December 20, 1973 – Bobby Darin died at age 37.

 Darin suffered from poor health his entire life. He was frail as an infant and, beginning at age eight, was stricken with recurring bouts of rheumatic fever that left him with a seriously weakened heart. During his first heart surgery, in January 1971, he had two artificial valves implanted. He spent most of that year recovering from the surgery. During the last few years of his life, he was often administered oxygen during and after his performances on stage and screen.
After failing to take antibiotics to protect his heart before a dental visit, Darin developed sepsis, an overwhelming systemic infection, which further weakened his body and affected one of his heart valves. On December 11, 1973, he checked himself into Cedars of Lebanon Hospital in Los Angeles for another round of open-heart surgery to repair the two artificial heart valves he had received in January 1971. On the evening of December 19th, a four-person surgical team worked for over six hours to repair his damaged heart. Shortly after the surgery ended in the early morning hours of December 20, 1973, he died in the recovery room without regaining consciousness. His last wish in his will was that his body be donated to science for medical research. His remains were transferred to the UCLA Medical Center shortly after his death.
One of the first teen idols, he had the 1959 #1 with “Dream Lover” plus 20 other US Top 40 hits during the 60’s including “Mack the Knife”, (Grammy Award for Record of the Year in 1960). Darin traveled with Robert Kennedy and worked on the latter’s 1968 presidential campaign. He was with Kennedy the day he traveled to Los Angeles on June 4, 1968 for the California Primary. Darin was at the Ambassador Hotel later that night when Kennedy was assassinated.

Darin moved from performing in New York City coffeehouses into recording in the late 1950s. In 1958, “Splish Splash,” a novelty song he wrote relatively quickly, became an international hit. He then recorded adult-oriented tracks, hitting it big with “Mack the Knife” and earning two Grammys. He died on December 20, 1973 in Los Angeles, and posthumously entered the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame decades later.
Darin reached the heights of fame in his all-too-brief life. He grew up poor in New York City. Throughout his childhood, Darin was told that his parents were Sam and Polly Cassotto. Sam Cassotto had been an associate of crime boss Frank Costello and had died in Sing Sing Prison. Polly, a former vaudeville performer, encouraged young Bobby to become a star like Frank Sinatra.
In fact, Darin was actually the Cassottos’ grandson. His real mother was Nina Cassotto, the woman he grew up believing was his sister. Nina had gotten pregnant as an unwed teenager, and she and Polly decided that it would be best if Polly was to assume the role of mother. While he later learned the truth about his mother, Darin never discovered who his father really was.
Darin was a thin, sickly child. Several bouts of rheumatic fever had permanently damaged his heart, and he was plagued by other health problems as well. Around the age of 6 or 7, Darin overheard a doctor’s grim prognosis for him. The doctor said he didn’t expect Darin to live past the age of 16. Rather than depress him, these words seemed to serve as an inspiration for Darin.

Well versed in several instruments, Darin started out as playing in a band in high school. One of his first gigs was a school dance. At 16, he and his band mates landed a job at a Catskills resort for the summer. Darin showed a knack not just for music but comedy as well. After high school, he briefly attended Hunter College. Darin launched his professional music career writing songs for the Aldon Music label and eventually landed his own record contract with Atco.
In 1958, Darin made it big with the lighthearted catchy rock tune “Splish Splash”—a song he wrote that reached the Top 5 of the pop charts. He quickly became one of the teen idols of the era with such songs as “Queen of the Hop.” Darin, however, proved himself to be more than another Dion or Frankie Avalon. In 1959, he scored big with two songs, “Dream Lover” and “Mack the Knife,” the latter of which was his first #1 hit on the Billboard charts and won him a Grammy Award for record of the year. Darin also won a Grammy for best new artist.
Darin continued to enjoy great popularity in the early 1960s. Moving from the concert stage to the big screen, he starred in the romantic comedy “Come September” (1961) with Rock Hudson, Gina Lollobrigida and Sandra Dee. Darin and Dee were a celebrity couple off-screen as well, having eloped together the previous year.
Trying his hand at a musical, he starred with Pat Boone and Ann-Margret in “State Fair” (1962). Darin went on to earn an Academy Award nomination for his work in 1963’s “Captain Newman, M.D.”. This World War II film stars Gregory Peck, Tony Curtis and Angie Dickinson.

Around this time, Darin also established himself as one of the top acts in Las Vegas. He became a popular crooner, not unlike his hero Frank Sinatra. Yet Darin drew inspiration from a broader musical background and was a more restless and ambitious performer. Darin became such a force in Las Vegas that he reportedly even helped Wayne Newton get his career off the ground there.
On the music charts, Darin enjoyed such hits as “Beyond the Sea” and “You Must Have Been a Beautiful Baby.” He even had success with his take on country music with “Things” and “You’re the Reason I’m Living.” A song he wrote for his wife Sandra Dee, “18 Yellow Roses,” also proved to be a hit with fans.
Darin had his last major hit in 1966 with his take on the folk song “If I Were a Carpenter.” Around this time, his marriage to actress Sandra Dee came to an end. The couple had one son named Dodd together before splitting up.
As music tastes were changing, Darin himself seemed to be evolving. He became more politically active and campaigned on behalf of Robert F. Kennedy during his 1968 presidential bid. Kennedy’s assassination that June was a devastating blow to Darin. Around this time, he opened his own label Direction Records and continued to explore his interest in folk music and protest songs. Darin wrote “Simple Song of Freedom,” which became a hit for Tim Hardin.

In the early 1970s, Darin signed with Motown Records. His later efforts failed to attract much of an audience, but he still remained popular with his live act in Las Vegas. Darin’s heart problems finally caught up with him.
In 1973, he died of heart failure in Hollywood, California. Darin was only 37 years old at the time. He was survived by his second wife Andrea Joy Yeager, whom he had married the previous year, and his son Dodd.
While he may be gone, Darin’s music still lives on. His songs have appeared on numerous film and television soundtracks, including “Goodfellas”, “American Beauty” and “The Sopranos.” Actor Kevin Spacey helped bring Darin’s life story to the big screen in “Beyond the Sea” in 2004. Spacey starred and directed the project and served as its co-writer as well.

SOURCES:
http://www.bobbydarin.net/
https://sixtiescity.net/Darin/bobby.htm
https://www.biography.com/musician/bobby-darin
http://www.pophistorydig.com/topics/dream-lover1958-1973/
https://rockhall.com/inductees/bobby-darin/
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0201239/
http://www.songwritershalloffame.org/exhibits/C154
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Bobby-Darin
https://www.allmusic.com/…/bobby-darin…/biography
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bobby_Darin