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Darin was born to a poor, working-class family in the Bronx, New York, and his father died a few months before he was born at the height of the Great Depression. As a result, his mother had to accept social assistance to take care of her infant son. It was not until he was an adult that he learned his sister Nina, 19 years his senior, was in fact his mother. The identity of his true father was never publicly disclosed.

Frail as an infant, perhaps from the poverty that resulted in a lack of proper diet and medical attention, at the age of 8 he was stricken with rheumatic fever. The illness left him with a seriously diseased heart, and he would live with the constant knowledge that his life might end at any moment. Driven by his poverty and illness, and with an innate talent for musical sounds, by the time he was a teenager he could play several musical instruments.

An outstanding student, after graduating from the Bronx High School of Science, Darin attended college on a scholarship. Wanting a career in the New York theater, he left college to play small nightclubs around the city with a musical combo. As was common with ethnic minorities at the time, he changed his Italian name and, in 1956, his agent negotiated a contract for him with Decca RecordsDecca Records is a record label that was established in 1929. Former stockbroker Edward Lewis formed Decca Records Ltd in the United Kingdom in 1929. Within years, it was the second largest record label in the world, calling itself "The Supreme Record Com where Bill Haley & His CometsBill Haley and his Comets was a rock and roll band of the 50s led by guitarist Bill Haley, one of the earliest groups of white musicians to record rock and roll bring it to the attention of white America and the rest of the world. Haley was a country perf had risen to fame. However, this was a time when rock and roll was still in its infancy and the number of capable record producers and arrangers in the field was extremely limited. Like other performers, Darin was at first pigeon-holed, recording the banal, meaningless songs popular with record executives at the time.

He left Decca to sign with Atlantic RecordsRecord labels Atlantic Records Atlantic Recording Corporation is a record label founded in 1947 by the Ertegun brothers, Herb Abramson and others. Athough it began as an independent record company, it became a major player in the jazz and pop music busine, where he wrote and arranged music for himself and others. There, after three mediocre recordings, his career took off in 1958 when he released his unique rock song "Splish Splash" that became an instant hit, selling more than a million copies. This was followed by more hits recorded in the same successful style.

In 1959, Bobby Darin recorded "Dream Lover", a complex ballad that would become a multi-million seller and one that is still remembered to this day. With financial success came the ability to demand more creative control and, despite the objections of most everyone around him, Darin's immense and diverse talent came to the fore with his next record " Mack the KnifeMack the Knife originally Die Moritat von Mackie Messer was composed by Kurt Weill with lyrics by Bertolt Brecht for their Dreigroschenoper or, as it is known in English, Threepenny Opera''. The Threepenny Opera A moritat is a medieval version of the murd", the classic standard from Kurt WeillKurt Weill ( March 2, 1900 April 3, 1950) was a German composer. He was born in Dessau, Germany and died in New York. After growing up in a religious Jewish family in Germany, Weill fled Nazi Germany in March 1933. He was seen as a particular threat by th's Threepenny Opera. Darin gave the tune a vamping jazz-pop interpretation. The song went to No. 1 on the charts, sold several million copies, and won the Grammy Award for Record of the YearThe Grammy for Record of the Year has been awarded since 1959. Originally presented to the artist alone, the award is now presented to the artist, the producer and the engineer and/or mixer. Years reflect the year in which the Grammy Awards were handed ou at the Grammy Awards of 1960The 2nd Grammy Awards were held in 1960. They recognized accomplishments by musicians from the previous year. Award winners: Record of the Year Bobby Darin for "Mack the Knife" Album of the Year Frank Sinatra for Come Dance With Me Song of the Year Jimmy. For his innovation, Darin was voted the Grammy Award for Best New Artist. "Mack The Knife" has since been honored with a Grammy Hall of Fame Award.

Driven by the inner urgency of a clock ticking away precious time, Darin turned his attention to motion pictures. He would write music for several films and act in them as well. In his first film, a romantic comedy designed to capitalize on his popularity with the teenage and young-adult audience, he co-starred with Sandra Dee, whom he married in 1960 and with whom he had one son.

Asking to be taken seriously, he took on more meaningful movie roles, and in 1962 he won the Golden Globe Award for "Most Promising Male Newcomer", for his role in Pressure Point. In 1963 he was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role as a shell-shocked soldier in Capt. Newman M.D. At the Cannes Film Festival in France, where his records—in particular his version of the French hit song "La Mer" (in America in English: "Beyond the Sea")—brought him a wide following, he won the French Film Critics Award for Best Actor.

In the mid-1960s, Darin headlined at the major casinos in Las Vegas, Nevada, and became politically active, working on the 1968 Presidential election campaign of Robert Kennedy. Profoundly affected by Kennedy's assassination, he made two protest albums of alternative rock music.

At the beginning of the 1970s he continued to act and to record, including at Motown Records. In 1971 he underwent his first heart surgery in an attempt to correct some of the heart damage he had lived with since childhood. In 1972 he was well enough to star in his own television variety show, on NBC, which ran for two years, until his health problems finally overcame him.

A goodwill Ambassador for the American Heart Association, on December 20, 1973, Darin died during surgery to repair a faulty heart valve. In accordance with his wishes, his body was donated to the UCLA Medical Center for research purposes.

In 1990, fellow 1950s rock and roll pioneer, Paul Anka, made the speech for Darin's induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. In 1999 he was voted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame.

He has a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1735 Vine Street.

In 2000, actor Kevin Spacey, a lifelong fan of Darin, acquired the film rights to his story. Directed, produced and starring Spacey as Bobby Darin, the film titled the same as one of Darin's top hits, Beyond The Sea, will be released at the 2004 Toronto International Film Festival.