Bobby Darin.
Given a death sentence for a rheumatic heart as a kid, he heard his doctor say he was not expected to live beyond 16. Later in life, he would find out this his mother was not the woman he had been raised to believe she was. His friend, Robert Kennedy, was assassinated, which ‘paralyzed’ him, and he spent the night beside his coffin before a flag was draped over it. (His song “In Memoriam” was a moving tribute to RFK.)
Darin knew he had to move fast and live life to the fullest, which he did until his sudden tragic death at 37 as a consequence of not taking antibiotics (for his fragile heart condition) before a dental procedure.
Beyond that–he was an incredible performer, singer, songwriter, actor, musician who was much beloved and respected by the older Hollywood generation (Jimmy Durante, George Burns, Sammy Davis Jr., Andy Williams, et al) and younger up-and-coming singers including Tony Orlando, Rod Stewart, et al)
Many legendary songs and performances: “Mack the Knife” (his only #1 hit which Dick Clark had thought would fail as Darin launched a nightclub ‘saloon singer’ phase), “Beyond the Sea”, “Splish Splash”, “Dream Lover”, “A Simple Song of Freedom”, “Things”, “Long Line Rider'”, “Multiplication”, “Artificial Flowers”, “18 Yellow Roses”, and “Long Time Movin'”.
Darin, more than any other singer of the ’50s to ’70s, epitomized “Cool”, snapping his fingers, moving his body while singing “Mack the Knife” and many other songs.
He was a truly likable nice guy who enjoyed lifting audience’s spirits and making people laugh. He had many friends and was much beloved by his movie-star wife Sandra Dee and son Dodd Darin who wrote a memorable book, Dream Lovers, about his parents.
The best works on Darin are the Rhino Records comprehensive 4-CD boxset and the engaging DVD overview of his life and career Bobby Darin: Beyond the Sea. Highly recommended for fans or people wanting to know more about this spirited talent who was once greatly admired in his time.
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On a personal note, I will confess to changing my middle name to Darin for a mailing from summer school in grade 10, 1965 (something I never repeated).
Something about the name, also later reflected in my brief subsequent interest in James Darren (song “Goodbye Cruel World”, one of his theatre movies, and the hokey 1966-67 tv series The Time Tunnel).