Following "Splish Splash", came four more hits in a row, and two more gold records: "Queen
of The Hop","Plain Jane","Early in the morning" and "Dream Lover". During the popularity of "Dream Lover", Bobby released an album of ballads and swing songs aimed at adults and teenagers alike, titled "That's All". Virtually everyone around Bobby was convinced that a rock-n-roll singer couldn't make the transition to music that appealed to all ages. But Bobby felt so strongly that he paid for the "That's
All" recording sessions himself !
The first song on that album was "Mack The Knife", which received such fantastic reaction that it was eventually put out as a single, and has sold over 2,000,000 copies all over the world. The album also contained a later Darin single record hit,
"Beyond The Sea" and is the largest selling album in the history of Atco records, more than 500,000 copies.
Just before the release of "That's All" Bobby made what is perhaps the most important move of his entire career. He signed a personal management contract with Steve Blauner, a young man just two years older than himself. Blauner was a talent agent who had brought Bobby to his agency a number of months before. Blauner spotted Bobby during one of his small nightclub dates outside of New
York, and was bowled over with his natural showmanship on stage, recognizing all the qualities that make show business immortal.
Blauner believed in Bobby as no other person in the business had believed before. He believed to such an extent that he quit his agency job in a dispute involving Darin.Blauner, after a great deal of effort, had secured an engagement for Bobby withGeorge Burns first nightclub show, opening at the Sahara Hotel in Las Vegas in July 1959.Although the money wasn't the greatest, Blauner knew that exposure with Burns and the experience in the bigtime nightclub circuit could do wonders for Bobbys career.The agency on the other hand felt that Bobby should accept a conflicting offer to go on a rock-n-roll show tour of England, which would pay much more money. Blauner felt so strongly about the Burns engagement and it's importance to Bobby's career that he left the agency.
Shortly afterwards Darin asked Blauner to become his personal manager, starting with the Burns engagement. Their handshake agreement signaled the beginning of what is probaley the most successful young star-manager partnership in the history of the business.
As Blauner had predicted, Bobby amazed the audiences at the Sahara with his style and showmanship, and the waves of the public and press accolcades were showered upon him. Knowing that a lasting future for Bobby had to be built on a motion picture career, Blauner astutely booked Bobby for his West Coast nightclub debut at the Cloister in Hollywood to closely follow the Sahara engagement--capitializing on the furor of the excitement and interest that had stirred up in Hollywood due to his Las Vegas engagement.
"Mack" was just starting to get radio play from the album when Bobby opened at the Cloister ---one of the most exciting and rewarding nights of his life. George Burns introduced the the talented 23 year old singer to the audience, which was packed with Hollywood's top stars, industry executives and press. Some had come with a "show me" attitude--they all left having been shown more than they had dreamed possible for a entertainer so young.Bobby promptly set a new attendance record at the club-- a record which he completely shattered, incidentally , when he returned to the Cloister in April of 1960.
From that point on , Bobby was firmly established as a great new talent. Nightclub, television and picture offers began to pour in . Appearances on the the top TV shows and headline engagements at the the nations leading nightclubs followed. Before Bobby closed his first Cloister engagement he has signed a film contract with Paramount Pictures that was the biggest contract ever given to somone who had never before made a film.
One of Bobby's greatest triumphs was his record breaking engagement at New Yorks Copacabana, Mecca for nightclub performers, in June of 1960. Ironically,enough,during the three years that Bobby has struggled to "make it big" prior to"Mack" he has steadfastly turned down all offers to take engagements at small nightclubs in New York City. Bobby had vowed to himself that the first time he appeared in New York City it would be to headline the Copacabana, a seemingly hopeless dream at the same time--Bobby kept his promise.His first New York engagement,Bobby gave the Copa the biggest business he had had in years.
"The best since Al Jolson", wrote Walter Winchell.
"The greatest nightclub talent since Sammy Davis Jr.."Mr. Showman of 1960" wrote Gene Knight of the Journal-Amercian.
The success was especially sweet to Bobby and Steve Blauner because many "old pros" in the business had predicted that no one as young as Darin could possibly draw crowds at the Copacabana--how wrong they were!
Perhaps one of the main reasons for Darins amazing success, apart from phenomenal talent,is that he and Blauner have had enough faith in each other to trust their own judgement --not feeling that just because they were young and relatively inexperienced that contradictory advice from "old pros" was the gospel.
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