Rock & Roll Singer
"My goal is to be remembered as a human being and as a great performer" (Scalia). Bobby Darin, born Walden Robert Cassotto on May 14th 1936 and later died on December 20th 1973 at the age of 37. Darin was an American singer, songwriter, and actor of film and television. He was the son of an Italian-born cabinet maker in Bronx, New York. He had a normal childhood as many did and was backed with a loving family who supported and encouraged his every musical move. As a child he suffered something called severe rheumatic fever, which is inflammatory disease that may develop as a complication of a streptococcus infection. It is often similar to Strep throat or scarlet fever. This caused him to be much protected in his life and helped him strive to be as successful as he could be with the short life that he had. Later in life he found out that the people he grew up thinking were his parents were in fact not, his mom was the his sister and his ‘parents’ were actually his grandparents, he never found out who his father was. Although he had many complications that did not stop him from following his dream.
Darin was well versed and spread out with the many instruments that he played. He started out playing in a band in high school and later landed at job at Catskills resort with his band for the summer. After High school he enrolled at Hunter College where he started his professional music career writing songs for the Aldon Music label. “After scratching out an existence as a commercial-jingle composer, he changed his name to Bobby Darin, and became a professional singer in 1956” (Scalia).That is when he signed for own first record contract with Atco. “While writing songs, Darin met singer Connie Francis, and he help...
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Darin had suffered from rheumatic fever as a child. He had always suffered from heart problems and they finally started to catch up with him. “…suffering a minor heart attack in January 1971, but he went on to enjoy roles in 'Ironside' (1971) and 'Night Gallery' in 1972 before making what would be his final appearance in 'Happy Mother's Day, Love George' in 1973” (Bobby Darin Biography). On December 11, 1973, he was admitted to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles to get repairs to artificial heart valves that had previously been implanted. Even though his time was cut short his music still lived on appearing in numerous films and movie soundtracks, including Goodfellas, American Beauty and The Sopranos. Darin’s life story was brought to the big screen in ‘Beyond the Sea in 2004’. Bobby Darin was in the process of making a comeback when he died in 1973.
Bobby has had a successful music career. He has released 3 more solo albums since his famous "Don’t be Cruel" album. He has also released 1 album with New Edition. His annual salary since 2013 is $400,000, from royalties in his solo career as well as with New Edition. Bobby has worked with L.A Reid and Babyface.
chopping wood - introduced him to early rock & roll and rhythm & blues music.
In the summer of 19 o four he became very ill and was diagnosed with Rheumatism. His ear was also damaged and was forced to use an ear horn when spoken to. He traveled to Chicago for a cancerous right eye, his weight dropped from two hundred pounds to one hundred thirty five pounds. In nineteen o four he began hemorrhaging and vomited a great amount of blood from his mouth, and then became unconscious. He never woke up and died on January 2, nineteen o four at Gainsville, Georgia.
At age eighteen, Bob had started a dance act with his girl friend Millie Rosequest, but it did not last long. Bob soon teamed up with another dancer named George Burd. They took their act to New York and worked at a lot of vaudeville show houses. It was at one of these places where Bob was asked to do the announcing in between acts. Bob's comedic talent and acts took hold and lead to the beginning of his solo career. In less than five years Bob had become the most sought after talent and the # 1 hit in the vaudeville circuit.
Johnny Cash was born in Kingsland, Arkansas on February 26, 1932 (Enslow 19). He began to take an interest to music when his father bought a radio. His mother loved listening to music and his mother and Johnny would sing songs all throughout the house. Taught by his mother and childhood friend, he learned to play guitar (Enslow 19). Working hard and practicing, he became very good at guitar and singing. However, he grew up through the Great Depression and this was very difficult for him and his family. In Edward Enslow’s “The Man in Black” Johnny Cash states, “We were very poor, and I almost died of starvation as a child.” This quote shows how life was a struggle for Cash in his early life. Facing all the many challenges was difficult for him but he found a way through it. Through his older brother Jack, he was able to cope with his life growing up. Jack was a huge role model to Johnny growing up, he would teach...
Throughout his career, Bobby Cox never got the fame that every coach wants. He did his job and never complained about it. With all the criticism that he has gotten over the years he still puts together a well organized and in the most part well behaved team in baseball. Starting off as a player himself, he will always be remembered as one of the best managers of all time.
time. He was planning another concert when he died July 6, 1971. Louis’s death was
There are many Elvis Tribute Artists throughout the United States. A tribute artist is one of a group of unique people who have dedicated their lives to keeping Elvis’ memory alive. How it all got started, a boy went into Sun Records at the age of 19, to record a special song for his mother’s birthday present; the song was titled My Happiness. One year would pass by, before the owner of the studio would call him back. In 1954, music producer, Sam Phillips discovered the very young and energetic boy that we know as Elvis. Sam Phillips was looking for a sound that was very different and unique. Elvis, Scotty Moore, and Dj Fontana had been working hard all day, and close to the end of the afternoon when they were about ready to give up, while taking a break, Elvis picked up the guitar and started to play around. Sam stuck his head out of the control booth, and asks, “What are you doing and can you do it again?” Elvis answered, “I don’t know and yes”. The rockabilly sound was born. A deejay by the name of, Dewey Phillips at WHBQ Radio in Memphis, Tennessee interviewed Elvis and played his first record “That’s all right mamma. The world was introduced to Elvis Presley and the rockabilly sound. Elvis was the greatest music entertainer of his time, until his death on August 16, 1977, at the age of forty-two years. His sudden death left this world very tearful, he was known as the King-of -Rocking- N-Roll throughout his life and still today, thirty-two years after he died.
Born on May 26, 1949, in Shreveport, Louisiana, Hank Williams, Jr. used his natural talent for singing to follow in his father’s footsteps. By the age of 8, Hank made his stage debut and made his first appearance at Nashville’s Grand Ole Opry at age 11. Then, puberty changed him. Once his voice changed, he signed with MGM Records and subsequently recorded his father’s hit “Long Gone Lonesome Blues” in 1964 (about.com). His very first album, Songs My Father Left Me, was an instant hit.
Art Menius said, “The African-American music of the rural south provided the source for gospel, jazz, and blues, while the often ignored black contribution to country music and hillbilly music went far beyond providing the banjo and Charley Pride.” In 1928, A.P. Carter, the patriarch of the legendary Carter Family, the first family of country music, met a blues guitarist by the name of Lesley “Esley” Riddle. Lesley Riddle had created a unique picking and sliding technique on the guitar while he was recovering from an accident on the job. The Carter Family was looking for a new sound of music, and they were so overwhelmed by the sound that Lesley produced, they wanted him to teach them how to play that way. Lesley Riddle influenced Maybelle Carter’s style of guitar playing called the “Carter Scratch,” which became legendary. According to birthplaceofcountrymusic.org, Riddle’s influe...
...ffered a massive heart attack, but that didn't stop him from performing. It wasn't until 1964 that Armstrong would get a number one single “Hello Dolly” for the Broadway musical. In the same year he suffered many health problems including kidney and heart problems. During the spring of 1971 he suffered another heart attack, only this time Louis Armstrong couldn’t recover and died on July 6, 1971 a month before his birthday in New York.
Clara Schumann suffered from a stroke that caused her death on 20 May 1896. As she lay dying, she asked her grandson Ferdinand to play a beautiful piece of music for her, her husband's F-sharp major romance. That was the last music Clara Schumann ever heard. Johannes Brahms and many others attended the funeral.
Ray Charles one of the greatest African-American artists of all time. He left a legacy of hits and Grammy awards, but the musicians he influenced were very diverse in genre as the music he wrote, arranged, performed, and recorded. Ray Charles died at the age of 73 on June 10, 2004 from acute liver disease. Months after his death on October 29, 2004 the movie Ray was released to the U.S on a budget of forty million dollars. The film went on to become a box-office hit, earning over $100 million dollars with an additional $75 million internationally. It ended up with a worldwide gross of over $175 million.
He had exposure to several different genres growing up in his St. Louis, MO hometown. He heard country from the whites, rhythm & blues (R&B) from mostly blacks, even Latin music. His family environment set him up well for future success while growing up in a middle class home in the middle of the Great Depression of the 1930s. His parents sun...
... passed away. The reason for his death is unidentified, however an extremely popular hypothesis is that he died of a severe rheumatic fever, something he suffered many times during his life.