Bobby Darin

“I have worn the country's colors in a thousand different ways; I have won the game of life upon the table which it plays; I'm a sun without a setting and a tear without regretting; I'm a mind full of forgetting but I am, most of all, I am."

Bobby Darin

Bobby Darin was born in the Bronx, New York City as Walden Robert Cassotto in May 1936, son of Polly and Sam Casotto. He suffered from rheumatic fever when only 8 years old which affected his heart and created problems with his heart valves that affected him for the rest of his life. The fact that he knew he would die young was a source of energy and determination, and this sense of mortality coupled with his poor background fuelled his fire.

He became interested in music at an early age, learning to play the piano, drums and guitar.

Bobby Darin: Its funny my mom was a musician and an entertainer and I think I was always influenced by her without her ever saying to me: "Why don't you go into the business or do something musical." It was just a natural family atmosphere that hung in the air.'

Paul Gambuccini: 'I was born in the Bronx and so was Bobby Darin which is the last similarity we have between us except that I liked his records and I also recognised in him the need to break out. He was a young man of the Bronx and would have been hearing the doo-wah groups - quartets did actually stand outside and sing. There was no instrumental virtuosity in this and so Bobby never became an instrumental virtuoso in the way that some of the singers of the sixties did but he would have definitely been introduced to rhythm and blues on the street.'

Before long Robert Cassotto needed a stage name and one night in Manhattan, he saw a sign for a Chinese restaurent called the Mandarin with the lights of 'Man' out so leaving the word Darin. In 1955 he met a young songwriter Don Kershner who would subsequently be very influential in setting up the song factory on New York's Broadway known as the Brill Building.

Don Kershner: Our idols at the time were mostly the black artists: Fats Domino, Ray Charles, Little Richard. The problem Bobby was having was that every time he sang a song he would sing either like Pat Boone or Little Richard or Fats Domino and had no identification or style of his own. With his abundance of talent there was no doubting he could make a career for himself. Our idols and the people we looked to musically were Fats Domino and Ray Charles and it was the white people following the soul people. We felt Bobby could add to it as a performer and be a white Ray Charles. The main plan was to struggle, as everybody did for the hit, and Bobby would write some songs and then we'd determine which one would be the right song to put out.'

They began writing songs together and one of their first attempts was recorded by Connie Francis: 'My First Real Love.' Connie Francis also came from an American-Italian family and they formed a liaison for a while but it was broken up by Connie's father. Her manager George Scheff got Darin a recording contract with Decca Records and the first release was a version of 'Rock Island Line.'

On the road in May 1957 Darin paid for a recording session in Nashville and attracted the attention of Atlantic Records. This was an unusual step for a label that ever since its formation had been devoted to black Rhythm & Blues artists.

Ahmet Ertegun: 'I can't remember the exact year but it was around '56 or so that an ambitious brash, I wouldn't impertinent, but a strong character walked in. He was totally unknown, he was Bobby Darin. A lot of people think Bobby changed with success but he was exactly the same character when he was unknown as when he was the biggest star in America 3 or 4 years later. Convinced he was going to make it, he just walked in off the street, played some songs and was signed to a contract. His first couple of records were not successful and there was talk of dropping his option till he made a side called 'Splish Splash.'

Neil Kellas: 'His influence sparked off the Italian-Amercan Rock 'n' Roll craze of the late fifties through Fabian, Dion, Frankie Avalon and many others, all singers of lesser ability than Darin.'

Dion De muche: 'We were together for six weeks and got close. He had just come from the Army physical, late for the tour, and he said: "I had rheumatic fever as a kid and don't expect to make it through my twenties and I've got a lot to do in a short period of time and I'm going to accomplish it." He was very upfront, a positive guy; didn't take drugs, didn't drink, he was just straight ahead. He knew what he wanted and went straight for it. Bobby Darin sang Rock 'n' Roll, he was a rhythm singer.'

It is often forgotten how much Darin had to do with Rock 'n' Roll both as a performer and a songwriter. His early successes with songs were via recordings by other artists including two by Buddy Holly.

Sir Tim Rice: 'Early In The Morning' and 'Now We're One' he wrote for Buddy Holly. A few singers wrote their own material but very few wrote songs for other people at such an early stage in their careers - a clue that he was exceptional. What was amazing was, as he was just starting out as a Rock 'n' Roll star, that a distinguished blues singer like Ruth Brown would cover a song written by Darin such as 'This Little Girl's Gone a'Rockin'. This record cemented a relationship between the two singers.'

Booby Darin: 'I started as a song writer as a hobby really but it became lucrative because I was fortunate enough to do some radio commercials which allowed me to do some commercial songs that I had written and the net result of that was getting lucky with my own records - 'Splish Splash' and 'Dream Lover.'

No sooner had 'Dream Lover' become a success all over the world than Darin was working on something else entirely. In autumn 1959 he realised an ambition and made a record that changed his career and changed a perception of pop music. He had seen the 'Threepenny Opera' and decided he would like to record one of the songs. The result was the outstanding track 'Mac the Knife' on the 'That's All' album. It was was number one on the Billboard charts for nine weeks and is one of the biggest selling records in history.

Las Vegas

Darin the performer came alive at Las Vegas.

Harriet Weisman: He had that special quality - a certain kind of magical quality that flows from within.

The early sixties were a productive time for Darin who had acquired a new manager in Steve Blaner. George Burns was going into a night club for the first time, having played vaudeville, television etc, and was putting together a show. Darin was taken on as a singer with 2 weeks in Talahoe and then 4 weeks at the Sahara, Las Vegas.

Darin began appearing regularly in Las Vegas and became one of hottest acts in town. And he went over big at New York's Copacabana - not an easy audience to win over - by not only singing but playing the xylophone, drums and doing impressions. After releasing an the album 'Live at the Copa' in 1960, he toured Great Britain with Duane Eddy. His night club type act that included the song 'My Funny Valentine' and did not go down too well with some of the audiences who were more interested in Rock 'n' Roll at that time. In that same year Darin won 2 Grammys, one for song of the year, Mac the Knife, and one for best newcomer. He made a celebrated album with Johnny Mercer, 'Two of a Kind'.

Darin made several movies, some fairing better than others. On the set of 'Come September', featuring the song 'Multiplication', he met a young starlet Sandra Dee. They fell in love and were married in December 1960. Second only to Jackie and John F. Kennedy as the starriest couple around, the marriage came under constant scrutiny from the media. Sandra gave birth to their son Dodd Mitchell Darin on 16 Dec 1961.

Darin switched to Capital Records and went into the music publishing business by buying a company called TM Music. He had started to include folk music in his night club act such as 'Blowin' in the Wind' and Tom Paxton's 'Strange Rain' and recording several songs with a stronger lyrical content.

Around this time he made his best movies: 'Hell Is for Heroes', 'Pressure Point', and Captain Newman MD.' for which he received an Oscar nomination in 1964 - the winner was Melvyn Douglas. With a good speaking voice he was always confident and comfortable in front of the camera. Returning to Atlantic Records, he recorded one of his most enduring records, Tim Hardin's 'If I Were a Carpenter'. As Darin was a meticulous professional and knew what he wanted he took control of his own recordings.

His marriage to Sandra Dee began to run into trouble and finally ended in divorce in 1967.

British fans had a rare chance to see him on a BBC TV special where he proved himself to be an all-round performer as well as comedian.

After participating in civil rights demonstrations he became politically involved in Bobby Kennedy's presidential campaign by singing with just a guitar on the campaign trail. The assassination of Robert Kennedy hit him as a deeply personal blow.

Selling his publishing company TM Music, which had acquired all his backlog copyrights, turned out to be a bad deal and he spent the rest of his life trying to buy it back.

In 1968 he formed his own record label, grew a moustache and did a couple of solo LP's as a singer-songwriter. A year later he returned to the Copacabana with a 4-piece band and included the self-composed song: 'Long Line Rider'.

With a new record deal with Motown, Darin returned to Las Vegas in May 1970 and included 'Mack the Knife' again in his act. No ordinary pop artist or cabaret performer, he placed an ad in several newspapers denouncing the US invasion of Cambodia and addressed a crowd at an anti-war rally in Los Angeles.

In 1971 he underwent his first heart surgery and married Andrea Yaeger. After hosting the Mike Douglas show he was given his own series - The Bobby Darin Amusement Company - which seemed to go well but wasn't re-commisioned. It came as a blow to Darin who, as a major artist, felt that TV was the place for him.

There came a family surprise. His sister Nina, who was 19 years older than Bobby, was in truth his mother. She had finally made the decision to tell him and it obviously came as a shock. The identity of his true father was never disclosed.

A routine visit to the dentist proved to be momentous as he omitted to take the anti-biotics that he was supposed to take before any anaesthetic was administered. This resulted in complications that were impossible to treat. On 20 Dec 1973 after 8 hours of intensive surgery, Bobby Darin aged 37, died.

Bobby had been the Ambassador for the Heart Fund for the American Heart Association and constantly gave to many other charities. After his death, his furniture and piano were donated to Regina Hall, a home for unmanagable girls in Las Vegas.

He was inducted into the Rock an' Roll Hall of Fame in 1990 where Paul Anka did the honours.

Paul Anka: I presented it to him. It was a wonderful night, his son was there and it was justly due.

Given recognition as a songwriter, he was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1999.

Fellow inductee Sir Tim Rice: At my induction I made a speech, devouting a large chunk of it to Bobby Darin. His brother was in the audience and he came up and thanked me and I said it was easy to say a few words about Bobby Darin because I was a true fan.

Marl Lermarr: The legacy of Bobby Darin is that of a far-sighted artist who seldom compromised. A versatile artist who could sing a variety of songs one after the other. He could adapt to any singing style, naturally - Swing, Country and Western, Rock an' Roll, Folk songs. He could dance, play the vibraphone, drums and guitar.