a cardboard box, then later a dresser drawer. He was initially raised by his Anglo-American mother Vivian Fern (Walden) Cassotto, who was called Polly, and his sister Giovannina Juliette "Nina" Cassotto, subsisting on Home Relief until Nina later married and started a family with her new husband, Charlie Maffia. It was not until he was 32-years old, in 1968, when Darin, preparing to play a nightclub in New Jersey, was told by Nina, 19 years his senior, that she was, in fact, his birth mother, and that Polly, whom he thought was his mother, was really his grandmother. Nina refused to tell him the identity of his real father, other than that his birth father had no idea Nina was pregnant, and thus never knew that Nina gave birth to his son. Though Nina claimed she told him for her fear of the truth coming out by opponents if he considered entering politics, Darin would never forgive her for this deception and his remaining 5 years of life after this shocking revelation would never be the same again. Polly mothered him well, despite her own medical history resulting in her addiction to morphine
. It was Polly who took the young Bobby to what was left of the old vaudeville
circuit in New York and places like the Bronx Opera House, and the RKO Jefferson in Manhattan, where he received his first show business inspiration, and where he saw performers like Sophie Tucker
, whom he loved.
Darin was frail and sickly as an infant and, beginning at the age of 8, was stricken with recurring bouts of rheumatic fever
, an illness that left him with a seriously weakened heart. Overhearing a doctor tell his mother he would be lucky to reach the age of 16, Darin lived with the constant knowledge that his life might be short, which further motivated him to use his talents. He was driven by his poverty and illness to make something of his life and, with his innate talent for music
, by the time he was a teenager he could play several instruments, including piano
, drums
and guitar
. He later added harmonica
and xylophone
. Darin's best friend during childhood was fellow singer, Dick Roman. Roman, who as a teen worked for the Borden milk company, got Darin his first job there as well. They worked there as office boys for $28 a week.
An outstanding student, Darin graduated from the prestigious Bronx High School of Science
and went on to attend Hunter College
on a scholarship. Wanting a career in the New York theater, he dropped out of college to play small nightclub
s around the city with a musical combo. In the resort area of the Catskill Mountains
, he was both a busboy and an entertainer. For the most part, the teenage Darin was a comedic drummer and an ambitious but unpolished vocalist.
, who later became a music promoter known as "The Man With the Golden Ear", and launched the careers of Neil Diamond
, Carole King
, and The Monkees
. In 1956 his agent negotiated a contract for him with Decca Records
, where Bill Haley & His Comets
had risen to fame. However, this was a time when rock and roll was still in its infancy, and the number of capable record producers and arrangers in the field was extremely limited.
A member of the now famous Brill Building
gang of once-struggling songwriters who later found success, Darin was introduced to then up-and-coming singer Connie Francis
. Bobby's manager arranged for Darin to help write several songs for Francis in order to help jump-start her career. Initially the two artists couldn't see eye-to-eye on potential material, but after several weeks Bobby and Connie developed a romantic interest. Purportedly, Francis had a very strict Italian father who would separate the couple whenever possible. When Francis's father, who hated Darin intensely, learned that Darin had suggested the two lovers elope after one of her shows, he ran Darin out of the building while waving a gun and telling him never to see his daughter again.
Darin saw Francis only twice more - once when the two were scheduled to sing together on a television show, and again when Francis was spotlighted on the TV series This Is Your Life
. Francis has said that not marrying Darin was the biggest mistake of her life. She alluded to the title of "My First Real Love" (a Darin-Kirshner song she'd recorded and on which Darin had played drums) when she said, "Well, he was my first real love and I never stopped loving him all my life." Francis said too that she and Darin would sometimes go to the Apollo Theater
to see artists like James Brown
and Ray Charles
—'We were the only white people in the audience' -- and when Darin first recorded for Decca early in 1956 it was with a piece of black music, pioneered by the Louisiana songster Leadbelly
, "Rock Island Line
"—though the immediate inspiration was Lonnie Donegan
's skiffle
version. He sang it that year on the CBS
program Stage Show—his TV debut—with the lyrics written on the palms of his hands in case he forgot them... which he did. But the songs recorded at Decca did very little business.
Darin left Decca to sign with Atlantic Records
(ATCO), where he wrote and arranged music for himself and others. Songs he recorded, like Harry Warren
's I Found a Million Dollar Baby, were sung with an Elvis
-like attack, but Darin was not fully equipped to be a teen idol: he worried about his appearance, he was losing his hair, and told Steve Blauner that when he looked in the mirror he saw "an ugly, small Italian man". Yet many attested that on stage he had "absolute charisma". There was talk of releasing Darin from his contract until Atlantic's Turkish-American co-founder Ahmet Ertegun
stepped in. Darin's career took off in 1958 when he wrote and recorded "Splish Splash
", with Ertegun producing. The song was an instant hit, selling more than a million copies. "Splish Splash" was written with radio DJ Murray "Murray the K
" Kaufman, who bet Darin that he could not write a song that started out with the words, "Splish Splash, I was takin' a bath", as suggested by Kaufman's mother. On a snow-bound night in early 1958, Darin went into the studio alone and recorded a demo of "Splish Splash", which featured the sound of Darin taking a bath, and became the first 8-track recording on vinyl. Darin and Kaufman eventually shared writing credit with Kaufman's mother. This was followed by more hits recorded in the same style.
In 1959, Darin recorded the self-penned "Dream Lover
", a ballad that became a multi-million seller. With it came financial success and the ability to demand more creative control
. Some at the label wanted a Fats Domino
-ish album to follow, but Darin's devoted publicist and advisor Harriet "Hesh" Wasser campaigned for a "great, swinging, standard album"; as she later told it, she and Darin were walking down 57th street when Darin told her, "Hesh, don't worry, you'll get your album". His next single, "Mack the Knife
", was the standard from Kurt Weill
's Threepenny Opera
, with Darin giving the tune a vamping jazz-pop interpretation. Although Darin initially opposed releasing it as a single, the song went to No. 1 on the charts for nine weeks, sold two million copies, and won the Grammy Award for Record of the Year
in 1960. Darin was also voted the Grammy Award for Best New Artist
that year. "Mack The Knife" has since been honored with a Grammy Hall of Fame Award
. Ironically, Darin's childhood friend Dick Roman (who was signed to Paramount Records) was offered "Mack The Knife" first, but turned it down because Paramount's Don Costa didn't like the fact that the song was arranged by rival Dick West. Darin followed "Mack" with "Beyond the Sea
", a jazzy English-language version of Charles Trenet's
French hit song "La Mer
".
Both tracks were produced by Atlantic founders Ahmet
and Nesuhi Ertegün
with staff producer Jerry Wexler
and featured brilliant arrangements by Richard Wess. Propelled by the success of "Mack the Knife" and "Beyond the Sea", Darin became a hot commodity. He set all-time attendance records at the famed Copacabana
nightclub in New York City, where it was not unusual for Darin fans to line up around the block. The Copacabana had to fill the dance floor— normally part of the performance area—with extra seating to accommodate Darin's fans. Darin also headlined at the major casino
s in Las Vegas
.
Sammy Davis Jr., an exceptionally multi-talented and dynamic performer himself, was quoted as saying that Bobby Darin was "the only person I never wanted to follow" after seeing him perform in Las Vegas. Davis was among those who appeared on the 1959 telecast of This Is Your Life
, along with George Burns
and relatives and friends, that surprised and honored Darin at NBC
's Burbank, California
studios. Darin had a significant role in fostering new talent. Richard Pryor
, Flip Wilson
and Wayne Newton
opened his nightclub performances when they were virtually unknown. Early on, at the Copacabana, he insisted that black comic George Kirby
be his opening act. His request was grudgingly granted by Jules Podell
, the manager of the Copacabana.
In the 1960s, Darin also owned and operated a highly successful music publishing and production company (TM Music/Trio) and signed Wayne Newton to TM, giving him a song that was originally sent to Darin to record. That record went on to become Newton's breakout hit, "Danke Schoen
". He also was a mentor
to Roger McGuinn
, who worked for Darin at TM Music and played the 12-string guitar in Darin's nightclub band before forming The Byrds
. Darin also produced Rosey Grier
's 1964 LP
, Soul City, and Made in the Shade for Jimmy Boyd
.
In 1962, Darin also began to write and sing country music, with hit songs including "Things
" (US #3/UK #2) (1962), "You're the Reason I'm Living
" (US #3), and "18 Yellow Roses" (US #10). The latter two were on Capitol Records
, which he joined in 1962 before returning to Atlantic four years later. It was in 1966 Darin had his final UK hit single with a version of Tim Hardin's "If I Were A Carpenter", which peaked at #9. He performed the opening and closing songs on the soundtrack of the 1965 Walt Disney
film That Darn Cat!
"Things" was sung by Dean Martin
in the 1967
TV special Movin' With Nancy
, starring Nancy Sinatra
, which was released to home video in 2000.
's short-lived crime drama Dan Raven
, starring Skip Homeier
and set on the Sunset Strip
of West Hollywood
. In 1960, he was the only actor ever to have been signed to five major Hollywood film studios. He wrote music for several films and acted in them as well. In his first major film, Come September
, a romantic comedy
designed to capitalize on his popularity with the teenage and young adult
audience, he co-starred with 18-year-old actress Sandra Dee
. They fell in love and were married in 1960. The couple had one son, Dodd Mitchell Darin (born 1961), and later divorce
d in 1967. Wanting his acting to be taken seriously, Darin took on more meaningful movie roles, and in 1962, he won the Golden Globe Award
for "Most Promising Male Newcomer" for his role in Pressure Point
.
In 1963, Darin was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor
for his role as a shell-shocked
soldier in Captain Newman, M.D.
. At the Cannes Film Festival
, where his records—in particular "Beyond the Sea"—brought him a wide following, he won the French Film Critics Award for best actor.
" as the 1960s progressed and he became more politically active. In 1966, he had another big hit record, but this time with folksinger Tim Hardin
's "If I Were a Carpenter", adding another style to his vast repertoire. The song secured Darin's return to the Top 10 after a two-year absence. Jim (Roger) McGuinn, the future leader of the Byrds, was part of his performing band in the early 1960s. Darin traveled with Robert Kennedy and worked on the politician's 1968 presidential campaign. He was with Kennedy the day he traveled to Los Angeles on June 4, 1968, for the California primary, and was at the Ambassador Hotel later that night when Kennedy was assassinated. Darin was devastated.
Darin sold his house and most of his possessions and lived in seclusion in a trailer near Big Sur
for nearly a year. Coming back to Los Angeles in 1969, Darin started another record company, Direction Records, putting out folk and protest music. He wrote the very popular "Simple Song of Freedom" in 1969. This song was recorded by Tim Hardin, who sang only three out of the four verses of the song. He said of his first Direction album, "The purpose of Direction Records is to seek out statement-makers. The album is solely [composed] of compositions designed to reflect my thoughts on the turbulent aspects of modern society." During this time, he was billed under the name "Bob Darin", grew a mustache, and stopped wearing a hairpiece. Within two years, however, all of this ceased. At the beginning of the 1970s, he continued to act and to record, including several albums with Motown Records
and a couple of films. In January 1971, he underwent his first heart surgery in an attempt to correct some of the heart damage he had lived with since childhood. He spent most of the year recovering from the surgery.
In 1972, he starred in his own television variety show
on NBC
, The Bobby Darin Amusement Company, which ran until his death in 1973. Darin married Andrea Yeager in June 1973. He made TV guest appearances and remained a top draw at Las Vegas, where, owing to his poor health, he was often administered oxygen after his performances.
Darin was an enthusiastic chess
player. His television show included an occasional segment in which he would explain a chess move. He arranged with the United States Chess Federation
to sponsor a grandmaster tournament, with the largest prize fund in history, but the event was canceled after his death.
. This weakened his body and badly affected one of his heart valves. On December 11, Darin entered Cedars-Sinai Medical Center
in Los Angeles for surgery to repair two artificial heart valves he had received in the previous heart operation back in January 1971. On December 19, a five-man surgical team worked for over six hours to repair Darin's damaged heart. Darin died minutes afterward in the recovery room on December 20, 1973, at the age of 37. There were no funeral arrangements. Darin's last wish was that his body be donated to science, and his remains were transferred to UCLA Medical Center shortly after his death.
made the speech for Darin's induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
. In 1999, he was voted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame
. He has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
.
The Righteous Brothers refer to Darin in their song, "Rock and Roll Heaven", a tribute to late musicians released months after Darin's death. As well, Darin's former pianist, Roger Kellaway
, has recorded two albums of Darin's music.
In 1998 PBS aired the acclaimed documentary, Bobby Darin: Beyond the Song, produced by Henry Astor and Jason Cilo.
In a 2003 episode of the NBC
television series American Dreams
, Duncan Sheik
portrays Darin and performs "Beyond the Sea" on American Bandstand
. Brittany Snow's character, Meg Pryor, is assigned as Darin's liaison during the show.
On Monday, May 14, 2007, Darin was awarded a star on the Las Vegas Walk of Stars to honor his contribution to making Las Vegas the "Entertainment Capital of the World" and to acknowledge his reputation as one of the greatest entertainers of the 20th century. The sponsorship fee for this star was raised entirely by fan donations.
In December 2007, Darin was inducted into the Hit Parade Hall of Fame.
Darin had a custom car built called the "Dream Car
", designed by Andy DiDia; the car is on display at the St. Louis Museum of Transportation
.
On December 13, 2009, the Recording Academy announced that Darin would receive a posthumous Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2010 Grammy Awards ceremony.
intended to direct a film based on Darin's life, and had begun preproduction on the project in early 1997. Eventually, he abandoned the project. Subsequently, actor and lifelong Darin fan Kevin Spacey
—along with Darin's son, Dodd—acquired the film rights
. The resultant biopic, "Beyond the Sea", starred Spacey as Darin, with the actor using his own singing voice for the musical numbers, as well as co-writing, co-producing and directing. The film covers much of Darin's life and career, including his marriage to Sandra Dee
, portrayed by Kate Bosworth
. With the consent of the Darin estate, former Darin manager Steve Blauner, and archivist Jimmy Scalia, "Beyond the Sea" opened at the 2004 Toronto International Film Festival. Though Dodd Darin, Sandra Dee, and Blauner responded enthusiastically to Spacey's work and the film was strongly promoted by the studio, "Beyond the Sea" received mixed-to-poor reviews upon wide release, and box office results were disappointing. Some critics praised Spacey's performance, largely owing to his decision to use his own singing voice, and Spacey did receive a Golden Globe Nomination for Best Actor—Motion Picture Musical or Comedy, but he lost to Jamie Foxx.
The film also spurred a renewed interest in Darin, resulting in the issue of previously unreleased Darin music.
"Early In The Morning":
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
singer, actor and musician.
Darin performed in a range of music genres, including pop, rock, jazz, folk and country. Although unknown to the public, his health was dangerously fragile and this motivated him to succeed within the limited lifetime he feared he would, and ultimately did, have.
In 1960 after romancing singer Connie Francis
Connie Francis
Connie Francis is an American pop singer of Italian heritage and the top-charting female vocalist of the 1950s and 1960s. Although her chart success waned in the second half of the 1960s, Francis remained a top concert draw...
, and being run out of the house by her strict Italian father, with a shotgun, breaking her heart, Darin married "Gidget" actress Sandra Dee
Sandra Dee
Sandra Dee was an American actress. Dee began her career as a model and progressed to film. Best known for her portrayal of ingenues, Dee won a Golden Globe Award in 1959 as one of the year's most promising newcomers, and over several years her films were popular...
, whom he met while making his first film Come September
Come September
For the Natalie Imbruglia song, see Come September .Come September is a 1961 romantic comedy film directed by Robert Mulligan, and starring Rock Hudson, Gina Lollobrigida, Sandra Dee and Bobby Darin.-Plot:...
(1961). They made a few more movies together at Universal Studios that were moderately successful. They had one son, Dodd Mitchell Darin (also known as Morgan Mitchell Darin) before divorcing in 1967.
He was also an actor, singer/songwriter and music business entrepreneur. His wish for a legacy was "to be remembered as a human being and as a great performer." Among his many other contributions, he became a goodwill ambassador for the American Heart Association
American Heart Association
The American Heart Association is a non-profit organization in the United States that fosters appropriate cardiac care in an effort to reduce disability and deaths caused by cardiovascular disease and stroke. It is headquartered in Dallas, Texas...
.
Early years
Bobby Darin was born in The BronxThe Bronx
The Bronx is the northernmost of the five boroughs of New York City. It is also known as Bronx County, the last of the 62 counties of New York State to be incorporated...
to a poor, working-class family of Italian descent. The person he believed to be his father (who was actually his grandfather, Saverio Antonio Cassotto) died in jail a few months before he was born. It was the height of the Great Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
, and Darin once remarked that his crib was a cardboard box, then later a dresser drawer. He was initially raised by his Anglo-American mother Vivian Fern (Walden) Cassotto, who was called Polly, and his sister Giovannina Juliette "Nina" Cassotto, subsisting on Home Relief until Nina later married and started a family with her new husband, Charlie Maffia. It was not until he was 32-years old, in 1968, when Darin, preparing to play a nightclub in New Jersey, was told by Nina, 19 years his senior, that she was, in fact, his birth mother, and that Polly, whom he thought was his mother, was really his grandmother. Nina refused to tell him the identity of his real father, other than that his birth father had no idea Nina was pregnant, and thus never knew that Nina gave birth to his son. Though Nina claimed she told him for her fear of the truth coming out by opponents if he considered entering politics, Darin would never forgive her for this deception and his remaining 5 years of life after this shocking revelation would never be the same again. Polly mothered him well, despite her own medical history resulting in her addiction to morphine
Morphine
Morphine is a potent opiate analgesic medication and is considered to be the prototypical opioid. It was first isolated in 1804 by Friedrich Sertürner, first distributed by same in 1817, and first commercially sold by Merck in 1827, which at the time was a single small chemists' shop. It was more...
. It was Polly who took the young Bobby to what was left of the old vaudeville
Vaudeville
Vaudeville was a theatrical genre of variety entertainment in the United States and Canada from the early 1880s until the early 1930s. Each performance was made up of a series of separate, unrelated acts grouped together on a common bill...
circuit in New York and places like the Bronx Opera House, and the RKO Jefferson in Manhattan, where he received his first show business inspiration, and where he saw performers like Sophie Tucker
Sophie Tucker
Sophie Tucker was a Russian/Ukrainian-born American singer and actress. Known for her stentorian delivery of comical and risqué songs, she was one of the most popular entertainers in America during the first half of the 20th century...
, whom he loved.
Darin was frail and sickly as an infant and, beginning at the age of 8, was stricken with recurring bouts of rheumatic fever
Rheumatic fever
Rheumatic fever is an inflammatory disease that occurs following a Streptococcus pyogenes infection, such as strep throat or scarlet fever. Believed to be caused by antibody cross-reactivity that can involve the heart, joints, skin, and brain, the illness typically develops two to three weeks after...
, an illness that left him with a seriously weakened heart. Overhearing a doctor tell his mother he would be lucky to reach the age of 16, Darin lived with the constant knowledge that his life might be short, which further motivated him to use his talents. He was driven by his poverty and illness to make something of his life and, with his innate talent for music
Music
Music is an art form whose medium is sound and silence. Its common elements are pitch , rhythm , dynamics, and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture...
, by the time he was a teenager he could play several instruments, including piano
Piano
The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
, drums
Drum kit
A drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
and guitar
Guitar
The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
. He later added harmonica
Harmonica
The harmonica, also called harp, French harp, blues harp, and mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used primarily in blues and American folk music, jazz, country, and rock and roll. It is played by blowing air into it or drawing air out by placing lips over individual holes or multiple holes...
and xylophone
Xylophone
The xylophone is a musical instrument in the percussion family that consists of wooden bars struck by mallets...
. Darin's best friend during childhood was fellow singer, Dick Roman. Roman, who as a teen worked for the Borden milk company, got Darin his first job there as well. They worked there as office boys for $28 a week.
An outstanding student, Darin graduated from the prestigious Bronx High School of Science
Bronx High School of Science
The Bronx High School of Science is a specialized New York City public high school often considered the premier science magnet school in the United States. Founded in 1938, it is now located in the Bedford Park section of the Bronx...
and went on to attend Hunter College
Hunter College
Hunter College, established in 1870, is a public university and one of the constituent colleges of the City University of New York, located on Manhattan's Upper East Side. Hunter grants undergraduate, graduate, and post-graduate degrees in more than one hundred fields of study, and is recognized...
on a scholarship. Wanting a career in the New York theater, he dropped out of college to play small nightclub
Nightclub
A nightclub is an entertainment venue which usually operates late into the night...
s around the city with a musical combo. In the resort area of the Catskill Mountains
Catskill Mountains
The Catskill Mountains, an area in New York State northwest of New York City and southwest of Albany, are a mature dissected plateau, an uplifted region that was subsequently eroded into sharp relief. They are an eastward continuation, and the highest representation, of the Allegheny Plateau...
, he was both a busboy and an entertainer. For the most part, the teenage Darin was a comedic drummer and an ambitious but unpolished vocalist.
Music career
Allegedly adopting the name Bobby Darin after seeing a Chinese restaurant sign reading "[MAN]DARIN DUCK", what really moved things along for Darin was his songwriting partnership, formed in 1955 with fellow Bronx High School of Science student Don KirshnerDon Kirshner
Don Kirshner , known as "The Man With the Golden Ear", was an American song publisher and rock producer who is best known for managing songwriting talent as well as successful pop groups, such as The Monkees, Kansas and The Archies.-Early life:Don Kirshner was born to Gilbert Kirshner, a tailor,...
, who later became a music promoter known as "The Man With the Golden Ear", and launched the careers of Neil Diamond
Neil Diamond
Neil Leslie Diamond is an American singer-songwriter with a career spanning over five decades from the 1960s until the present....
, Carole King
Carole King
Carole King is an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. King and her former husband Gerry Goffin wrote more than two dozen chart hits for numerous artists during the 1960s, many of which have become standards. As a singer, King had an album, Tapestry, top the U.S...
, and The Monkees
The Monkees
The Monkees are an American pop rock group. Assembled in Los Angeles in 1966 by Robert "Bob" Rafelson and Bert Schneider for the American television series The Monkees, which aired from 1966 to 1968, the musical acting quartet was composed of Americans Micky Dolenz, Michael Nesmith and Peter Tork,...
. In 1956 his agent negotiated a contract for him with Decca Records
Decca Records
Decca Records began as a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis. Its U.S. label was established in late 1934; however, owing to World War II, the link with the British company was broken for several decades....
, where Bill Haley & His Comets
Bill Haley & His Comets
Bill Haley & His Comets was an American rock and roll band that was founded in 1952 and continued until Haley's death in 1981. The band, also known by the names Bill Haley and The Comets and Bill Haley's Comets , was the earliest group of white musicians to bring rock and roll to the attention of...
had risen to fame. However, this was a time when rock and roll was still in its infancy, and the number of capable record producers and arrangers in the field was extremely limited.
A member of the now famous Brill Building
Brill Building
The Brill Building is an office building located at 1619 Broadway on 49th Street in the New York City borough of Manhattan, just north of Times Square and further uptown from the historic musical Tin Pan Alley neighborhood...
gang of once-struggling songwriters who later found success, Darin was introduced to then up-and-coming singer Connie Francis
Connie Francis
Connie Francis is an American pop singer of Italian heritage and the top-charting female vocalist of the 1950s and 1960s. Although her chart success waned in the second half of the 1960s, Francis remained a top concert draw...
. Bobby's manager arranged for Darin to help write several songs for Francis in order to help jump-start her career. Initially the two artists couldn't see eye-to-eye on potential material, but after several weeks Bobby and Connie developed a romantic interest. Purportedly, Francis had a very strict Italian father who would separate the couple whenever possible. When Francis's father, who hated Darin intensely, learned that Darin had suggested the two lovers elope after one of her shows, he ran Darin out of the building while waving a gun and telling him never to see his daughter again.
Darin saw Francis only twice more - once when the two were scheduled to sing together on a television show, and again when Francis was spotlighted on the TV series This Is Your Life
This Is Your Life
This Is Your Life is an American television documentary series broadcast on NBC, originally hosted by its producer, Ralph Edwards from 1952 to 1961. In the show, the host surprises a guest, and proceeds to take them through their life in front of an audience including friends and family.Edwards...
. Francis has said that not marrying Darin was the biggest mistake of her life. She alluded to the title of "My First Real Love" (a Darin-Kirshner song she'd recorded and on which Darin had played drums) when she said, "Well, he was my first real love and I never stopped loving him all my life." Francis said too that she and Darin would sometimes go to the Apollo Theater
Apollo Theater
The Apollo Theater in New York City is one of the most famous, and older, music halls in the United States, and the most famous club associated almost exclusively with Black performers...
to see artists like James Brown
James Brown
James Joseph Brown was an American singer, songwriter, musician, and recording artist. He is the originator of Funk and is recognized as a major figure in the 20th century popular music for both his vocals and dancing. He has been referred to as "The Godfather of Soul," "Mr...
and Ray Charles
Ray Charles
Ray Charles Robinson , known by his shortened stage name Ray Charles, was an American musician. He was a pioneer in the genre of soul music during the 1950s by fusing rhythm and blues, gospel, and blues styles into his early recordings with Atlantic Records...
—'We were the only white people in the audience' -- and when Darin first recorded for Decca early in 1956 it was with a piece of black music, pioneered by the Louisiana songster Leadbelly
Leadbelly
Huddie William Ledbetter was an iconic American folk and blues musician, notable for his strong vocals, his virtuosity on the twelve-string guitar, and the songbook of folk standards he introduced....
, "Rock Island Line
Rock Island Line (song)
"Rock Island Line" is an American blues/folk song first recorded by John Lomax in 1934 as sung by inmates in an Arkansas State Prison, and later popularized by Lead Belly. Many versions have been recorded by other artists, most significantly the world-wide hit version in the mid-1950s by Lonnie...
"—though the immediate inspiration was Lonnie Donegan
Lonnie Donegan
Anthony James "Lonnie" Donegan MBE was a skiffle musician, with more than 20 UK Top 30 hits to his name. He is known as the "King of Skiffle" and is often cited as a large influence on the generation of British musicians who became famous in the 1960s...
's skiffle
Skiffle
Skiffle is a type of popular music with jazz, blues, folk, roots and country influences, usually using homemade or improvised instruments. Originating as a term in the United States in the first half of the twentieth century, it became popular again in the UK in the 1950s, where it was mainly...
version. He sang it that year on the CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
program Stage Show—his TV debut—with the lyrics written on the palms of his hands in case he forgot them... which he did. But the songs recorded at Decca did very little business.
Darin left Decca to sign with Atlantic Records
Atlantic Records
Atlantic Records is an American record label best known for its many recordings of rhythm and blues, rock and roll, and jazz...
(ATCO), where he wrote and arranged music for himself and others. Songs he recorded, like Harry Warren
Harry Warren
Harry Warren was an American composer and lyricist. Warren was the first major American songwriter to write primarily for film. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Song eleven times and won three Oscars for composing "Lullaby of Broadway", "You'll Never Know" and "On the Atchison,...
's I Found a Million Dollar Baby, were sung with an Elvis
Elvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley was one of the most popular American singers of the 20th century. A cultural icon, he is widely known by the single name Elvis. He is often referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll" or simply "the King"....
-like attack, but Darin was not fully equipped to be a teen idol: he worried about his appearance, he was losing his hair, and told Steve Blauner that when he looked in the mirror he saw "an ugly, small Italian man". Yet many attested that on stage he had "absolute charisma". There was talk of releasing Darin from his contract until Atlantic's Turkish-American co-founder Ahmet Ertegun
Ahmet Ertegun
Ahmet Ertegün was a Turkish American musician and businessman, best known as the founder and president of Atlantic Records. He also wrote classic blues and pop songs and served as Chairman of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and museum...
stepped in. Darin's career took off in 1958 when he wrote and recorded "Splish Splash
Splish Splash (song)
"Splish Splash" is a 1958 song performed and co-written by Bobby Darin. It was written with DJ Murray the K , who bet that Darin couldn't write a song that began with the words, "Splish Splash, I was takin' a bath", as suggested by Murray's mother, Jean Kaufman. The song was credited to Darin and...
", with Ertegun producing. The song was an instant hit, selling more than a million copies. "Splish Splash" was written with radio DJ Murray "Murray the K
Murray the K
Murray Kaufman , professionally known as Murray the K, was an influential rock and roll impresario and disc jockey of the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s...
" Kaufman, who bet Darin that he could not write a song that started out with the words, "Splish Splash, I was takin' a bath", as suggested by Kaufman's mother. On a snow-bound night in early 1958, Darin went into the studio alone and recorded a demo of "Splish Splash", which featured the sound of Darin taking a bath, and became the first 8-track recording on vinyl. Darin and Kaufman eventually shared writing credit with Kaufman's mother. This was followed by more hits recorded in the same style.
In 1959, Darin recorded the self-penned "Dream Lover
Dream Lover
"Dream Lover" is a song written and recorded by Bobby Darin on March 5, 1959. It was produced by Ahmet Ertegun and Jerry Wexler and engineered by Tom Dowd. It is considered a soulful rock song. The song became a multi-million seller, reaching #2 in US charts and was #1 in UK for three weeks during...
", a ballad that became a multi-million seller. With it came financial success and the ability to demand more creative control
Artistic control
Artistic control or Creative Control is a term commonly used in media production, such as movies, television, and music production. A person with artistic control has the authority to decide how the final product will appear. In movies, this commonly refers to the authority to decide on the final...
. Some at the label wanted a Fats Domino
Fats Domino
Antoine Dominique "Fats" Domino, Jr. is an American R&B and rock and roll pianist and singer-songwriter. He was born and raised in New Orleans, Louisiana, and Creole was his first language....
-ish album to follow, but Darin's devoted publicist and advisor Harriet "Hesh" Wasser campaigned for a "great, swinging, standard album"; as she later told it, she and Darin were walking down 57th street when Darin told her, "Hesh, don't worry, you'll get your album". His next single, "Mack the Knife
Mack the Knife
"Mack the Knife" or "The Ballad of Mack the Knife", originally "Die Moritat von Mackie Messer", is a song composed by Kurt Weill with lyrics by Bertolt Brecht for their music drama Die Dreigroschenoper, or, as it is known in English, The Threepenny Opera. It premiered in Berlin in 1928 at the...
", was the standard from Kurt Weill
Kurt Weill
Kurt Julian Weill was a German-Jewish composer, active from the 1920s, and in his later years in the United States. He was a leading composer for the stage who was best known for his fruitful collaborations with Bertolt Brecht...
's Threepenny Opera
The Threepenny Opera
The Threepenny Opera is a musical by German dramatist Bertolt Brecht and composer Kurt Weill, in collaboration with translator Elisabeth Hauptmann and set designer Caspar Neher. It was adapted from an 18th-century English ballad opera, John Gay's The Beggar's Opera, and offers a Marxist critique...
, with Darin giving the tune a vamping jazz-pop interpretation. Although Darin initially opposed releasing it as a single, the song went to No. 1 on the charts for nine weeks, sold two million copies, and won the Grammy Award for Record of the Year
Grammy Award for Record of the Year
The Record of the Year is one of the four most prestigious Grammy Awards presented annually. It has been awarded since 1959.-History:The honorees through its history have been:*1959-1965: Artist only.*1966-1998: Artist and producer....
in 1960. Darin was also voted the Grammy Award for Best New Artist
Grammy Award for Best New Artist
The Grammy Award for Best New Artist has been awarded since 1959. Years reflect the year in which the Grammy Awards were handed out, for records released in the previous year. The award was not presented in 1967...
that year. "Mack The Knife" has since been honored with a Grammy Hall of Fame Award
Grammy Hall of Fame Award
The Grammy Hall of Fame Award is a special Grammy award established in 1973 to honor recordings that are at least twenty-five years old and that have "qualitative or historical significance"...
. Ironically, Darin's childhood friend Dick Roman (who was signed to Paramount Records) was offered "Mack The Knife" first, but turned it down because Paramount's Don Costa didn't like the fact that the song was arranged by rival Dick West. Darin followed "Mack" with "Beyond the Sea
Beyond the Sea (song)
"Beyond the Sea" is a 1946 contemporary pop song with music taken from the song "La Mer" by Charles Trenet and lyrics by Jack Lawrence.Trenet had composed "La Mer" with French lyrics totally different and unrelated to the English language version that Lawrence composed...
", a jazzy English-language version of Charles Trenet's
Charles Trenet
Charles Trenet was a French singer and songwriter, most famous for his recordings from the late 1930s until the mid-1950s, though his career continued through the 1990s...
French hit song "La Mer
La Mer (song)
Trenet wrote the lyrics of "La Mer" on a train in 1943 while travelling along the French Mediterranean coast, returning from Paris to Narbonne. He supposedly wrote the song in ten minutes, on toilet paper supplied by SNCF. He was assisted with the tune by Leo Chauliac. It was originally published...
".
Both tracks were produced by Atlantic founders Ahmet
Ahmet Ertegun
Ahmet Ertegün was a Turkish American musician and businessman, best known as the founder and president of Atlantic Records. He also wrote classic blues and pop songs and served as Chairman of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and museum...
and Nesuhi Ertegün
Nesuhi Ertegun
Nesuhi Ertegun was a Turkish record producer and executive of Atlantic Records and WEA International.-Background:Born in Istanbul, Turkey, Nesuhi and his family, including younger brother Ahmet, moved to Washington, D.C...
with staff producer Jerry Wexler
Jerry Wexler
Gerald "Jerry" Wexler was a music journalist turned music producer, and was regarded as one of the major record industry players behind music from the 1950s through the 1980s...
and featured brilliant arrangements by Richard Wess. Propelled by the success of "Mack the Knife" and "Beyond the Sea", Darin became a hot commodity. He set all-time attendance records at the famed Copacabana
Copacabana (nightclub)
The Copacabana is a famous New York City nightclub. Many entertainers, among them Danny Thomas, Pat Cooper and the comedy team of Martin and Lewis, made their debuts at the Copacabana. The 1978 Barry Manilow song "Copacabana" is named after, and is about the nightclub. Part of the 2003 Yerba...
nightclub in New York City, where it was not unusual for Darin fans to line up around the block. The Copacabana had to fill the dance floor— normally part of the performance area—with extra seating to accommodate Darin's fans. Darin also headlined at the major casino
Casino
In modern English, a casino is a facility which houses and accommodates certain types of gambling activities. Casinos are most commonly built near or combined with hotels, restaurants, retail shopping, cruise ships or other tourist attractions...
s in Las Vegas
Las Vegas Strip
The Las Vegas Strip is an approximately stretch of Las Vegas Boulevard in Clark County, Nevada; adjacent to, but outside the city limits of Las Vegas proper. The Strip lies within the unincorporated townships of Paradise and Winchester...
.
Sammy Davis Jr., an exceptionally multi-talented and dynamic performer himself, was quoted as saying that Bobby Darin was "the only person I never wanted to follow" after seeing him perform in Las Vegas. Davis was among those who appeared on the 1959 telecast of This Is Your Life
This Is Your Life
This Is Your Life is an American television documentary series broadcast on NBC, originally hosted by its producer, Ralph Edwards from 1952 to 1961. In the show, the host surprises a guest, and proceeds to take them through their life in front of an audience including friends and family.Edwards...
, along with George Burns
George Burns
George Burns , born Nathan Birnbaum, was an American comedian, actor, and writer.He was one of the few entertainers whose career successfully spanned vaudeville, film, radio, television and movies, with and without his wife, Gracie Allen. His arched eyebrow and cigar smoke punctuation became...
and relatives and friends, that surprised and honored Darin at NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
's Burbank, California
Burbank, California
Burbank is a city in Los Angeles County in Southern California, United States, north of downtown Los Angeles. The estimated population in 2010 was 103,340....
studios. Darin had a significant role in fostering new talent. Richard Pryor
Richard Pryor
Richard Franklin Lennox Thomas Pryor was an American stand-up comedian, actor, social critic, writer and MC. Pryor was known for uncompromising examinations of racism and topical contemporary issues, which employed colorful vulgarities, and profanity, as well as racial epithets...
, Flip Wilson
Flip Wilson
Clerow Wilson, Jr. , known professionally as Flip Wilson, was an American comedian and actor. In the early 1970s, Wilson hosted his own weekly variety series, The Flip Wilson Show...
and Wayne Newton
Wayne Newton
Wayne Newton is an American singer and entertainer based in Las Vegas, Nevada. He performed over 30,000 solo shows in Las Vegas over a period of over 40 years, earning him the nicknames The Midnight Idol, Mr. Las Vegas and Mr. Entertainment...
opened his nightclub performances when they were virtually unknown. Early on, at the Copacabana, he insisted that black comic George Kirby
George Kirby
George Kirby was an American comedian, singer, and actor from Chicago, Illinois.Kirby broke into show business in the 1940s at the Club DeLisa, a South Side establishment that employed a variety-show format and preferred to hire local singers, dancers, and comedians...
be his opening act. His request was grudgingly granted by Jules Podell
Jules Podell
Jules Podell was a former speakeasy operator who ran the Copacabana nightclub in New York. Although it was opened in 1940 by Monte Proser, Podell was put in place by mob boss Frank Costello, Proser's partner. By 1950 Podell was making all the decisions and Proser was gone...
, the manager of the Copacabana.
In the 1960s, Darin also owned and operated a highly successful music publishing and production company (TM Music/Trio) and signed Wayne Newton to TM, giving him a song that was originally sent to Darin to record. That record went on to become Newton's breakout hit, "Danke Schoen
Danke Schoen
"Danke Schoen" is a 1962 song first recorded by Bert Kaempfert; however, it gained its fame in 1963 when American singer Wayne Newton recorded his version of it. The music was composed by Bert Kaempfert, with the lyrics written by Kurt Schwaback and Milt Gabler....
". He also was a mentor
Mentor
In Greek mythology, Mentor was the son of Alcimus or Anchialus. In his old age Mentor was a friend of Odysseus who placed Mentor and Odysseus' foster-brother Eumaeus in charge of his son Telemachus, and of Odysseus' palace, when Odysseus left for the Trojan War.When Athena visited Telemachus she...
to Roger McGuinn
Roger McGuinn
James Roger McGuinn is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist. He is best known for being the lead singer and lead guitarist on many of The Byrds' records...
, who worked for Darin at TM Music and played the 12-string guitar in Darin's nightclub band before forming The Byrds
The Byrds
The Byrds were an American rock band, formed in Los Angeles, California in 1964. The band underwent multiple line-up changes throughout its existence, with frontman Roger McGuinn remaining the sole consistent member until the group disbanded in 1973...
. Darin also produced Rosey Grier
Rosey Grier
Roosevelt "Rosey" Grier is an American actor, singer, Christian minister, and former professional American football player. He was a notable college football player for Pennsylvania State University who earned a retrospective place in the National Collegiate Athletic Association 100th anniversary...
's 1964 LP
LP album
The LP, or long-playing microgroove record, is a format for phonograph records, an analog sound storage medium. Introduced by Columbia Records in 1948, it was soon adopted as a new standard by the entire record industry...
, Soul City, and Made in the Shade for Jimmy Boyd
Jimmy Boyd
Jimmy Boyd was an American singer, musician, and actor. He was best known for his recording of the novelty song "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus".-Early years:...
.
In 1962, Darin also began to write and sing country music, with hit songs including "Things
Things (1962 song)
Things was a song written by Bobby Darin in 1962. It reached #3 in the U.S., and #2 in the UK.In 1962, Darin also began to write and sing country music, with hit songs including Things . It was the final Darin single released on the Atco Records unit of Atlantic Records before he began recording...
" (US #3/UK #2) (1962), "You're the Reason I'm Living
You're the Reason I'm Living
"You're the Reason I'm Living"" is a 1963 single by Bobby Darin from his album of the same name This was Darin's first single for Capitol Records after leaving Atlantic Records in 1962. The single was very successful spending 3 weeks at # 3 on Billboard's Hot 100 singles chart....
" (US #3), and "18 Yellow Roses" (US #10). The latter two were on Capitol Records
Capitol Records
Capitol Records is a major United States based record label, formerly located in Los Angeles, but operating in New York City as part of Capitol Music Group. Its former headquarters building, the Capitol Tower, is a major landmark near the corner of Hollywood and Vine...
, which he joined in 1962 before returning to Atlantic four years later. It was in 1966 Darin had his final UK hit single with a version of Tim Hardin's "If I Were A Carpenter", which peaked at #9. He performed the opening and closing songs on the soundtrack of the 1965 Walt Disney
Walt Disney
Walter Elias "Walt" Disney was an American film producer, director, screenwriter, voice actor, animator, entrepreneur, entertainer, international icon, and philanthropist, well-known for his influence in the field of entertainment during the 20th century. Along with his brother Roy O...
film That Darn Cat!
That Darn Cat!
That Darn Cat! is a 1965 American Walt Disney Productions feature film starring Hayley Mills and Dean Jones, starring in his first film for Disney in a story about bank robbers, a kidnapping and a mischievous cat. The film was based on the book Undercover Cat by Gordon and Mildred Gordon and was...
"Things" was sung by Dean Martin
Dean Martin
Dean Martin was an American singer, film actor, television star and comedian. Martin's hit singles included "Memories Are Made of This", "That's Amore", "Everybody Loves Somebody", "You're Nobody till Somebody Loves You", "Sway", "Volare" and "Ain't That a Kick in the Head?"...
in the 1967
1967 in television
The year 1967 in television involved some significant events.Below is a list of television-related events in 1967.For the American TV schedule, see: 1967-68 American network television schedule.-Events:...
TV special Movin' With Nancy
Movin' With Nancy
Movin' With Nancy was a television special featuring Nancy Sinatra in a series of musical vignettes featuring herself and other artists. Produced by Nancy's production company, Boots Enterprises, Inc., and sponsored by Royal Crown Cola, the show was originally broadcast on the NBC television...
, starring Nancy Sinatra
Nancy Sinatra
Nancy Sandra Sinatra is an American singer and actress. She is the daughter of singer/actor Frank Sinatra, and remains best known for her 1966 signature hit "These Boots Are Made for Walkin'"....
, which was released to home video in 2000.
Acting career
Darin became a film actor. In 1960, he appeared twice as himself in NBCNBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
's short-lived crime drama Dan Raven
Dan Raven
Dan Raven is a crime drama starring Skip Homeier , a former child actor in films, which aired on NBC between January 23, 1960, and January 6, 1961. The setting of the series is the famous Sunset Strip of West Hollywood, California...
, starring Skip Homeier
Skip Homeier
-Career:Homeier began acting as Skippy Homeier at the age of six, on the radio show Portia Faces Life. From 1943 until 1944 he played the role of Emil in the Broadway play, Tomorrow the World. Cast as a child indoctrinated into Nazism, who is brought to the United States from Germany following the...
and set on the Sunset Strip
Sunset Strip
The Sunset Strip is the name given to the mile-and-a-half stretch of Sunset Boulevard that passes through West Hollywood, California. It extends from West Hollywood's eastern border with Hollywood at Harper Avenue, to its western border with Beverly Hills at Sierra Drive...
of West Hollywood
West Hollywood, California
West Hollywood, a city of Los Angeles County, California, was incorporated on November 29, 1984, with a population of 34,399 at the 2010 census. 41% of the city's population is made up of gay men according to a 2002 demographic analysis by Sara Kocher Consulting for the City of West Hollywood...
. In 1960, he was the only actor ever to have been signed to five major Hollywood film studios. He wrote music for several films and acted in them as well. In his first major film, Come September
Come September
For the Natalie Imbruglia song, see Come September .Come September is a 1961 romantic comedy film directed by Robert Mulligan, and starring Rock Hudson, Gina Lollobrigida, Sandra Dee and Bobby Darin.-Plot:...
, a romantic comedy
Romantic Comedy
Romantic Comedy can refer to* Romantic Comedy , a 1979 play written by Bernard Slade* Romantic Comedy , a 1983 film adapted from the play and starring Dudley Moore and Mary Steenburgen...
designed to capitalize on his popularity with the teenage and young adult
Young adult (psychology)
A young adult, according to Erik Erikson's stages of human development, is generally a person between the age of 20 - 40, whereas an adolescent is a person between the age of 13 - 19, although definitions and opinions vary. The young adult stage in human development precedes middle adulthood. A...
audience, he co-starred with 18-year-old actress Sandra Dee
Sandra Dee
Sandra Dee was an American actress. Dee began her career as a model and progressed to film. Best known for her portrayal of ingenues, Dee won a Golden Globe Award in 1959 as one of the year's most promising newcomers, and over several years her films were popular...
. They fell in love and were married in 1960. The couple had one son, Dodd Mitchell Darin (born 1961), and later divorce
Divorce
Divorce is the final termination of a marital union, canceling the legal duties and responsibilities of marriage and dissolving the bonds of matrimony between the parties...
d in 1967. Wanting his acting to be taken seriously, Darin took on more meaningful movie roles, and in 1962, he won the Golden Globe Award
Golden Globe Award
The Golden Globe Award is an accolade bestowed by the 93 members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association recognizing excellence in film and television, both domestic and foreign...
for "Most Promising Male Newcomer" for his role in Pressure Point
Pressure Point (film)
Pressure Point is a 1962 drama film about a black prison psychiatrist who is called upon to treat a Nazi sympathizer during World War II. It stars Sidney Poitier and Bobby Darin. The film was based on the short story "Destiny's Tot" by Robert Lindner....
.
In 1963, Darin was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor
Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor
Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actor who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry. Since its inception, however, the...
for his role as a shell-shocked
Post-traumatic stress disorder
Posttraumaticstress disorder is a severe anxiety disorder that can develop after exposure to any event that results in psychological trauma. This event may involve the threat of death to oneself or to someone else, or to one's own or someone else's physical, sexual, or psychological integrity,...
soldier in Captain Newman, M.D.
Captain Newman, M.D.
Captain Newman, M.D. is a 1963 film starring Gregory Peck, Tony Curtis, Angie Dickinson, Robert Duvall, Eddie Albert and Bobby Darin. It was directed by David Miller and filmed on location at Fort Huachuca, Arizona....
. At the Cannes Film Festival
Cannes Film Festival
The Cannes International Film Festival , is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films of all genres including documentaries from around the world. Founded in 1946, it is among the world's most prestigious and publicized film festivals...
, where his records—in particular "Beyond the Sea"—brought him a wide following, he won the French Film Critics Award for best actor.
Later years
Darin's musical output became more "folkyFolk music
Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....
" as the 1960s progressed and he became more politically active. In 1966, he had another big hit record, but this time with folksinger Tim Hardin
Tim Hardin
James Timothy "Tim" Hardin was an American folk musician and composer. He wrote the Top 40 hits "If I Were a Carpenter", covered by, among others, Joan Baez, Bobby Darin, Johnny Cash, Ramblin' Jack Elliot, and Robert Plant, and "Reason to Believe", covered by many, including Rod Stewart, as well...
's "If I Were a Carpenter", adding another style to his vast repertoire. The song secured Darin's return to the Top 10 after a two-year absence. Jim (Roger) McGuinn, the future leader of the Byrds, was part of his performing band in the early 1960s. Darin traveled with Robert Kennedy and worked on the politician's 1968 presidential campaign. He was with Kennedy the day he traveled to Los Angeles on June 4, 1968, for the California primary, and was at the Ambassador Hotel later that night when Kennedy was assassinated. Darin was devastated.
Darin sold his house and most of his possessions and lived in seclusion in a trailer near Big Sur
Big Sur
Big Sur is a sparsely populated region of the Central Coast of California where the Santa Lucia Mountains rise abruptly from the Pacific Ocean. The name "Big Sur" is derived from the original Spanish-language "el sur grande", meaning "the big south", or from "el país grande del sur", "the big...
for nearly a year. Coming back to Los Angeles in 1969, Darin started another record company, Direction Records, putting out folk and protest music. He wrote the very popular "Simple Song of Freedom" in 1969. This song was recorded by Tim Hardin, who sang only three out of the four verses of the song. He said of his first Direction album, "The purpose of Direction Records is to seek out statement-makers. The album is solely [composed] of compositions designed to reflect my thoughts on the turbulent aspects of modern society." During this time, he was billed under the name "Bob Darin", grew a mustache, and stopped wearing a hairpiece. Within two years, however, all of this ceased. At the beginning of the 1970s, he continued to act and to record, including several albums with Motown Records
Motown Records
Motown is a record label originally founded by Berry Gordy, Jr. and incorporated as Motown Record Corporation in Detroit, Michigan, United States, on April 14, 1960. The name, a portmanteau of motor and town, is also a nickname for Detroit...
and a couple of films. In January 1971, he underwent his first heart surgery in an attempt to correct some of the heart damage he had lived with since childhood. He spent most of the year recovering from the surgery.
In 1972, he starred in his own television variety show
Variety show
A variety show, also known as variety arts or variety entertainment, is an entertainment made up of a variety of acts, especially musical performances and sketch comedy, and normally introduced by a compère or host. Other types of acts include magic, animal and circus acts, acrobatics, juggling...
on NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
, The Bobby Darin Amusement Company, which ran until his death in 1973. Darin married Andrea Yeager in June 1973. He made TV guest appearances and remained a top draw at Las Vegas, where, owing to his poor health, he was often administered oxygen after his performances.
Darin was an enthusiastic chess
Chess
Chess is a two-player board game played on a chessboard, a square-checkered board with 64 squares arranged in an eight-by-eight grid. It is one of the world's most popular games, played by millions of people worldwide at home, in clubs, online, by correspondence, and in tournaments.Each player...
player. His television show included an occasional segment in which he would explain a chess move. He arranged with the United States Chess Federation
United States Chess Federation
The United States Chess Federation is a non-profit organization, the governing chess organization within the United States, and one of the federations of the FIDE. The USCF was founded in 1939 from the merger of two regional chess organizations, and grew gradually until 1972, when membership...
to sponsor a grandmaster tournament, with the largest prize fund in history, but the event was canceled after his death.
Death
In 1973, Darin's ill health took a turn for the worse. After failing to take medication to protect his heart before a dental visit, he developed an overwhelming systemic infection, otherwise known as sepsisSepsis
Sepsis is a potentially deadly medical condition that is characterized by a whole-body inflammatory state and the presence of a known or suspected infection. The body may develop this inflammatory response by the immune system to microbes in the blood, urine, lungs, skin, or other tissues...
. This weakened his body and badly affected one of his heart valves. On December 11, Darin entered Cedars-Sinai Medical Center
Cedars-Sinai Medical Center
Originally established as Kaspare Cohn Hospital in 1902, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center is a non-profit, tertiary 958-bed hospital and multi-specialty academic health science centre located in Los Angeles, California, US. Part of the Cedars-Sinai Health System, the hospital employs a staff of over...
in Los Angeles for surgery to repair two artificial heart valves he had received in the previous heart operation back in January 1971. On December 19, a five-man surgical team worked for over six hours to repair Darin's damaged heart. Darin died minutes afterward in the recovery room on December 20, 1973, at the age of 37. There were no funeral arrangements. Darin's last wish was that his body be donated to science, and his remains were transferred to UCLA Medical Center shortly after his death.
Legacy
In 1990, singer Paul AnkaPaul Anka
Paul Albert Anka, is a Canadian singer, songwriter, and actor.Anka first became famous as a teen idol in the late 1950s and 1960s with hit songs like "Diana'", "Lonely Boy", and "Put Your Head on My Shoulder"...
made the speech for Darin's induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum is a museum located on the shore of Lake Erie in downtown Cleveland, Ohio, United States. It is dedicated to archiving the history of some of the best-known and most influential artists, producers, engineers and others who have, in some major way,...
. In 1999, he was voted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame
Songwriters Hall of Fame
The Songwriters Hall of Fame is an arm of the National Academy of Popular Music. It was founded in 1969 by songwriter Johnny Mercer and music publishers Abe Olman and Howie Richmond. The goal is to create a museum but as of April, 2008, the means do not yet exist and so instead it is an online...
. He has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
Hollywood Walk of Fame
The Hollywood Walk of Fame consists of more than 2,400 five-pointed terrazzo and brass stars embedded in the sidewalks along fifteen blocks of Hollywood Boulevard and three blocks of Vine Street in Hollywood, California...
.
The Righteous Brothers refer to Darin in their song, "Rock and Roll Heaven", a tribute to late musicians released months after Darin's death. As well, Darin's former pianist, Roger Kellaway
Roger Kellaway
Roger Kellaway is an American composer, arranger, and pianist.Born in Waban, Massachusetts, he is an alumnus of the New England Conservatory...
, has recorded two albums of Darin's music.
In 1998 PBS aired the acclaimed documentary, Bobby Darin: Beyond the Song, produced by Henry Astor and Jason Cilo.
In a 2003 episode of the NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
television series American Dreams
American Dreams
American Dreams is an American television comedy-drama program broadcast on the NBC television network, produced by Once A Frog and Dick Clark Productions in association with Universal Network Television and NBC Studios...
, Duncan Sheik
Duncan Sheik
Duncan Scott Sheik is an American singer-songwriter and composer. Sheik initially found success as a singer, most notably for his 1996 debut single "Barely Breathing". He later expanded his work to include compositions for motion pictures and the Broadway stage, leading him to involvement in the...
portrays Darin and performs "Beyond the Sea" on American Bandstand
American Bandstand
American Bandstand is an American music-performance show that aired in various versions from 1952 to 1989 and was hosted from 1956 until its final season by Dick Clark, who also served as producer...
. Brittany Snow's character, Meg Pryor, is assigned as Darin's liaison during the show.
On Monday, May 14, 2007, Darin was awarded a star on the Las Vegas Walk of Stars to honor his contribution to making Las Vegas the "Entertainment Capital of the World" and to acknowledge his reputation as one of the greatest entertainers of the 20th century. The sponsorship fee for this star was raised entirely by fan donations.
In December 2007, Darin was inducted into the Hit Parade Hall of Fame.
Darin had a custom car built called the "Dream Car
DiDia 150
Detroit clothing designer Andy DiDia designed this unrestrained and unconventional automobile.From 1953 to 1960 the DiDia 150 was hand-built at a cost over $150,000....
", designed by Andy DiDia; the car is on display at the St. Louis Museum of Transportation
Museum of Transportation
The Museum of Transportation of the St. Louis County, Missouri, United States Parks Department is a museum located in the Greater St. Louis area. It was first founded in 1944 by a group of individuals dedicated to preserving the past and has a wide variety of vehicles from American history...
.
On December 13, 2009, the Recording Academy announced that Darin would receive a posthumous Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2010 Grammy Awards ceremony.
Biopic
As early as 1986, director Barry LevinsonBarry Levinson
Barry Levinson is an American screenwriter, film director, actor, and producer of film and television. His films include Good Morning, Vietnam, Sleepers and Rain Man.-Early life:...
intended to direct a film based on Darin's life, and had begun preproduction on the project in early 1997. Eventually, he abandoned the project. Subsequently, actor and lifelong Darin fan Kevin Spacey
Kevin Spacey
Kevin Spacey, CBE is an American actor, director, screenwriter, producer, and crooner. He grew up in California, and began his career as a stage actor during the 1980s, before being cast in supporting roles in film and television...
—along with Darin's son, Dodd—acquired the film rights
Film rights
Film rights are the rights under copyright law to make a derivative work—in this case, a film—derived from an item of intellectual property. Under U.S...
. The resultant biopic, "Beyond the Sea", starred Spacey as Darin, with the actor using his own singing voice for the musical numbers, as well as co-writing, co-producing and directing. The film covers much of Darin's life and career, including his marriage to Sandra Dee
Sandra Dee
Sandra Dee was an American actress. Dee began her career as a model and progressed to film. Best known for her portrayal of ingenues, Dee won a Golden Globe Award in 1959 as one of the year's most promising newcomers, and over several years her films were popular...
, portrayed by Kate Bosworth
Kate Bosworth
Catherine Ann "Kate" Bosworth is an American actress. Bosworth starred in the television series Young Americans, in which she played Bella Banks. She became known with a leading role in 2002's Blue Crush. The following year, Bosworth played the teenage girlfriend of porn star John Holmes in...
. With the consent of the Darin estate, former Darin manager Steve Blauner, and archivist Jimmy Scalia, "Beyond the Sea" opened at the 2004 Toronto International Film Festival. Though Dodd Darin, Sandra Dee, and Blauner responded enthusiastically to Spacey's work and the film was strongly promoted by the studio, "Beyond the Sea" received mixed-to-poor reviews upon wide release, and box office results were disappointing. Some critics praised Spacey's performance, largely owing to his decision to use his own singing voice, and Spacey did receive a Golden Globe Nomination for Best Actor—Motion Picture Musical or Comedy, but he lost to Jamie Foxx.
The film also spurred a renewed interest in Darin, resulting in the issue of previously unreleased Darin music.
Singles
| Release date | Title | Flip side | Record label | Chart Positions | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US Charts Billboard Hot 100 The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday... |
Cashbox | UK | R&B | ||||
| 1956 | "Rock Island Line" / | "Timber" | Decca 29883 | ||||
| "Silly Willy" / | "Blue Eyed Mermaid" | Decca 29922 | |||||
| "The Greatest Builder Of Them All" / | "Hear Them Bells" | Decca 30031 | |||||
| 1957 | "Dealer In Dreams" / | "Help Me" | Decca 30225 | ||||
| "Million Dollar Baby" / | "Talk To Me" | Atco 6092 | |||||
| "Don't Call My Name" / | "Pretty Betty" | Atco 6103 | |||||
| 1958 | "Silly Willy" / | "Dealer In Dreams" | Decca 30737 | ||||
| "Just In Case You Change Your Mind" / | "So Mean" | Atco 6109 | |||||
| "Splish Splash" / | "Judy, Don't Be Moody" | US Atco 6117/ UK London 8666 | 3 | 2 | 18 | 1 | |
| "Early in the Morning" (Bobby Darin song) / | "Now We're One" | Brunswick 55073 (See below) | |||||
| "Early in the Morning" / | "Now We're One" | Atco 6121 | 24 | 25 | 8 | ||
| "Queen of the Hop" | "Lost Love" | US Atco 6127/UK London 8737 | 9 | 12 | 24 | 6 | |
| "Mighty, Mighty Man" / | "You're Gone" | Atco 6128 | |||||
| 1959 | "Plain Jane" | "While I'm Gone" | Atco 6133 | 38 | 30 | ||
| "Dream Lover" | "Bullmoose" | US Atco 6140/UK London 8867 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 4 | |
| "Mack the Knife" | "Was There A Call For Me" | US Atco 6147/UK London 8939 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 6 | |
| 1960 | "La Mer {Beyond The Sea}") / | "That's The Way Love Is" | US Atco 6158/UK London 9034 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 15 |
| "Clementine" | "Tall Story" | US Atco 6161/UK London 9086 | 21 | 13 | 8 | ||
| "Won't You Come Home Bill Bailey"?/ | US Atco 6167/UK London 9142 | 19 | 16 | 34 | |||
| "I'll Be There" (Bobby Darin song) | 79 | ||||||
| "Beachcomber" | "Autumn Blues" | Atco 6173 | 100 | 50 | |||
| Artificial Flowers/ | Atco 6179 | 20 | 19 | ||||
| ::above Shown as 'Bobby Darin at the Piano' | |||||||
| "Somebody To Love" | 45 | 58 | |||||
| Christmas Auld Lang Syne/ | Atco 6183 | 51 | 50 | ||||
| Child Of God | 95 | 95 | |||||
| She's Tanfastic! | Moments Of Love | Atco/Ferrion Inc. | -- | -- | |||
| ::above Special premium record | |||||||
| 1961 | "Lazy River" | "Oo-Ee Train" | US Atco 6188/UK London 9303 | 14 | 18 | 2 | |
| "Nature Boy" | "Look For My True Love" | US Atco 6196/UK London 9375 | 40 | 31 | 24 | ||
| "Theme From 'Come September'" Bobby Darin & His Orchestra | "Walk Back To Me" | US Atco 6200/UK London 9407 | 113 | 55 | 50 | ||
| ::Shown as "Bobby Darin & His Orchestra" | |||||||
| "You Must Have Been a Beautiful Baby" | "Sorrow Tomorrow" | US Atco 6206/UK London 9429 | 5 | 7 | 10 | ||
| "Irresistible You"/ | "Multiplication" | US Atco 6214/ | 15 | 16 | |||
| "Multiplication" / | "Irresistible You" UK, London, HLK 9474 | 30 | 26 | 5 | |||
| 1962 | "What'd I Say" (Part 1) / | "What'd I Say" (Part 2) | Atco 6221 | 24 | 6 | ||
| "Things" | "Jailer, Bring Me Water" | US Atco 6229/UK London 9575 | 3 | 10 | 2 | ||
| "If A Man Answers"/ | "All By Myself" | US Capitol 4837/UK Capitol 15272 | 32 | 28 | 24 | ||
| "True, True Love" | 105 | ||||||
| "Baby Face" | "You Know How" | US Atco 6236/UK London 9624 | 42 | 38 | 40 | ||
| "I Found a New Baby" | "Keep-A-Walkin'" | Atco 6244 | 90 | ||||
| 1963 | />"Now You're Gone" | Capitol 4897 | 3 | 5 | |||
| "Eighteen Yellow Roses" / | "Not For Me" | US Capitol 4970/UK Capitol 15306 | 10 | 12 | 37 | 28 | |
| "Treat My Baby Good" | "Down So Long" | Capitol 5019 | 43 | 38 | |||
| "Be Mad, Little Girl" | "Since You've Been Gone" | Capitol 5079 | 64 | 74 | |||
| 1964 | "I Wonder Who's Kissing Her Now" / | "As Long As I'm Singing" | Capitol 5126 | 93 | 83 | ||
| "Milord" / | "Golden Earrings" | Atco 6297 | 45 | 39 | |||
| "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot" / | "Similau" | Atco 6316 | -- | -- | |||
| "The Things In This House" | "Wait By The Water" | Capitol 5257 | 86 | 89 | |||
| 1965 | "Minnie The Moocher" / | "Hard Headed Hannah" | Atco 6334 | -- | -- | ||
| "Hello, Dolly!" / | "Golden Earrings" | Capitol 5359 | 79 | -- | |||
| "Venice Blue (Que C'est Triste Venise)" / | "A World Without You" | Capitol 5399 | 133 | 94 | |||
| "When I Get Home" / | "Lonely Road" | Capitol 5443 | -- | -- | |||
| "Gyp The Cat" / | "That Funny Feeling" | Capitol 5481 | -- | -- | |||
| 1966 | "We Didn't Ask To Be Brought Here" | "Funny What Love Can Do" | Atlantic 2305 | 117 | -- | ||
| "Silver Dollar" / | "The Breaking Point" | Atlantic 2317 | -- | -- | |||
| "Mame" / | "Walking In The Shadow Of Love" | Atlantic 2329 | 53 | 63 | |||
| "Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf?" / | "Merci, Cheri" | Atlantic 2341 | -- | -- | |||
| "If I Were a Carpenter" Song written by Tim Hardin Tim Hardin James Timothy "Tim" Hardin was an American folk musician and composer. He wrote the Top 40 hits "If I Were a Carpenter", covered by, among others, Joan Baez, Bobby Darin, Johnny Cash, Ramblin' Jack Elliot, and Robert Plant, and "Reason to Believe", covered by many, including Rod Stewart, as well... |
"Rainin'" | US Atlantic 2350/UK Atlantic 584051 | 8 | 9 | 9 | ||
| "The Girl That Stood Beside Me" / | "Reason To Believe" Song written by Tim Hardin Tim Hardin James Timothy "Tim" Hardin was an American folk musician and composer. He wrote the Top 40 hits "If I Were a Carpenter", covered by, among others, Joan Baez, Bobby Darin, Johnny Cash, Ramblin' Jack Elliot, and Robert Plant, and "Reason to Believe", covered by many, including Rod Stewart, as well... |
Atlantic 2367 | 66 | 65 | |||
| "Lovin' You" / | "Amy" | Atlantic 2376 | 32 | 43 | |||
| "The Lady Came From Baltimore" / Song written by Tim Hardin Tim Hardin James Timothy "Tim" Hardin was an American folk musician and composer. He wrote the Top 40 hits "If I Were a Carpenter", covered by, among others, Joan Baez, Bobby Darin, Johnny Cash, Ramblin' Jack Elliot, and Robert Plant, and "Reason to Believe", covered by many, including Rod Stewart, as well... |
"I Am" | Atlantic 2395 | 62 | 73 | |||
| 1967 | "Darling, Be Home Soon" / Song written by John Sebastian | "Hello, Sunshine" | Atlantic 2420 | 93 | -- | ||
| "Talk To The Animals" / | "After Today"] | Atlantic 2433 | -- | -- | |||
| "Talk To The Animals" / | "She Knows" | Atlantic 2433 | 105 | -- | |||
| 1968 | "Long Line Rider" / | "Change" | Direction 350 | 79 | 66 | ||
| 1969 | "Me & Mr. Hohner" / | "Song for A Dollar" | Direction 351 | 123 | -- | ||
| "Distractions" (Part 1) / | "Jive" | Direction 352 | 111 | -- | |||
| ::Shown as "Bob Darin" | |||||||
| 1970 | "Sugar Man (9 To 5)" / | "Jive's Alive" | Direction 4000 | -- | -- | ||
| "Baby May" / | "Sweet Reason" | Direction 4001 | -- | -- | |||
| "Maybe We Can Get It Together" / | "Rx Pyro (Prescription: Fire)" | Direction 4002 | -- | -- | |||
| 1971 | "Melody / Someday We'll Be Together" | Motown 1183 | -- | -- | |||
| "Simple Song Of Freedom" / | "I'll Be Your Baby Tonight" | Motown 1193 | -- | -- | |||
| 1972 | "Sail Away" / | "Something In Her Love" | Motown 1203 | -- | -- | ||
| 1973 | "Average People" / | "Something In Her Love" | Motown 1217 | -- | -- | ||
| "Happy" | "Something In Her Love" | Motown 1217 | 67 | 59 | |||
| 1979 | "Dream Lover" / | "Mack The Knife" | UK Lightning 9017 | -- | -- | 64 | |
| "Mack The Knife" | -- | -- | 64 | ||||
| 1987 | "La Mer (Beyond The Sea)" | "Mack The Knife" | Atlantic 89166 | -- | -- | ||
"Early In The Morning":
- Darin approached Brunswick Records with "Early In the Morning." Brunswick was impressed, but as Darin was still under contract to Atlantic Records' subsidiary, Atco, the song was released by 'The Ding Dongs'. New York deejays liked the record and Atco soon discovered the deception. Brunswick was forced to turn over the masters to Atco which released the record under the name, 'The Rinky Dinks'. In the UK where it had to compete with a version by Buddy Holly, rush released by Brunswick, the single was released under Darin's own name.
Albums
Key:- US Billboard = BB
- US Cashbox = CB
- UK chart = UK
- Bobby Darin—Atco 33-102—1958
-
- Issued only in mono
- Note: There were separate Cashbox charts for mono and stereo albums until 1965
- This is Darin (BB #6)—Atco 33-115 (CB #5)/SD 33-115 (CB #7)—1960
- Darin At The Copa (BB #9)—Atco 33-122 (CB #6)/SD 33-122 (CB #12)—1960
- For Teenagers Only (CB #38)—Atco 1001–1960
- Issued only in mono
- It's You Or No One—Atco 33-124/SD 33-124–1960
- The 25th Day of December—Atco 33-125/SD 33-125–1960
- Two Of A Kind (Bobby Darin & Johnny Mercer)—Atco 33-126 (CB #38)/SD 33-126–1961
- The Bobby Darin Story (BB #18)—Atco 33-131 (CB #11)/SD 33-131–1961
- Originally issued with white album cover, reissued in 1962 with black album cover. These issues were pressed with Bobby Darin's autograph in the run-out groove plate on Side 2; later reissues do not include the autograph
- Love Swings (BB #92)—Atco 33-134 (CB #49)/SD 33-134–1961
- Twist with Bobby Darin (BB #48)—Atco 33-138 (CB #45)/SD 33-138–1961
- Original copies of the above Atco albums were originally pressed with yellow "harp" labels. In 1962, these were re-released with gold/dark blue labels (mono copies) and purple/brown labels (stereo copies), which were also used for the forecoming Atco releases
- Bobby Darin Sings Ray Charles (BB #96)—Atco 33-140 (CB #41)/SD 33-140—1962
- Things and Other Things (BB #45)—Atco 33-146 (CB #43)/SD 33-146—1962
- Oh! Look at Me Now (BB #100)—Capitol T(Mono)/ST(Stereo) 1791—1962
- Earthy—Capitol T/ST-1826—1963
- You're the Reason I'm Living (BB #43)—Capitol T 1866 (CB #19)/ST 1866—1963
- 18 Yellow Roses" (BB #98)—Capitol T 1942 (CB #69)/ST 1942—1963
- Golden Folk Hits—Capitol T/ST 2007—1963
- Winners—Atco 33-167/SD 33-167—1964
- As Long As I'm Singing—Capitol T/ST 2084—1964
- Unreleased, but rare stereo acetates are known to exist
- From Hello Dolly to Goodbye Charlie (BB #107)—Capitol T/ST -2194—1964
- Venice Blue (BB #132)—Capitol T/ST 2322—1965
- The Best Of Bobby Darin—Capitol T/ST 2571—1966
- The Shadow of Your Smile—Atlantic 8121(Mono)/SD 8121(Stereo) - 1966
- In A Broadway Bag—Atlantic 8126/SD 8126—1966
- If I Were a CarpenterIf I Were a Carpenter (Bobby Darin album)If I Were a Carpenter is an album by American singer Bobby Darin, released in 1966. It was a significant change in direction for Darin considering his previous album was a collection of show tunes.-History:...
(BB #142, CB #97)—Atlantic 8135/SD 8135—1966
- There were more mono copies than stereo copies of this album pressed
- Inside Out—Atlantic 8142/SD 8142—1967
- Bobby Darin Sings Doctor Dolittle—Atlantic 8154/SD 8154–1967
- Bobby Darin Born Walden Robert Cassotto—Direction 1936–1968
- Commitment—Direction 1937—1969
- Finally—Motown 739—1972
- Commercially unreleased, but rare test pressings from RCA exist
- Bobby Darin—Motown 753—1972
- Darin: 1936-1973 (CB #136)—Motown 813—1974
- Issued only in mono
Filmography
- Shadows (1959)
- PepePepe (film)Pepe is a 1960 film starring Mario "Cantinflas" Moreno in the title role, directed by George Sidney. A multitude of cameo appearances attempted to replicate the success of Mario Moreno's American debut, notably Around the World in Eighty Days, produced by Mike Todd in 1956.The film failed to...
(1960) - Come SeptemberCome SeptemberFor the Natalie Imbruglia song, see Come September .Come September is a 1961 romantic comedy film directed by Robert Mulligan, and starring Rock Hudson, Gina Lollobrigida, Sandra Dee and Bobby Darin.-Plot:...
(1961) - Too Late BluesToo Late BluesToo Late Blues is a 1962 John Cassavetes film that stars Bobby Darin, Stella Stevens, Vince Edwards, Seymour Cassel, and Everette Chambers. It is the story of jazz musician "Ghost" Wakefield , and his relationship between both his fellow band members and his love interest, Jess, a beautiful...
(1962) - State FairState Fair (1962 film)State Fair is a 1962 film directed by José Ferrer. The film is a remake of the 1933 and 1945 films of the same name.It was considered to be a financially and critically unsuccessful film. It starred Pat Boone, Bobby Darin, Ann-Margret, Tom Ewell, Pamela Tiffin and Alice Faye.Richard Rodgers wrote...
(1962) - Hell Is for HeroesHell Is for Heroes (film)Hell Is for Heroes is a 1962 war film directed by Don Siegel and starring Steve McQueen. It tells the story of a squad of American soldiers, who in the fall of 1944 must hold off an entire German company for approximately 48 hours along the Siegfried Line until reinforcements reach them.-Plot:Squad...
(1962) - If a Man AnswersIf a Man AnswersIf a Man Answers is a comedy film directed by Henry Levin and starring Bobby Darin and Sandra Dee. It was produced by Ross Hunter Productions, Inc, and distributed by Universal Pictures. The screenplay was written by Richard Morris from a novel by Winifred Wolfe.-Plot summary:Chantal Stacy is a...
(1962) - Pressure PointPressure Point (film)Pressure Point is a 1962 drama film about a black prison psychiatrist who is called upon to treat a Nazi sympathizer during World War II. It stars Sidney Poitier and Bobby Darin. The film was based on the short story "Destiny's Tot" by Robert Lindner....
(1962) - Captain Newman, M.D.Captain Newman, M.D.Captain Newman, M.D. is a 1963 film starring Gregory Peck, Tony Curtis, Angie Dickinson, Robert Duvall, Eddie Albert and Bobby Darin. It was directed by David Miller and filmed on location at Fort Huachuca, Arizona....
(1963) - That Funny Feeling (1965)
- Gunfight in AbileneGunfight In AbileneGunfight in Abilene is a 1967 western film. It is the second film based on the short story "Gun Shy" by Clarence Upson Young.-Plot:Cal Wayne accidentally kills a fellow Confederate soldier during the Civil War...
(1967) - Stranger in the HouseStranger in the House (1967 film)Stranger In The House is a 1967 crime drama directed and written by Pierre Rouve , produced by Anatole de Grunwald, and starring James Mason, Geraldine Chaplin, and Bobby Darin. The movie is also known as Cop-Out and is a remake of the 1942 French film Strangers in the House...
(1967) - The Happy EndingThe Happy EndingThe Happy Ending is a 1969 film written and directed by Richard Brooks, which tells the story of a repressed housewife who longs for liberation from her marriage...
(1969) - Happy Mother's Day, Love George (1973)
Literature
- Dodd Darin & Maxine Paetro: Dream Lovers: the Magnificent Shattered Lives of Bobby Darin and Sandra Dee. New York: Warner Books 1994. ISBN 0-446-51768-2
External links
- International Jose Guillermo Carrillo Foundation
- Official site
- Hall of Rock
- Jimmy Scalia: The Official Bobby Darin Archivist
- Bobby Darin Discography: Complete Details on all Darin LPs
Watch
Listen
- Bobby Darin interview recorded 11.5.1967 http://www.library.unt.edu/resolveuid/24bc6899959ba29ac6feca22c5ad8ed9 on the Pop Chronicles