Bobby Darin

Bobby Darin (May 14, 1936 – December 20, 1973) (born Walden Robert Cassotto) was one of the most popular American big band performers and rock and roll teen idols of the late 1950s. He is widely respected for being a multi-talented, versatile performer, who challenged and successfully conquered many music genres, including, folk, country, pop and jazz.

He was also an accomplished, award-winning actor, and a music business entrepreneur. His wish for a legacy was "to be remembered as a great entertainer, and a human being." Among his many contributions, he was a "Goodwill Ambassador" for the American Heart Association because of his lifelong heart disease.

Early years

Darin was born to a poor, working-class Italian-American family in The Bronx, New York. His father disappeared a few months before he was born at the height of the Great Depression. He once remarked that "my crib was a cardboard box, later a dresser drawer". As a result, his mother had to accept public assistance to take care of her infant son. It was not until he was an adult that he learned that the woman he thought to be his sister Nina, 19 years his senior, was in fact his mother and the woman he thought to be his mother was in fact his grandmother. The identity of his father was never publicly or privately disclosed. His mother refused to reveal that information even to him. He went to his death without knowing the identity of his birth father.

Frail as an infant, perhaps from the poverty that resulted in a lack of proper diet and medical attention, at the age of 8 he was stricken with multiple bouts of rheumatic fever. The illness left him with a seriously diseased heart, and he lived with the constant knowledge that his life might be a short one: as a child he had overheard a doctor tell his mother he would be lucky to reach the age of 16. Driven by his poverty and illness, and with an 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.

An outstanding student, with a genius-level IQ, Darin graduated from the Bronx High School of Science and then attended Hunter College on a scholarship. Wanting a career in the New York theater, he left college to play small nightclubs around the city with a musical combo. In the resort area of the Catskill Mountains, he was both a bus boy and an entertainer.

As was common with ethnic minorities at the time, he changed his Italian name to one that sounded more "American". He allegedly chose the name "Bobby Darin" because he had generally been called Bobby as a child (some called him "Waldo", a version of his first name) and because he had seen a malfunctioning sign at a Chinese restaurant reading "DARIN DUCK" rather than the intended "MANDARIN DUCK" and thought the "Darin" looked good. Later this story was modified, as he said on one occasion that the name was randomly picked out of the telephone book. Neither story has been verified.

Music career

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. Like other performers, Darin was at first pigeon-holed, recording the banal songs popular with record executives at the time.

He left Decca to sign with ATCO Records, where he wrote and arranged music for himself and others. There, after three mediocre recordings, his career took off in 1958 when he wrote and recorded his unique song "Splish Splash"; it became an instant hit, selling more than a million copies. ("Splish Splash" was written with DJ Murray the K who bet that Darin could not write a song that started out with the words, "Splish Splash, I was takin' a bath", as suggested by Murray's mother; they eventually shared writing credits with her.) This was followed by more hits recorded in the same successful style.

In 1959, Bobby Darin recorded "Dream Lover", a ballad that became a multi-million seller. With financial success came the ability to demand more creative control, despite the objections of many people around him. His next record, "Mack the Knife", was the classic standard from Kurt Weill's Threepenny Opera. Darin gave the tune a vamping jazz-pop interpretation. The song went to No. 1 on the charts, sold several million copies and won the Grammy Award for Record of the Year at the Grammy Awards of 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. He followed "Mack" with "Beyond the Sea", a jazzy English-language version of Charles Trenet's French hit song "La Mer", which became another big hit for him.

During this time he became one of the hottest nightclub performers around, propelled by the success of "Mack the Knife" and "Beyond the Sea". Bobby set all-time attendance records at the famed Copacabana nightclub in NYC where it was not unusual for fans to line up all the way around the block to get tickets. The Copa sold so many seats to Bobby's shows there that they had to fill the dance floor (normally part of the performance area) with extra seating, leaving Bobby with a relatively small (approx. six feet deep and 12-14 feet wide) stage on which to perform. Darin also headlined at the major casinos in Las Vegas, Nevada, the youngest performer to do so.

He was instrumental in bringing up new talent — Richard Pryor, Flip Wilson, and Wayne Newton opened his night club performances when they were virtually unknown. Early on, at the Copacabana, he insisted that black comic Nipsey Russell be his opening act. This was a very hard sell in the era of nightclub segregation, but perhaps because Darin had set the attendance mark (eclipsing Frank Sinatra), his request was grudgingly granted by Jules Podell, the Frank Costello (mob boss) manager of the Copacabana.

In the 1960s, Darin also owned and operated a highly successful music publishing and production company (TM Music/Trio) which was responsible for many hit records including "Under The Boardwalk" and "Good Lovin." He 'discovered' Wayne Newton and signed him to TM, giving him a song that was originally sent to Darin to record; and 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 before going off to form The Byrds. Darin also produced Rosey Grier's 1964 LP Soul City. And "Made in the Shade" for Jimmy Boyd.

Acting career

In addition to music, Darin turned his attention to motion pictures. In 1960, he was the only actor ever to be contractually signed to five major Hollywood 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 met and co-starred with 18-year-old actress Sandra Dee. They fell in love and were married in 1960. They had one son, Dodd Mitchell Darin, in 1961. They were divorced in 1967.

Asking to be taken seriously, he 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 he 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 in France, where his records—in particular "Beyond the Sea"—brought him a wide following, he won the French Film Critics Award for Best Actor.

A major disappointment in his acting career came when he lost the lead role of Tony in West Side Story to Richard Beymer. Several leading Hollywood men like Anthony Perkins, Warren Beatty, and Elvis Presley were also major contenders for the role. Darin had also been pencilled in to star opposite Jackie Gleason in The Hustler before Paul Newman's schedule suddenly allowed first choice Newman to step in.

Later years

Darin's musical output became more folky as the 1960s went on and he became more politically aware and active. In 1966 he had another big hit record, but this time it was with folksinger Tim Hardin's "If I Were a Carpenter" rather than the lighter material he had been recording earlier in the decade. He worked on the 1968 Presidential election campaign of Robert Kennedy and was profoundly affected by Kennedy's assassination, going into seclusion for a year after that. Coming back, in 1969 he started another record company, Direction Records, putting out folk and protest music. He said of his first Direction album, "The purpose of Direction Records is to seek out statement-makers. The album is solely comprised of compositions designed to reflect my thoughts on the turbulent aspects of modern society." ^[1] He put out several 45s and LPs on Direction. 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 these changes were dropped.

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.

Bobby married Andrea Yeager in June of 1972. She was not from show business, and Bobby felt that she brought him down to Earth and loved him for who he was, not for his image. In 1972 he starred in his own television variety show, on NBC, The Bobby Darin Amusement Company, which ran for two years. He made TV guest appearances and also remained a top draw at Las Vegas, where due to his poor health he was often administered oxygen after his performances.

Death

In 1973, Darin's ill health took a fatal turn when his mechanical heart valve clotted (a known risk of prosthetic heart valves). He had decided to stop taking his anticoagulant drug, warfarin, that is routinely used to prevent such problems - his heart disease required him to take the drug on a daily basis and to undergo frequent blood tests to determine a satisfactory level of anticoagulation. Unfortunately, Darin reportedly neglected to take antibiotics as a precaution before undergoing dental work; as a result, bacteria seeped into his bloodstream, and further infected his already fragile heart. He died December 20, 1973, following surgery to repair his heart valve. In accordance with his wishes, his body was donated to the UCLA Medical Center for research purposes.

Shortly before his death he divorced his second wife Andrea. Those close to him have said that this was an attempt to distance her from the pain of his death. Even though he did talk to Sandra Dee a short while before his death, the call was mainly to talk to his son Dodd. Contrary to the Beyond the Sea biopic, Sandra was not by his side, nor had she visited him in the final hospital stay, at Bobby's request.^{[citation needed]}

Legacy

In 1990, fellow 1950s rock and roll pioneer, Paul Anka, 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.

In 2000, actor Kevin Spacey, a lifelong fan of Darin, acquired the film rights to his story. Spacey directed and produced the film, and played Bobby Darin — as well as co-writing the script. The film is named after one of Darin's top hits, Beyond The Sea. With the consent of the Darin estate, Steve Blauner, and archivist Jimmy Scalia, the movie was released at the 2004 Toronto International Film Festival. In spite of its high production values, strong studio promotion, and critical acclaim, box office results were disappointing. However, the movie spurred a renewed interest in Darin which has resulted in the release of "never before heard, or seen" material. His pianist, Roger Kellaway, has recorded two albums of Darin's music as well.

Trivia

• "Call me Irresponsible", "Don't Rain on My Parade", "As Long As I'm Singing" and "Where Love Has Gone" are played in the film, American Beauty starring Kevin Spacey.
• In a 1967 episode of The Monkees TV show, titled The Monkees at the Movies, Peter admits that the prize album of his record collection is fictional LP "Bobby Darin Sings His Bankbook".
• Near the end of "Mr. Hobbes Takes a Vacation", the character played by Fabian returns a record album he borrowed from Jimmy Stewart's screen daughter; it's Bobby Darin's "Love Swings" album.
• In one episode of Leave it to Beaver, Eddie Haskell says to the Beaver: "you look like a regular Bobby Darin!"
• Bobby Darin's "Beyond The Sea" became a prominent "fixation" as part of a plot line in the cult hit seriesThe X-Files; another cult series from the 90's, Millennium, contains plot lines that also revolve around Bobby Darin music.
• Paul Simon pays tribute to Bobby Darin in a scene discussing deceased rock stars, in Simon's scripted movie One Trick Pony.
• Brian Wilson credits Bobby Darin's "Mack The Knife" and its finger-snapping beat with inspiring Wilson to create "Help Me Rhonda".
• The Righteous Brothers' 1974 hit "Rock and Roll Heaven" pays tribute to Bobby Darin along with other deceased stars.
• Frank Sinatra pays homage to Bobby Darin in lyric form, in his version of Darin's classic "Mack The Knife"; Sinatra was always an admirer of Darin's talents, and had tried unsuccessfully to sign Darin to his Reprise music label.^{[citation needed]}
• Darin had a custom car built called the Dream Car. It was designed by clothing designer Andy DiDia.[1] The car is on display at the St. Louis Museum of Transportation.[2]
• According to the terms of Darin's last will and testament, his son Dodd will not inherit his estate until he reaches the age of 65.
• As he revealed on The Mike Douglas Show in 1970, Darin's Top 5 "most admired" personalities were: Bobby Kennedy, Michelangelo, Gandhi, Emiliano Zapata and Thomas Paine.

Discography (partial)

• "Splish Splash" (Bobby Darin, Jean Murray) Recorded in NYC, April 10 US#3 ; UK#18 1958
• "Queen of the Hop" (Woody Harris) Recorded in NYC, April 10 US#9 ; UK#24 1958
• Darin At The Copa - 1958
• "Plain Jane" — US#38 1959
• "Dream Lover" — US#2;UK#1 1959
• "Mack the Knife" (Kurt Weill, Bertolt Brecht, Marc Blitzstein) Recorded at Fulton on West 40th Street, NYC, December 19 US#1; UK#1 1958 Tom Dowd (eng)
• "Beyond The Sea" (the French hit song La Mer) — US#6;UK#8 1960
• "Won't You Come Home Bill Bailey?" — US#19;UK#34 1960
• "You Must Have Been a Beautiful Baby" — US#5;UK#10 1961
• "What'd I Say?" — US#24 1962
• "Things" — US#3 UK#2 1962
• "You're the Reason I'm Living" — US#3 1963
• "18 Yellow Roses" — US#10 UK#37 1963
• "If I Were a Carpenter"— US#8 UK#9 1966
• "Mame" — 1966
• A Simple Song of Freedom — 1967
• Bobby Darin Sings Doctor Doolittle — 1967
• Bobby Darin Born Walden Robert Cassotto — 1968
• Commitment — 1969
• This is Darin
• That's All
• "Multiplication"
• "Lazy River"
• "The Curtain Falls"

References

1. ^ http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/b/bobbydarin314910.html

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