Bobby Darin

Welcome to Rock and Roll Flashback!  I'm Jumpin' John, and in this episode I will review the career of the versatile singer known as Bobby Darin!

All podcasts on the Rock and Roll Flashback Podcast are produced by brothers-in-law Bill Price and "Jumpin' John" McDermott. The Podcast Theme Song, "You Essay", was written by John. It was initially recorded by Bill and John on April 1, 2004 with several revisions since then.
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Transcript

Thank you for that introduction and welcome to Rock and Roll Flashback!  I'm Jumpin' John, and in this episode I will review the career of the versatile singer known as Bobby Darin!

Walden Robert Cassotto was born in East Harlem, New York City, in 1936.  Because his mother was only 18 at the time of his birth, young Bobby was raised to believe that his maternal grandmother, Polly, was his mother and that his true mother, Nina, was his older sister.  In 1968, when Darin was 32 years old and considering entering politics, Nina Cassotto told him the truth.  Bobby was understandably devasted.  Nina never told him the identity of his biological father, but in 2020 DNA evidence revealed that Emilio Lepore was his biological father.  Interestingly, Darin's maternal grandfather, Saverio Antonio "Big Sam Curly" Cassotto had died while in prison a year before Darin's birth.  Sam had been a soldier in the Genovese Crime Family, as well as a close associate of Frank Costello.

Severe rheumatic fever as a child scarred Bobby's heart.  He became the focal point of a family that encouraged his love of music.  By the time he was a teenager, Darin could play several instruments, including piano, drums, and guitar.  He played drums in a band while in high school.  At age 16 he and his high school band mates landed a summer job at the Sunnylands resort in the Catskills.   Bobby graduated from Bronx Science high school in June 1952, at the young age of 16, and that summer he and the band went back to the Sunnylands for a return engagement.  Then Bobby enrolled as a theater major at Hunter College in the Bronx.  The next year he dropped out of Hunter to join a 7-week theater tour.  Torn between wanting to be either an actor or a musician, he spent a couple years auditioning for stage shows and contacting music publishers with his songs.  In 1955 he began to write songs with Don Kirshner, and the two men collaborated on a number of advertising jingles and pop tunes.

Reportedly Bobby took his new identity from a Mandarin Chinese restaurant whose neon sign had the first three letters burned out and was flashing only D-A-R-I-N.  So in 1956 Bobby changed his last name to Darin, but kept Cassotto as his legal last name.  Also in 1956 George Scheck became Darin's personal manager, and Bobby stopped writing with Kirshner.  Kirshner would go on to have a famous musical career of his own.  George Scheck negotiated a recording contract for Darin with Decca Records.  However, the songs he recorded at Decca were unsuccessful commercially.  Meanwhile, during spring and summer 1956, he continued to tour small clubs in the East and Midwest.  Scheck introduced Darin to singer Connie Francis, and Bobby wrote some songs for her.  Bobby and Connie became very romantically involved.  However, Connie's parents were not fond of Darin and did not approve of the relationship.  Connie's father even threatened to shoot Darin, and his romantic relationship with Connie Francis ended.

Darin left Decca to sign with Atlantic Records' Atco subsidiary, where he wrote and arranged music for himself and others.  The songs that Darin initially recorded were sung in an Elvis style, which did not suit Darin's personality.  Guided by Atlantic's Ahmet Ertegun, Darin's career finally took off in 1958 when he recorded the novelty rock song "Splish Splash".  Darin co-wrote the song with New York radio D.J. Murray Kaufman.  The song's subject matter had been suggested by Murray's mother, Jean Kaufman.  In order to avoid any hint of payola, the songwriting credit went to Bobby Darin and "Jean Murray", which was a combination of Murray's and his mother's names.  Released in May 1958, "Splish Splash" reached #3 on the U.S. pop singles chart, #2 on the R&B Best Sellers chart, #14 on the Country & Western chart, and #3 in Canada.   The song was Darin's first successful rock and roll tune, selling more than a million copies and helped give his career a major boost.  His popularity also benefited by a series of TV appearances on Dick Clark's American Bandstand.  Years later "Splish Splash" would be used in the soundtrack for the 1998 movie You've Got Mail and in several episodes of the TV show Happy Days. 

Darin's follow up hit, "Queen of the Hop", was released in September 1958.  "Queen of the Hop" reached #6 on the US R&B chart, #9 on the US pop chart, #7 in Canada, and #24 on the UK Singles Chart.  In January 1959 Atco released Bobby's "Plain Jane" as a single, but it only reached #38 in the pop chart.  In March 1959, Darin recorded, with Neil Sedaka on piano, another song that he had written called "Dream Lover".  The ballad was released as a single in April 1959, and became a multi-million seller.  "Dream Lover" reached #2 on the Billboard Hot 100, #4 on Billboard's Hot R&B Sides chart, and #5 in Canada.

However, despite his rock and roll success, teen idol Bobby Darin abruptly changed direction in late 1959.  Bobby wanted to show that he could sing more than just rock and roll.  So he recorded an album of standards entitled That's All.  The That's All  LP was released in March 1959.  The album remained on the Billboard LP chart for 52 weeks, peaking at #7.  It also debuted on the Cashbox albums chart in the May 1959 and remained on that chart for a total of 80 weeks, peaking at #10.  It entered the UK album chart in April 1960 and spent its only week on the album chart there at #15.

Against Dick Clark's advice, in August 1959 Atco released the first single from Darin's album.  That song, "Mack the Knife", was a standard from Kurt Weill's Threepenny Opera.  Bobby had recorded his version on December 19th, 1958.  He recorded the song in around three takes, performing the song with an up-tempo, bouncy beat.  Doc Severinsen (of Tonight Show fame) played trumpet on the recording.  "Mack the Knife" quickly moved up the charts in early 1959, reaching #1 on the Billboard Hot 100, where it stayed for nine weeks.  It also reached #6 on the Black Singles Chart and was #1 for eight weeks on the Cashbox Top 100.  "Mack the Knife" would ultimately sell two million copies.  It won the Grammy Award for Record of the Year in 1960.  Darin was also voted the Grammy Award for Best New Artist that year, and "Mack the Knife" has since been honored with a Grammy Hall of Fame Award.  

The song "Beyond the Sea" was the second single released from the That's All album.  It was a jazzy English-language version of Charles Trenet's French hit song "La Mer".  Released in October 1959, Bobby Darin's version of "Beyond the Sea" reached #6 on the Billboard Hot 100, #15 on the US R&B Chart, #7 in Canada, and #8 in the UK Singles Chart.  Bobby's "Beyond the Sea" would be later featured in the soundtrack from the 1990 film Goodfellas.

In the early 1960's, Darin had mostly abandoned rock for the adult pop market.  In June 1961 Bobby set the all-time attendance record at the Copacabana nightclub in New York City.  Darin signed a contract with vaudeville legend George Burns, and Bobby took the opening spot in Burns' Las Vegas nightclub act.  Darin soon began headlining at the major Vegas casinos, becoming a huge success on the Las Vegas nightclub circuit.  Bobby was a unique performer in that he drew inspiration from a broader musical background than most performers, and he often incorporated acting into his performances.

Always a restless and ambitious performer and certain that he would die at an early age from a congenital heart defect, Bobby Darin could be described as a man in a hurry.  He was intelligent, brash, outspoken, and driven to succeed.  In addition to his musical career, Darin would appear in several movies.  His first, in 1961, was entitled Come September.  In 1962, Bobby Darin won the Golden Globe Award for the "New Star of the Year – Actor" for his role in Come September.  Darin received an Oscar nomination for his work in the 1963 film Captain Newman, M.D.  He appeared in another eight films, including the 1962's musical called State Fair.  Darin also wrote music for several films in which he appeared.  In December 1960, while filming Come September in Italy, Bobby married his leading lady, Sandra Dee.  Together they had one son, but their marriage was troubled, and they would divorce in 1967.  

Darin would continue to branch out musically in the 1960's.  His 1960 recording of "Artificial Flowers", a song from the Broadway musical Tenderloin, featured a jazzy, big band arrangement by his high school band mate Richard Behrke.  That song reached #20 on the Billboard Hot 100.  On January 30th, 1961, Darin became the youngest performer to headline his own TV prime-time special, which was called "Bobby Darin and Friends".  In February, Bobby's recording of "Lazy River" was released and peaked at #14.  In March Bobby's single called "Clementine" was issued.  It reached #12 in Canada, but failed to chart in the US.  Also in 1961 Atco released Darin's recording of "You Must Have Been a Beautiful Baby."  It did well on the charts, reaching #5 in the US, #2 in Canada, and #10 in the UK.

Darin began 1962 with a double-sided hit of "Irresistible You" backed with "Multiplication," both from the Come September  film.  The A-side reached #15, the B-side #30.  That was followed in April with his version of  "What'd I Say (Part 1)," which got to #24 in the pop chart.  Also in 1962, Darin began to write and sing country music.  His first country hit was entitled "Things", and it reached #3 in the US and #2 in the UK.  

On July 12th, 1962, Bobby signed a three-year contract with Capitol Records.  At the time it was the highest paying record contract ever signed.  With Capitol he had two more country hits:  "You're the Reason I'm Living" which reached #3 in the US and #11 in Canada, and "18 Yellow Roses" which reached #10 in the US.  

In February 1963, Darin purchased Trinity Music.  He called it TM Music, and he hired producer Terry Melcher.  Be sure to check out Rock and Roll Flashback Podcast episode #51 to learn more about Terry Melcher.  TM Music was located in New York City's Brill Building, and Darin hired Roger McGuinn as a TM songwriter.  McGuinn also doubled as a backup guitarist and harmony singer for Darin in Bobby's nightclub act.  Bobby had wanted to add a folk roots element to his repertoire.  Of course, McGuinn would go on to fame and fortune after he formed the Byrds folk-rock group in 1964.

Also in early 1963 Bobby Darin became involved in another Top 20 hit.  The song "Danke Schoen" was originally intended for Bobby Darin as a follow-up to his hit single "18 Yellow Roses".  However, after seeing 21 year old Wayne Newton perform at the Copacabana, Darin decided to give the song to Newton and transposed the key of the recording to fit Newton's voice.  In May 1963 Newton recorded "Danke Schoen" with the renowned L. A. Wrecking Crew session musicians, and the song reached #13 on Billboard's pop chart and #3 on the Easy Listening Chart.

In 1964 Bobby Darin left Capitol and returned to Atlantic Records.  Darin performed the opening and closing songs on the soundtrack of the 1965 Walt Disney film That Darn Cat!.  Then Darin played the acoustic guitar and sang on a recording of "If I Were a Carpenter".  Atlantic Records executives were initially reluctant to release the song.  However, it received enthusiastic response by radio audiences on the West Coast, so Atlantic released it as a single in September 1966.  "If I Were a Carpenter" became a hit, reaching #8 on the Billboard Hot 100, #7 in Canada, and #9 in the UK.  Darin's recording of "If I Were a Carpenter" received a Grammy nomination for Best Contemporary Rock and Roll Solo Vocal Performance.

Darin continued to appear in Las Vegas and on TV through the mid-1960's.  Bobby was certainly more politically aware and active than the average nightclub act.  As music tastes were changing, Darin himself seemed to be evolving.  He would cover tunes by Bob Dylan and the Rolling Stones, and he wrote some Dylan-influenced songs of his own in the late 1960's.  He joined Martin Luther King in his 1965 civil rights march to Montgomery, Alabama.  Darin also worked extensively for Robert Kennedy during his 1968 presidential campaign.  Claiming to have had a mystical religious experience at Robert Kennedy's funeral service, Darin quit working.  He sold his possessions and moved into a mobile home at Big Sur, California.  More than a year later he reemerged in blue jeans to start his own label, called Direction Records, putting out folk and protest music.  He wrote and recorded two albums that covered issues such as civil rights, poverty, the Vietnam War, and the death of RFK.  One LP was called Bobby Darin Born Walden Robert Cassotto, and the other LP was called Commitment.  However, Darin was struggling with his finances as his music career was dwindling.  His venture into protest music was not well received and failed to generate much in the way of profits.  In late 1969, Darin sold his songs, his Direction Records label, and his TM Music publishing company.

Bobby Darin went in for heart surgery in 1971, and from that point on he had bouts of ill health.  After his surgery he returned to working Vegas and similar venues again, exchanging his blue jeans for a tuxedo, and hosting a TV variety series.  Unfortunately his health was fading, and he always had an oxygen tank backstage.  Bobby even began recording for Motown, though these efforts met with little success.  In spite of his declining health, Darin's last venture was spent performing live, while receiving post heart-treatment medication.  He died at the age of 37 in Los Angeles on December 20th, 1973, following open heart surgery.

In 1990, Bobby Darin was inducted posthumously into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.  In 1999, Darin was voted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame.  On May 14th, 2007, Bobby was awarded a star on the Las Vegas Walk of Stars.  That star was in honor of his contribution to making Las Vegas the "Entertainment Capital of the World", and Las Vegas named him one of the 20th Century's greatest entertainers.  Darin also received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.  On December 13th, 2009, at its 2010 Grammy Awards ceremony, the Recording Academy awarded Darin a posthumous Lifetime Achievement Award.

Bobby Darin explored all genres of music, including pop, jazz, country, and folk music.  He could variously be described as a rock & roll singer, a Vegas hipster, an interpreter of popular standards, or even a folk-rocker.  At the height of his nightclub fame he even incorporated a folk set into his act.  Throughout his career he made a point of not becoming committed to any one style at the exclusion of others.  His work was more versatile than almost any other vocalist of his era, and he left behind a considerable quantity and diversity of recorded work.

I'm Jumpin' John McDermott, and I will close this podcast episode with Bobby Darin's big 1959 hit, "Mack the Knife"!  And until next time...Rock On!