Bobby Darin

Bobby Darin biography

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".

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