Bobby Darin

All Music Guide:

There's been considerable discussion about whether Bobby Darin should be classified as a rock & roll singer, a Vegas hipster cat, an interpreter of popular standards, or even a folk-rocker. He was all of these and none of these. Throughout his career he made a point of not becoming committed to any one style at the exclusion of others; at the height of his nightclub fame he incorporated a folk set into his act. When it appeared he could have gone on indefinitely as a sort of junior version of Frank Sinatra, he would periodically record pop/rock and folk-rock singles whose principal appeal lay outside of the adult pop market. At one point he started calling himself Bob Darin and recorded songs with vague anti-establishment overtones that could be said to be biting the largely bourgeois hands that fed his highest-paying gigs. It may be most accurate to say that Darin was, above all, a singer who wanted to do a lot of things, rather than make his mark as a particular stylist. That may have cost him some points as far as making it to the very top of certain genres, but also makes his work more versatile than almost any other vocalist of his era.

When Darin had his first hits in the late '50s, he was a teen idol of sorts, albeit a teen idol with much more talent and mature command than the typical singer in that style. The novelty-tinged "Splish Splash" was his breakthrough smash, followed by "Queen of the Hop" and the ballad "Dream Lover." There was a slight R&B feel to Bobby's delivery that may well have influenced R&B-pop/rock singers such as Dion, though it would be an exaggeration to call Darin a blue-eyed soul man. In late 1959, he found a new direction when the swinging "Mack the Knife," a tune from Brecht-Weill's Threepenny Opera musical, made number one. The song came from an album of pop standards, heralding his move toward light big band jazz, which was consolidated by the Top Ten success of "Beyond the Sea" in 1960.

In the early '60s, Darin had mostly abandoned rock for the adult pop market, becoming a huge success on the Vegas-nightclub circuit, and moving into the all-around entertainer mode with starring roles in movies (including one as a non-singing jazz musician in John Cassavetes' Too Young Blues). He also continued to score regular hits with the likes of "You Must Have Been a Beautiful Baby," "Things," and "Lazy River." To keep people guessing, there was also a hit cover of "What'd I Say" and some country tunes (one of which, "You're the Reason I'm Living," made it to number three on the pop charts). Around 1963, he put a folk section into his nightclub act that employed guitarist Roger McGuinn, then a couple of years away from fame as the leader of the Byrds.

Darin didn't make the expected retreat into Rat Pack land when his records stopped making the upper reaches of the charts in the mid-'60s. In 1965, there was a rather nice self-penned jangly folk-rocker, "When I Get Home," that become a British hit for the Searchers. Another 1965 flop, "We Didn't Ask to Be Brought Here," was an unexpected antiwar tune. When he made his return to the Top Ten in late 1966, it was with a cover of a gentle Tim Hardin folk-rock song, "If I Were a Carpenter." His final Top 40 hit the following year, "Lovin' You," opted for material by another major folk-rock composer, John Sebastian.

Darin may indeed have been far hipper and more politically aware than the average nightclub act, covering tunes by Dylan and the Rolling Stones, participating in a 1965 civil rights march to Alabama, and penning some Dylan-influenced songs of his own in the late '60s. It doesn't seem accurate to say that this was the true Bobby Darin, shedding his show-biz skin for something that came to him more naturally; in 1967, the same year he covered Jagger-Richards' "Back Street Girl," he also recorded material for an album entitled Bobby Darin Sings Doctor Dolittle. By the early '70s he was working Vegas and similar joints again, exchanging his blue jeans for a tuxedo, and hosting a TV variety series. In a much odder turn of events, he was now recording for Motown, though these efforts met little success.

Afflicted with a rheumatic heart, Darin was always aware that his time might be limited, and he died near the end of 1973 during open-heart surgery. He left behind a considerable quantity (and diversity) of recorded work, and underwent a critical reevaluation of sorts, especially among rock critics, which might have aided his election to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1990. A 1996 four-CD box set, divided into thematic discs, attempted to put his wide-ranging efforts into perspective. In 2004, actor Kevin Spacey starred as Bobby Darin in the feature film biography Beyond the Sea. Spacey also directed the film and sang Darin's songs for the film, which were released as the film's soundtrack.

Wikipedia:

Bobby Darin (born Walden Robert Cassotto; May 14, 1936 – December 20, 1973) was an American singer who performed in a range of music genres, including pop, rock, jazz, folk and country.

He started as a songwriter for Connie Francis, and recorded his own first million-seller "Splish Splash" in 1958. This was followed by "Dream Lover", "Mack the Knife" and "Beyond the Sea", which brought him world fame. In 1962, he won a Golden Globe for his first film Come September, co-starring his wife Sandra Dee.

Through the 1960s he became more political, and worked on Bobby Kennedy's presidential campaign, being present on the night of his assassination. This affected him and sent him into a period of seclusion.

Although he made a successful television comeback, his health was starting to fail, as he had always expected, following bouts of rheumatic fever in childhood. This knowledge had always spurred him on to exploit his musical talent while still young. He died at 37, following a heart operation in Los Angeles.

Early years

Darin was born in The Bronx. His maternal grandfather, Saverio Antonio Cassotto, was of Italian descent. His maternal grandmother, Vivian Fern (Walden), was of English ("Old Yankee") and Danish ancestry. He was raised by his maternal grandmother, a vaudeville singer. It was not until he was 32, that he learned that Giovannina Cassotto, the woman he believed to be his elder sister, was his birth mother.

By the time he was a teenager he could play several instruments, including piano, drums and guitar. He later added harmonica and xylophone.

Graduating from the prestigious Bronx High School of Science Darin won a scholarship to attend Hunter College, which he dropped out of in order to play small nightclubs around the city with a musical combo.

Music career

Darin's career took off with a songwriting partnership, formed in 1955 with fellow Bronx High School of Science student Don Kirshner and in 1956 his agent negotiated a contract with Decca Records. The songs recorded at Decca did very little business.

A member of the Brill Building gang of struggling songwriters, Darin was introduced to singer Connie Francis, for whom he helped write several songs. They developed a romantic interest of which her father did not approve and the couple soon split up. Francis has said that not marrying Darin was the biggest mistake of her life.

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 in an Elvis style, which did not suit his personality.

Under the guidance of Atlantic's Turkish-American co-founder Ahmet Ertegun, Darin's career finally took off in 1958 when he recorded "Splish Splash", selling more than a million copies, which he co-wrote with radio DJ Murray Kaufman after a bet that he could not write a song that started out with the words, "Splish Splash, I was takin' a bath".

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. His next single, "Mack the Knife", the standard from Kurt Weill's Threepenny Opera, was given a vamping jazz-pop interpretation. Although initially opposed to 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, and "Mack The Knife" has since been honored with a Grammy Hall of Fame Award.

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 arrangements by Richard Wess.

This success saw Darin set the all-time attendance record at the Copacabana nightclub in New York City. He also headlined at the major casinos in Las Vegas.

In the 1960s, Darin owned and operated a 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 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 recorded by Capitol Records, which he joined in 1962, before returning to Atlantic four years later. In 1966 he 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.

Acting career

In 1960, Darin appeared twice as himself in NBC's short-lived crime drama Dan Raven, starring Skip Homeier and set on the Sunset Strip of West Hollywood. In the same year, he was the only actor ever to have been signed to five major Hollywood film studios. He wrote music for several films which he appeared in.

His first major film, Come September, was a romantic comedy designed to capitalize on his popularity with the teenage and young adult audience, in which he co-starred with 18-year-old actress Sandra Dee. They couple were married in 1960, and had one son, Dodd Mitchell Darin (born 1961), but divorced in 1967.

In 1962, Darin won the Golden Globe Award for "New Star Of The Year - Actor" for his role in Come September. The following year he was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for "Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Drama" (Best actor) 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 he won the French Film Critics Award for best actor.

In October 1964, he appeared as a wounded ex-convict who is befriended by an orphan girl in the episode "The John Gillman Story" of NBC's Wagon Train western television series.

Later years

"Now my attitude is very simple: I must do what artistically pleases me."

Darin's musical output became more "folky" as the 1960s progressed, and he became more politically active. In 1966, he had a hit with folksinger Tim Hardin's "If I Were a Carpenter", securing a return to the Top 10 after a two-year absence.

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.

This event drove Darin into seclusion, living in a trailer near Big Sur for almost a year. Returning to Los Angeles in 1969, Darin started Direction Records, putting out folk and protest music. He wrote "Simple Song of Freedom" in 1969, which was recorded by Tim Hardin, singing only three of the four verses of the song.

Of his first Direction album, Darin said that "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."

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 in Las Vegas.

Other interests

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.

Health

Darin was frail as an infant and, from the age of 8, was stricken with recurring bouts of rheumatic fever which left him with a seriously weakened heart. 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 that year recovering from the surgery.

At the end of his career, he was often administered oxygen after his performances.

Death

In 1973, after failing to take medication to protect his heart before a dental visit, Darin developed an overwhelming systemic infection (sepsis). This further weakened his body and affected one of his heart valves. On December 11, he entered Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles for surgery to repair two artificial heart valves he had received in January 1971. On the evening of December 19, a surgical team worked for over six hours to repair his damaged heart. Darin died in the recovery room on December 20, 1973, at the age of 37 without regaining consciousness.

There were no funeral arrangements, Darin's last wish in his will being that his body be donated to science for medical research, and his remains were transferred to UCLA Medical Center shortly after his death.

Legacy

In 1990, singer Paul Anka made the speech inducting Darin 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 dead musicians released months after Darin's death.

In 1998 PBS aired the 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 his 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; which 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.

Biopic

In 1986, director Barry Levinson intended to direct a film based on Darin's life, and had begun preproduction on the project by early 1997. He abandoned the project, the rights to which were subsequently bought by actor Kevin Spacey, along with Darin's son, Dodd. The resultant biopic, Beyond the Sea, starred Spacey as Darin, with the actor using his own singing voice for the musical numbers. 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. Spacey was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor—Motion Picture Musical or Comedy, but the award went to Jamie Foxx.

The film resulted in the issue of previously unreleased Darin music.

Filmography

Books