Walden Robert Cassotto, aka Bobby Darin, was one of the most popular rock and roll American teen idols of the late 1950s. Born to a poor Italian family in the Bronx, New York, on May 14, 1936, during the Great Depression, his father abandoned the family a few months before he was born. His mother, who was a Mayflower descendant, had to accept social assistance to help her care for her new child. In a sad twist of fate, the woman he thought was his mother was really his grandmother. When he was told as an adult that his real mother was his sister, Nina, 19 years his senior, he was devastated and never fully recovered from the dishonesty and the shock. The true identity of his father was never publicly disclosed.
Extremely intelligent, Bobby was frail as an infant and was stricken with rheumatic fever at the age of eight. The illness left him with a damaged heart and he lived under the constant shadow that his life might end at any moment. By the time he reached his teenage years, he demonstrated a keen talent for music and could play several instruments well. He was an excellent student and graduated the Bronx High School of Science with a scholarship for Hunter College, which he attended for one semester. His star drew him elsewhere, among the city lights and the nightclubs where he performed with a musical combo.
In 1956 Bobby changed his name to Darin and through an agent, gained a contract with Decca Records. But he was unhappy with the trite songs the record executives wanted him to sing, and he soon left to sign up with Atlantic Records where he wrote and arranged his own music. His career took off in 1958 with the release of “Splish Splash” (a song he wrote on a bet that he couldn’t write one that started with words, “Splish, Splash”). The song was an instant hit, selling more than a million copies.
Many hits followed the next year with “Dream Lover” and his all time hit, “Mack the Knife,” which came from Kurt Weill’s “The Three Penny Opera.” The song was number one on the charts and sold several million copies, earning the Grammy Award for Record of the Year in 1960.
During this time he released “Beyond The Sea”, a song based on the French, “Le Mer,” and updated by Johnny Mercer. It brought him a great international following. He began to appear in films as well, most notably, Captain Newman, MD with Gregory Peck for which he was nominated an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. He met and married Sandra Dee with whom he had his only child, a son named Dodd, in 1961.
He died on December 20, 1973, at the tender age of thirty-seven. Despite his many accomplishments, one can only wonder how many more there would have been if this young man had lived beyond his prime. He will always live beyond the sea in the memory of all who loved his music.
In 2000, actor Kevin Spacey, a life-long fan of Bobby Darin, acquired the film rights to his life story and made a movie entitled “Beyond the Sea”. He directed, produced and starred in the film, which did not fare well at the movie box office.
Please visit www.bobbydarin.net if you want to know more about this talented star.