Bobby Darin was born May 14, 1936 in The
Bronx, New York. In later years he learned that his "sister" was
in reality his mother, and the woman he thought was his mother was his
grandmother. He never knew his birth father. At the age of 8 he had
several cases of rheumatic fever, and as a result he suffered from heart disease
his whole life.
He
had extensive musical talent, and as a teenager learned to play several
instruments which included the piano and guitar. He was discovered
as a singing talent in 1956 while playing in small nightclubs during the
early years of "rock and roll". His career took off in
1958 when he wrote the song "Splish, Splash", selling over a
million copies.
In
1960 he became a motion picture actor and met and co-starred with Sandra
Dee, who was 18 years old at the time. They were married for 7 years
and had one son, Dodd Mitchell Darin in 1961. They divorced in 1967.
While
still suffering from heart disease, he died on December 20, 1973 from
complications after heart surgery to repair his heart valve.
A
bit of trivia: He "discovered" Wayne Newton, giving him a
song that was meant for Darin to record. The song was "Danke
Schoen".
