巴比·达林

Walden Robert Cassotto (May 14, 1936 – December 20, 1973), known by the stage name Bobby Darin, was an American singer, songwriter, and actor who performed pop, swing, folk, rock and roll and country music.

Darin started his career as a songwriter for Connie Francis. In 1958, Darin co-wrote and recorded his first million-selling single, "Splish Splash", which was followed by Darin's own song "Dream Lover", then his recordings of "Mack the Knife" and "Beyond the Sea", which brought him worldwide fame. In 1959, Darin was the inaugural winner of the Grammy Award for Best New Artist and also won a Record of the Year for "Mack the Knife" at the 2nd Annual Grammy Awards. Three years later, Darin won a Golden Globe Award for his first film, Come September, co-starring his first wife, actress Sandra Dee.

In the 1960s, Darin became more politically active and worked on Robert F. Kennedy's Democratic presidential campaign. Darin was present at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles at the time of Robert Kennedy's assassination in June 1968. That same year, Darin discovered the woman who had raised him was his grandmother, not his mother as he thought, while also learning that the woman who he thought was his sister was actually his mother. Those events deeply affected Darin and sent him into a long period of seclusion.

Although Darin made a successful comeback in television in the early 1970s, his health was beginning to fail due to a weak heart; Darin's knowledge of his vulnerability had always spurred him on to use his musical talent while still young. Darin died in 1973 at age 37 in a hospital recovery room after having open heart surgery in Los Angeles. His life and career were dramatized in the 2004 biopic Beyond the Sea.

Early life

Darin was born Walden Robert Cassotto in East Harlem in Manhattan on May 14, 1936, to Vanina Juliette "Nina" Cassotto (November 30, 1917 – November 3, 1983). Because his mother was only 18 at the time of his birth, Darin was raised to believe his maternal grandmother was his mother and Nina was his older sister.

Darin's maternal grandmother, Vivian "Polly" Fern Walden (born in 1891), was of English, Danish, and Norwegian ancestry and had been a vaudeville singer before Darin's birth. His maternal grandfather, Saverio Antonio "Big Sam Curly" Cassotto (born January 26, 1882), was of Italian descent. He had been a made man and "soldier" in the Genovese Crime Family, as well as a close associate of Frank Costello's. Sam Cassotto died from pneumonia in late 1935 while in prison, less than a year before Darin was born.

In 1968, when Darin was 32 and considering entering politics, Nina Cassotto told him the truth about his parentage. This information devastated Darin. Cassotto refused to reveal the identity of his biological father and took that secret to her grave when she died in 1983. Darin's father's identity remained unknown until 2020. In April 2020, Emilio "Milton" LePore (November 11, 1911 – January 5, 1965) was traced, through genealogical DNA, as being Darin's biological father.