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Information on Bobby Darin's musical career.
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Bobby Darin Music
In 1956 his agent negotiated a contract for him with Decca Records, where Bill Haley & His Comets had risen to fame. However, this was a time when rock and roll was still in its infancy and the number of capable record producers and arrangers in the field was extremely limited. Like other performers, Darin was at first pigeon-holed, recording the banal songs popular with record executives at the time.
He left Decca to sign with ATCO Records, where he wrote and arranged music for himself and others. There, after three mediocre recordings, his career took off in 1958 when he wrote and recorded his unique song "Splish Splash"; it became an instant hit, selling more than a million copies. ("Splish Splash" was written with DJ Murray the K who bet that Darin could not write a song that started out with the words, "Splish Splash, I was takin' a bath", as suggested by Murray's mother; they eventually shared writing credits with her.) This was followed by more hits recorded in the same successful style.
In 1959, Bobby Darin recorded "Dream Lover", a ballad that became a multi-million seller. With financial success came the ability to demand more creative control, despite the objections of many people around him. His next record, "Mack the Knife", was the classic standard from Kurt Weill's Threepenny Opera. Darin gave the tune a vamping jazz-pop interpretation. The song went to No. 1 on the charts, sold several million copies and won the Grammy Award for Record of the Year at the Grammy Awards of 1960. Darin was also voted the Grammy Award for Best New Artist that year. "Mack The Knife" has since been honored with a Grammy Hall of Fame Award. He followed "Mack" with "Beyond the Sea", a jazzy English-language version of Charles Trenet's French hit song "La Mer", which became another big hit for him.
During this time he became one of the hottest nightclub performers around, propelled by the success of "Mack the Knife" and "Beyond the Sea". Bobby set all-time attendance records at the famed Copacabana nightclub in NYC where it was not unusual for fans to line up all the way around the block to get tickets. The Copa sold so many seats to Bobby's shows there that they had to fill the dance floor (normally part of the performance area) with extra seating, leaving Bobby with a relatively small (approx. six feet deep and 12-14 feet wide) stage on which to perform. Darin also headlined at the major casinos in Las Vegas, Nevada, the youngest performer to do so.
He was instrumental in bringing up new talent — Richard Pryor, Flip Wilson, and Wayne Newton opened his night club performances when they were virtually unknown. Early on, at the Copacabana, he insisted that black comic Nipsey Russell be his opening act. This was a very hard sell in the era of nightclub segregation, but perhaps because Darin had set the attendance mark (eclipsing Frank Sinatra), his request was grudgingly granted by Jules Podell, the Frank Costello (mob boss) manager of the Copacabana.
In the 1960s, Darin also owned and operated a highly successful music publishing and production company (TM Music/Trio) which was responsible for many hit records including "Under The Boardwalk" and "Good Lovin." He 'discovered' Wayne Newton and signed him to TM, giving him a song that was originally sent to Darin to record; and that record went on to become Newton's breakout hit "Danke Schoen". He also was a mentor to Roger McGuinn, who worked for Darin at TM Music before going off to form The Byrds. Darin also produced Rosey Grier's 1964 LP Soul City. And "Made in the Shade" for Jimmy Boyd.
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