Even for many Bobby Darin fans, 1971 is a year which is a bit of a mystery. Darin began the year with a residency at the Desert Inn in Las Vegas. An album was planned, entitled “Finally,” but it didn’t emerge until 1987. Straight after the engagement, Bobby had heart surgery and laid low for next eight months or so, only appearing on TV again in September in a short, almost unrecognisable, cameo in a Jackson 5 special, and then in two acting roles in Ironside and Cade’s Country. He finished the year with an appearance on the Merv Griffin Show.
This post pulls together some press cuttings from this “lost year.” I have purposefully NOT included the many articles that dwelled on the surgery, and instead concentrated on other things. Check out, though, the second and third articles, both from Variety. In the first, they accuse some singers in Bobby’s act of walking out without warning on his show. In the second, just days before the heart surgery and when he no doubt had plenty of other things on his mind, Bobby wrote to Variety to set the record straight.
This is Bobby Darin 