Bobby Darin was the most adaptable and successful of the teen idols, he could change his style from one series of recordings to the next. Brought up by his mother, Darin could play drums, piano and guitar. He won a scholarship to Hunter College, but dropped out to play in the New York clubs and coffee houses. Darin was signed to the Atco label as the company was re-orienting itself towards pop and away from the R&B.  In 1958 he wrote and recorded the song ‘Splish Splash’, It was an instant hit and was followed by ‘Queen of the Hop’, ‘Early in the Morning’ and ‘Plain Jane’. The climax of this phase of Darin’s

career was his own composition ‘Dream Lover’, Darin’s superior production transformed ‘Dream Lover’ into a classic rock ballad. Darin’s next record marked a complete change of direction. The debut of ‘Mack the Knife’ which sky rocketed to a million seller recording, also gave birth to other standards such as, ‘Beyond the Sea’, ‘Clementine’, ‘Won’t You Come Home Bill Bailey?’, ‘Lazy River’, ‘You Must Have Been a Beautiful Baby’ and ‘Nature Boy’.
   In 1960, Darin moved to Hollywood where he began a second career as a screen actor, appearing in a wide variety of films. Once again, his records changed style, he recorded an album of Ray Charles songs, including ‘What’d I Say’ which gave him a Top Thirty hit in 1962, and he wrote and recorded ‘Multiplication’. More successful was the his self-composed ‘Things’ his last hit for Atco which reflected his growing interest in folk music.                         
   In 1962, Darin joined Capitol records and had an immediate hit with ‘You’re the Reason I’m Living’, but most of his Capitol recordings, such as ‘18 Yellow Roses’ and Broadway tunes ‘Hello Dolly’ and ‘Mame’ were less popular. More interesting were his concert performances which saw him mixing standards, his rock ’n’ roll hits and folk songs. When he returned to Atlantic in 1966, his hits were in the folk genre. These included ‘If I Were a Carpenter’, his biggest hit of the late sixties, and ‘The Lady Came from Baltimore’.
   Darin left Atlantic and the mainstream of popular music, in 1969 he established the short lived Direction Records for which he recorded the album titled ‘Born Walden Robert Cassotto’, whose ‘Long Line Rider’ was a minor hit. In 1971, he rejoined the popular mainstream, signing with Motown and once more took to regular appearances at Las Vegas. His only hit of this period was ‘Happy’.