Popular singer, songwriter, and actor, born in New York City, New York, USA. He studied at the Bronx High School of Science and Hunter College, and entered showbusiness as a demo writer and singer at the popular Brill Building venue in New York City. His first hit song, Splish Splash (1958), was followed by the 1959 hits Dream Lover and Queen of the Hop. His single Mack the Knife won Best Record and Best New Artist Grammy awards in 1959, and remained in the US Top 10 for 52 weeks, nine of those at number one. In the 1960s he became a successful nightclub performer who was able to skillfully sing in such diverse styles as rhythm-and-blues, country-pop, and folk-rock. He also began a career in films and was nominated for an Oscar for his role in Captain Newman, MD (1964). His health deteriorated after heart surgery in 1971 and he died at the age of 37. A film about his career, Beyond the Sea starring Kevin Spacey, appeared in 2004.
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 was also an accomplished, award-winning actor, and a music business entrepreneur.
Early years
Darin was born to a poor working-class family in The Bronx, New York.
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.
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.
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.
Music career
In 1956, his agent negotiated a contract for him with Decca Records where Bill Haley & 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, a division of Capitol 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" that became an instant hit, selling more than a million copies. ("Splish Splash" was written with DJ Murray the K who bet that Darin couldn't write a song that started out with the words, "Splish Splash, I was takin' a bath", as suggested by Murray's mother;
In 1959, Bobby Darin recorded "Dream Lover", a ballad that would become a multi-million seller. Darin gave the tune a vamping jazz-pop interpretation. 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.
During this time he became one of the hottest nightclub performers around, propelled by the success of "Mack" and ""Beyond the Sea". Bobby set all time attendance records at the famed Copacabana nightclub in NYC where it was not odd for fans to line up all the way around the block in order to get tickets. 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. 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 Copa.
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 Newton 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 before going off to form The Byrds. Darin also produced Rosey Grier's 1964 LP Soul City.
Acting career
In addition to music, Darin turned his attention to motion pictures. They had one son, Dodd Mitchell Darin, in 1961.
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.
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 froth he had been recording earlier in the decade. Coming back, in 1969 he started another record company, Direction Records, putting out folk and protest music.
At the beginning of the 1970s he continued to act and to record, including several albums with Motown Records and a couple of films.
Bobby married Andrea Yeagher in June of 1972. In 1972 he starred in his own television variety show, on NBC, The Bobby Darin Amusement Company, which ran for two years.
Death
In 1973, Darin's ill health took a fatal turn when his mechanical heart valve clotted (a known risk of prosthetic heart valves). Unfortunately, Darin reportedly neglected to take antibiotics as a precaution before undergoing dental work;
Shortly before his death he divorced his second wife Andrea.
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.
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, and was released at the 2004 Toronto International Film Festival. 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.
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