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Bobby Darin (May 14, 1936 – December 20,
1973), born Walden Robert Cassotto,  was one of
the most popular rock and roll United
States|American teen idols of the late 1950s.
However, he is widely respected for being a
multi-talented, versatile performer.


==As Long as I'm Singin (1936-1956): Early Years==
Darin was born to a poor, working-class family in
the Bronx, New York, and his father died a few
months before he was born at the height of the
Great Depression. As a result, his mother had to
accept social assistance to take care of her
infant son. It was not until he was an adult that
he learned his sister Nina, 19 years his senior,
was in fact his mother. The identity of his true
father was never publicly disclosed.

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
rheumatic fever. The illness left him with a
seriously diseased heart, and he would live with
the constant knowledge that his life might end at
any moment. Driven by his poverty and illness, and
with an innate talent for music, by the time he
was a teenager he could play several musical
instruments.

An outstanding student, after graduating from the
Bronx High School of Science, Darin attended
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.  

=='Mack the Knife' Goes Mainstream (1956-1964):
Musical Career==

As was common with ethnic minorities at the time,
he changed his Italian name and, 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,
meaningless songs popular with record executives
at the time.

He left Decca to sign with Atlantic Records, where
he wrote and arranged music for himself and
others. There, after three mediocre recordings,
his career took off in 1958 when he released his
unique rock song "Splish Splash" that became an
instant hit, selling more than a million copies.
This was followed by more hits recorded in the
same successful style.

In 1959, Bobby Darin recorded "Dream Lover", a
complex ballad that would become a multi-million
seller and one that is still remembered to this
day. With financial success came the ability to
demand more creative control and, despite the
objections of most everyone around him, Darin's
immense and diverse talent came to the fore with
his next record "Mack the Knife", 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.
For his innovation, Darin was voted the Grammy
Award for Best New Artist. "Mack The Knife" has
since been honored with a Grammy Hall of Fame
Award.


==A time of 'Change' before 'The Curtain Falls'
(1965-1973): Later Years==

Driven by the inner urgency of a clock ticking
away precious time, Darin turned his attention to
motion pictures. He would write music for several
films and act in them as well. In his first film,
a romantic comedy designed to capitalize on his
popularity with the teenage and young-adult
audience, he co-starred with Sandra Dee, whom he
married in 1960 and with whom he had one son. 

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 Post-traumatic
stress disorder|shell-shocked soldier in Capt.
Newman M.D.  At the Cannes Film Festival in
France, where his records—in particular his
version of Charles Trenet's French hit song "La
Mer" (in America in English: "Beyond the
Sea")—brought him a wide following, he won
the French Film Critics Award for Best Actor.

In the mid-1960s, Darin headlined at the major
casinos in Las Vegas, Nevada, and became
politically active, working on the 1968
Presidential election campaign of Robert Kennedy.
Profoundly affected by Kennedy's assassination, he
made two protest albums of alternative rock music.

At the beginning of the 1970s he continued to act
and to record, including at Motown Records. In
1971 he underwent his first heart surgery in an
attempt to correct some of the heart damage he had
lived with since childhood. In 1972 he was well
enough to star in his own television variety show,
on National Broadcasting Company|NBC, which ran
for two years, until his health problems finally
overcame him. Darin also started Wayne Newton's
career.

A goodwill Ambassador for the American Heart
Association, on December 20, 1973, Darin died
during surgery to repair a faulty heart valve. In
accordance with his wishes, his body was donated
to the University of California, Los Angeles|UCLA
Medical Center for research purposes.

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 at
1735 Vine Street.

In 2000, actor Kevin Spacey, a lifelong fan of
Darin, acquired the film rights to his story.
Spacey directed, produced, and played as Bobby
Darin - as well as writing the script. The film is
titled after one of Darin's top hits, Beyond the
Sea (film)|Beyond The Sea, and was released at the
2004 Toronto International Film Festival. Inspite
of its great production value and promotion, the
movie's box office results were disappointing.

==Discography==

* Splish Splash (Bobby Darin, Murray Kaufman) 
Recorded in NYC, April 10, 1958
* Queen of the Hop (Woody Harris) Recorded in NYC,
April 10, 1958
* Plain Jane  — 1959
* Dream Lover  — 1959
* Mack the Knife  (Kurt Weill, Bertolt Brecht,
Marc Blitzstein) Recorded at Fulton on West 40th
Street, NYC, December 19, 1958 Tom Dowd (eng)
* Beyond The Sea (the French hit song La Mer)
— 1960
* Won't You Come Home Bill Bailey?  — 1960
* You Must Have Been a Beautiful Baby — 1961
* What'd I Say?  — 1962
* Things  — 1962
* You're the Reason I'm Living  — 1963
* 18 Yellow Roses  —  1963
* If I Were a Carpenter — 1966
* Mame — 1966
* A Simple Song of Freedom — 1967
* Bobby Darin Sings Doctor Doolittle — 1967
* Bobby Darin Born Walden Robert Cassotto —
1968
* Commitment — 1969

==Filmography==
*The Sad Sack (1957)
*Heller in Pink Tights (1960)
*Please Don't Eat the Daisies (1960)
*Pepe (1960) (Cameo)
*Come September (1961)
*Too Late Blues (1961)
*State Fair (1962)
*Hell Is for Heroes (1962)
*If a Man Answers (1962)
*Pressure Point (1962)
*Captain Newman, M.D. (1963)
*That Funny Feeling (1965)
*Gunfight in Abilene (1967)
*Stranger in the House (1967)
*The Happy Ending (1969)
*Happy Mother's Day, Love George (1973)

===Ad campaigns===
*Darin's song "Beyond the Sea" is played in a 2005
commercial for Carnival Cruise Lines.

	Web Quotableonline.com Frasescelebres.org Greatbookscollection.org

Bobby Darin (May 14, 1936 – December 20,
1973), born Walden Robert Cassotto,  was one of
the most popular rock and roll United
States|American teen idols of the late 1950s.
However, he is widely respected for being a
multi-talented, versatile performer.


==As Long as I'm Singin (1936-1956): Early Years==
Darin was born to a poor, working-class family in
the Bronx, New York, and his father dissapeared a
few months before he was born at the height of the
Great Depression. As a result, his mother had to
accept social assistance to take care of her
infant son. It was not until he was an adult that
he learned his sister Nina, 19 years his senior,
was in fact his mother. The identity of his true
father was never publicly disclosed.

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
rheumatic fever. The illness left him with a
seriously diseased heart, and he would live with
the constant knowledge that his life might end at
any moment. Driven by his poverty and illness, and
with an innate talent for music, by the time he
was a teenager he could play several musical
instruments.

An outstanding student, after graduating from the
Bronx High School of Science, Darin attended
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.

=='Mack the Knife' Goes Mainstream (1956-1964):
Musical Career==

As was common with ethnic minorities at the time,
he changed his Italian name and, 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,
meaningless songs popular with record executives
at the time.

He left Decca to sign with Atlantic Records, where
he wrote and arranged music for himself and
others. There, after three mediocre recordings,
his career took off in 1958 when he released his
unique rock song "Splish Splash" that became an
instant hit, selling more than a million copies.
This was followed by more hits recorded in the
same successful style.

In 1959, Bobby Darin recorded "Dream Lover", a
complex ballad that would become a multi-million
seller and one that is still remembered to this
day. With financial success came the ability to
demand more creative control and, despite the
objections of most everyone around him, Darin's
immense and diverse talent came to the fore with
his next record "Mack the Knife", 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.
For his innovation, Darin was voted the Grammy
Award for Best New Artist. "Mack The Knife" has
since been honored with a Grammy Hall of Fame
Award.


==A time of 'Change' before 'The Curtain Falls'
(1965-1973): Later Years==

Driven by the inner urgency of a clock ticking
away precious time, Darin turned his attention to
motion pictures. He would write music for several
films and act in them as well. In his first film,
a romantic comedy designed to capitalize on his
popularity with the teenage and young-adult
audience, he co-starred with Sandra Dee, whom he
married in 1960 and with whom he had one son. 

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 Post-traumatic
stress disorder|shell-shocked soldier in Capt.
Newman M.D.  At the Cannes Film Festival in
France, where his records—in particular his
version of Charles Trenet's French hit song "La
Mer" (in America in English: "Beyond the
Sea")—brought him a wide following, he won
the French Film Critics Award for Best Actor.

In the mid-1960s, Darin headlined at the major
casinos in Las Vegas, Nevada, and became
politically active, working on the 1968
Presidential election campaign of Robert Kennedy.
Profoundly affected by Kennedy's assassination, he
made two protest albums of alternative rock music.

At the beginning of the 1970s he continued to act
and to record, including at Motown Records. In
1971 he underwent his first heart surgery in an
attempt to correct some of the heart damage he had
lived with since childhood. In 1972 he was well
enough to star in his own television variety show,
on National Broadcasting Company|NBC, which ran
for two years, until his health problems finally
overcame him. Darin also started Wayne Newton's
career.

A goodwill Ambassador for the American Heart
Association, on December 20, 1973, Darin died
during surgery to repair a faulty heart valve. In
accordance with his wishes, his body was donated
to the University of California, Los Angeles|UCLA
Medical Center for research purposes.

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 at
1735 Vine Street.

In 2000, actor Kevin Spacey, a lifelong fan of
Darin, acquired the film rights to his story.
Spacey directed, produced, and played as Bobby
Darin - as well as writing the script. The film is
titled after one of Darin's top hits, Beyond the
Sea (film)|Beyond The Sea, and was released at the
2004 Toronto International Film Festival. In spite
of its great production value and promotion, the
movie's box office results were disappointing.

==Discography==

* Splish Splash (Bobby Darin, Murray Kaufman) 
Recorded in NYC, April 10, 1958
* Queen of the Hop (Woody Harris) Recorded in NYC,
April 10, 1958
* Plain Jane  — 1959
* Dream Lover  — 1959
* Mack the Knife  (Kurt Weill, Bertolt Brecht,
Marc Blitzstein) Recorded at Fulton on West 40th
Street, NYC, December 19, 1958 Tom Dowd (eng)
* Beyond The Sea (the French hit song La Mer)
— 1960
* Won't You Come Home Bill Bailey?  — 1960
* You Must Have Been a Beautiful Baby — 1961
* What'd I Say?  — 1962
* Things  — 1962
* You're the Reason I'm Living  — 1963
* 18 Yellow Roses  —  1963
* If I Were a Carpenter — 1966
* Mame — 1966
* A Simple Song of Freedom — 1967
* Bobby Darin Sings Doctor Doolittle — 1967
* Bobby Darin Born Walden Robert Cassotto —
1968
* Commitment — 1969

==Filmography==
*The Sad Sack (1957)
*Heller in Pink Tights (1960)
*Please Don't Eat the Daisies (1960)
*Pepe (1960) (Cameo)
*Come September (1961)
*Too Late Blues (1961)
*State Fair (1962)
*Hell Is for Heroes (1962)
*If a Man Answers (1962)
*Pressure Point (1962)
*Captain Newman, M.D. (1963)
*That Funny Feeling (1965)
*Gunfight in Abilene (1967)
*Stranger in the House (1967)
*The Happy Ending (1969)
*Happy Mother's Day, Love George (1973)

===Ad campaigns===
*Darin's song "Beyond the Sea" is played in a 2005
commercial for Carnival Cruise Lines.