Bobby Darin

At 37 years old, Bobby Darin has this physical status:

Born Walden Robert Cassotto (May 14, 1936 – December 20, 1973) was an American singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and actor in film and television.

He performed jazz, pop, rock and roll, folk, swing, and country music. He began his career as a songwriter for Connie Francis.

In 1958, he released his first million-selling single, "Splish Splash."

"Dream Lover," "Mack the Knife," and "Beyond the Sea" followed him, earning him worldwide fame.

He received a Golden Globe Award in 1962 for his first film, Come September, co-starring Sandra Dee, his first wife. He became more politically active and worked on Robert F. Kennedy's Democratic presidential campaign in the 1960s.

He was present at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles on the night of June 4/5, 1968, the night of Kennedy's assassination attempt.

He discovered he had been raised by his grandmother, not his mother, and that the woman he suspected was his sister was actually his mother.

Darin was greatly affected by those events, putting him into a lengthy period of seclusion. Despite a fruitful comeback (on television), his health was starting to fail as he had expected, following bouts of rheumatic fever in childhood.

He had always wanted to use his musical abilities when he was young.

After a heart transplant in Los Angeles, he died at the age of 37.

Early years

Walden Robert Cassotto was born in 1936, in the East Harlem neighborhood of New York City, and his maternal grandfather, Saverio Antonio "Big Sam Curly" Cassotto, died of pneumonia a year before Darin's birth, and a close friend of Frank Costello, who was evidently attending Costello's wedding, but the friendship soured after he accused Costello of withholding money meant for Cassotto'stto Vivian Fern Walden, his maternal grandmother, was born in 1891 and was of English, Danish, and Norwegian origins. She was a vain artiste. Vanina Juliette "Nina" Cassotto, Darin's birth mother, was pregnant with him in 1935, when she was 17. Nina and her mother initiated a scheme to give her baby off as Nina's younger brother.

Darin thought his mother Nina was actually his elder sister, and Polly, who had raised him from birth, was his mother. Nina told him the truth about the allegedly devastating Darin in 1968, when he was 32 and considering entering politics. She refused to reveal the identity of his biological father and kept it a mystery until her death in 1983.

Darin could play many instruments, including piano, drums, and guitar by the time he was a teenager. He later added harmonica and xylophone to his repertoire.

Darin came from the Bronx Early in his life (with a rented summer home in Staten Island) and graduated from the prestigious Bronx High School of Science. In later years, he attributed his nascent behavior to his time there, where he was surrounded by brillianter students who teased him. He later enrolled at Hunter College and then gravitated to the drama department. He dropped out to pursue an acting career after only two semesters.

As he began to record, Bobby converted the name Darin from actor Darren McGavin's first name, TV's Mike Hammer's first name, but also added, "My legal name will remain Cassotto." Cassotto was my mother's name, and it would be my children's name."

Personal life

Sandra Dee, a Darin married actress, was born on December 1, 1960. They met while filming Come September (which was released in 1961). They had a son, Dodd Mitchell Darin (also known as Morgan Mitchell Darin), on December 16, 1961. On March 7, 1967, Dee and Darin divorced.

Andrea Yeager, a retired solicitor who met in 1970 and married on June 25, 1973, Darin's second wife after the couple had lived together for three years, was Darin's second wife. The couple divorced in October 1973, four months after Darin's health problems increased.

Source

Music career

Darin's career began with a songwriting collaboration with Don Kirshner, whom he encountered in 1955 at a candy store in Washington Heights. They wrote jingles and songs, beginning with "Bubblegum Pop." His agent was negotiating a Decca Records contract in 1956. The songs on Decca were met with minimal commercial success.

Darin was introduced to singer Connie Francis, who wrote several songs for many of the Brill Building group of struggling songwriters. They developed a romantic interest, but her father was not fond of Darin and did not approve of the marriage, and the couple broke up. Darin wanted to elope right away at one point; Francis has said that not marrying Darin was the biggest mistake of her life.

Darin left Decca to work with Atlantic Records' Atco affiliate, where he wrote and arranged music for himself and others. Elvis style songs, such as Harry Warren's "I Found a Million Dollar Baby," were performed in an Elvis style that did not suit his personality.

Darin's career finally began in 1958, when he released "Splish Splash," a guide led by Atlantic's star-maker Ahmet Ertegun. He co-wrote the song with radio D.J. Murray Kaufman was inspired by a phone call from Kaufman's mother, Jean, a frustrated songwriter. "Splish, Splash, Take a Bath" was the new song she had on record. Both Kaufman and Darin thought the title was lackluster, but Darin, who had few choices, said, "I could write a song with that name." Darin had written "Splish Splash" in less than a hour. More than a million copies have been sold as Darin's first profitable venture into the rock and roll genre. Kirshner, who was not involved in the writing of the song, died at the age of 30. He made another recording for Brunswick Records in 1958, The Ding Dongs, a British band. With the success of "Splish Splash," Atco Records re-released the single as "Early in the Morning" with the band renamed as The Rinky Dinks. It charted and ranked it at number 24 in the United States, bringing it to the top of the charts.

Darin released "Dream Lover," a ballad that became a multi-millionaire in 1959. His financial success and his ability to demand more creative control of his career were two contributing factors. He wanted to show that he could sing more than rock and roll on his That's All album. His next single, "Mack the Knife," Kurt Weill's Threepenny Opera's Threepenny Opera's standard, was given a vain jazz-pop interpretation. Despite Darin's initial resistance to releasing it as a single, the album debuted at No. 1. 1 has been on the charts for nine weeks, sold two million copies, and received the Grammy Award for Record of the Year in 1960. Darin was also voted the Best New Artist of the Year by the Grammy Award, and "Mack the Knife" has since been honoured with a Grammy Hall of Fame award.

"Beyond the Sea," a jazzy English-language translation of Charles Trenet's French hit song "La Mer," Darin followed "Mack" with "Beyond the Sea." Both tracks were produced by Ahmet and Nesuhi Ertegun, alongside staff producer Jerry Wexler, and they featured Richard Wess' arrangements.

Darin was part of the late-1950s in Manhattan, breaking the all-time attendance record and playing at the major casinos in Las Vegas.

"Artificial Flowers," a song by Sheldon Harnick and Jerry Bock about a child laborer's death, featured a jazzy, big band arrangement by Richard Behrke that was in stark contrast to the song's tragic lyrics.

Darin owned and operated in the 1960s, with Doris Day's son Terry Melcher, a music publishing and production firm (TM Music/Trio). Wayne Newton was signed by Wayne Newton and gave him the song "Danke Schoen," which became Newton's breakthrough hit. Darinn was also a mentor to Roger McGuinn, who worked with him on TM Music and played the 12-string guitar in Darin's nightclub band before forming the Byrds. In addition, Darin produced Rosey Grier's 1964 LP Soul City and Jimmy Boyd's Made in the Shade.

Darin began to write and perform country music in 1962, with hits including "Things" (US No. 1). No. 3/The United Kingdom No. 357. (US No. 2) "You're the Reason I'm Living" (1962). "18 Yellow Roses" (US No. 3), and "3 Yellow Roses" (US No. 4). (10) Athens, 10). Capitol Records, which he joined in 1962, received the latter two figures before returning to Atlantic three years later. Darin left the Capitol in 1964. He had his last UK hit single in 1966, with a version of Tim Hardin's "If I Were a Carpenter," which debuted at No. 2 in the United Kingdom. 9.00 (No. 9) In the United States, there are eight occupants. He appeared in the opening and closing songs on the soundtrack of the 1965 Walt Disney film That Darn Cat! In the 1967 TV special "Things" starring Nancy Sinatra, Dean Martin sung "Things."

Acting career

Darin appeared in "Honeyboy Jones" in a early episode of Jackie Cooper's CBS military sitcom/drama Hennesey's fall 1959. He became the first celebrity to have been signed to five major Hollywood film studios in the same year. He wrote music for several films in which he appeared.

Come September (1961), his first big film, starred Rock Hudson and Gina Lollobrigida, and featured 18-year-old actress Sandra Dee. They met during the filming of the film and married shortly afterward. On December 16, 1961, Dee gave birth to Dodd Mitchell Darin (also known as Morgan Mitchell). Dee and Darin produced a few films together with modest success.

In 1961, he appeared in Too Late Blues, John Cassavetes' first film for a major Hollywood studio. Darin was "a surprise" in his first nonsing role, with the ability to appear both arrogant and weak, according to Los Angeles Times critic Dennis Lim in 2012. Darin was named "New Star of the Year – Actor" in 1962 for his role in Come September. He was nominated for a Best Actor Golden Globe for Pressure Point the following year.

In 1963, he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role as a shell-shocked soldier in Captain Newman, M.D.

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

Source