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| Bobby Darin |
Orchestra Kentucky will perform Darin's big hit, Beyond the Sea, at its November 5th and 6th concerts, Rock 'n Roll Heaven. Darin's story is one of the more tragic ones. In fact, it is so interesting, it was the basis of the film Beyond the Sea, starring Kevin Spacey.
Like yesterday's blog subject Laura Nyro, Darin was born in the Bronx. Darin was born on May 14, 1936 to a poor, working class family. The person whom he thought was his father died in jail just months before Darin was born. He never learned the true identity of his father. The person who died in jail was actually his grandfather. He was raised by his mother and sister until his sister married and moved out of the house. When he was an adult, Darin learned that his sister (who was 17 years older than he) was actually his mother and the person he thought was his mother was actually his grandmother. Whew!
Darin was sickly as a child, struggling with multiple bouts of rheumatic fever. The disease seriously weakened his heart. He once overheard a doctor tell his mother that Darin would be lucky to live to the age of 16. With that knowledge hanging over his head, Darin worked hard to use his talents to make something of what he thought would be a short life. By the time he was a teenager, he could play piano, drums, guitar, harmonica and xylophone.
An outstanding student, Darin graduated from the prestigious Bronx High School of Science and went on to attend Hunter College on a scholarship. Wanting a career in the New York theater, he dropped out of college to play small nightclubs around the city with a musical combo. In the resort area of the Catskill Mountains, he was both a busboy and an entertainer. For the most part teenage Bobby was a comedy drummer and an ambitious but unpolished vocalist.
As was common with first-generation Americans at the time, he changed his Italian surname to one that sounded less ethnic. He chose the name "Bobby" because he had been called that as a child. He allegedly chose Darin because he had seen a malfunctioning electrical sign at a Chinese restaurant reading "DARIN DUCK" rather than "MANDARIN DUCK", and he thought "Darin" looked good. Later, he said that the name was randomly picked out of the telephone book, either by himself or by his publicist. It has also been suggested that he amended the word "daring" to suit his ambitions. None of these stories has been verified.
What really moved things along for Darin was his songwriting partnership, formed in 1955, with fellow Bronx Science student. In 1956 his agent negotiated a contract for him with Decca Records. Introduced to the up-and-coming singer Connie Francis, Darin wrote several songs for her. He left Decca to work for Atlantic Records, where he wrote and arranged music for himself and others. His career took off when he wrote and recorded Splish Splash, which sold more than a million copies. It was written when a DJ bet Darin he could not write a song, starting with the words "Splish Splash, I was takin' a bath."
Darin's 1959 hit Dream Love became a multi-million seller. His next hit was Mack the Knife, a song than went to number one for nine weeks, sold two million copies, and won the Grammy for record of the year for 1960. He followed this hit with Beyond the Sea, an English-language version of a French hit, La Mer. These two hits helped Darin appear as a headliner at top Vegas casison and to set attendance records at the Copacabana nightclub in New York
In addition to music, Darin became a motion picture actor. His first major film, a romantic comedy, entitled Come September, starred Darin and 16-year-old actress Sandra Dee. They fell in love and were married in 1960. The couple had one son, Dodd Mitchell Darin (born 1961) and later divorced in 1967. In 1963, Darin was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role as a shell-shocked soldier in Captain Newman, M.D.
As the '60s progressed, Darin's musical sytle became more folksy. 1966 brought the hit If I Were a Carpenter and 1969, Simple Song of Freedom. At the beginning of the '70s, he continued to act and to record, including several albums with Motown Records and a couple of films. 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 the year recovering from the surgery. Darin married Andrea Yeager in June 1973. He made TV guest appearances and also remained a top draw at Las Vegas, where, owing to his poor health, he was often administered oxygen after his performances.
In 1973, Darin's ill health took a turn for the worse. After failing to take medication (prescribed to protect his heart) before a dental visit, he developed blood poisoning. This weakened his body and badly affected one of his heart valves. On December 11, Darin entered Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles for surgery to repair the two artificial heart valves he received in the previous 1971 operation. On December 19, the surgery began. A five-man surgical team worked for over six hours to repair his damaged heart. Although the surgery was initially successful, Darin died minutes afterward in the recovery room without regaining consciousness. The date was December 20, 1973. Darin was 37.
(Information taken from www.wikipedia.com)
Watch a film clip from the 2004 bioepic Beyond the Sea. Kevin Spacey sings the title track.
Now watch Bobby Darin sing the song himself.
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