When I first got into music in the '70s, one of my "mentors" was my Uncle BJ, who had fervor for music that kept me spellbound and soaking up information like a sponge. I can clearly remember BJ passionately telling me about seeing Bobby Darin live and that he was simply the best performer that he had ever seen! Of course, being more into "heavy" rock at the time, I was only familiar with "Splish Splash" and "Mack the Knife." It wasn't until later after seeing a few TV bios on Darin that I fully came to appreciate my Uncle's assessment.

With the recent Kevin Spacey movie about Darin's life, there has been the expected flood of books about his life. So you can imagine my dismay at the number of ho-hum, plain vanilla biographies that have appeared about Bobby Darin. How these books can make a life as fascinating as Darin's become such a boring read is beyond me. In addition to his music and film career, you have the soap opera-like drama of Darin finding out the truth of his "real mother" in 1968!

ROMAN CANDLE: THE LIFE OF BOBBY DARIN does what the others don't - capturing the passion and energy of a man that not only knew his days were numbered (Darin had a heart condition) but truly lived his life like a musical 'roman candle,' wanting to get as much done in the time he had left. Although it is compact as far as biographies go (251 pages), it packs more bang for the buck as it makes you actually understand the complex character of Bobby Darin. Thankfully, it covers more of his musical career than his film career - although it does cover his unreleased, self-made movie THE VENDORS (would love to find a copy of this!). Also covered are his family dynamics (his bizarre love-hate relationship with his blood relatives), his connection with Bobby Kennedy, and his relationships with musicians such as Wayne Newton, Roger McGuinn and Tony Orlando. On a humorous note, I love the story of when Bobby met legendary record producer Phil Spector! (Let's just say that their temperaments would never have let them work together!)

But it is Darin's musical aspirations that I found most fascinating. He is described in this book as a mix between Ray Charles and Frank Sinatra - and while that gives you a starting point there is so much more to it. Darin was a true chameleon, traversing from rock 'n roller to Vegas-style crooner to folk music with relative ease - despite the dire warnings from those 'in the know' that it would kill his career. Although Frank Sinatra sang "My Way," that really should be Bobby Darin's theme song.

Well, my search is over for the BEST Bobby Darin biography! You want to understand Bobby Darin? Forget the other books and pick up this one!

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