Born Walden Robert Cassotto in East Harlem, New York City, he allegedly chose his stage name from a neon Chinese restaurant sign with the "Man" burned out of "Mandarin." Another story has him flipping through a phone book and finding the name Darin.
Since childhood, he was plagued by a heart condition caused by rheumatic fever. The threat of an early death pushed him to pursue his dream of becoming "a legend by age 25."
He started his music career as a songwriter with Don Kirshner. The pair wrote songs for an up-and-coming artist named Connie Franconero (aka Connie Francis). Bobby and Connie started dating and even planned to elope until her strict father found out: He chased Bobby at gunpoint out of his daughter's life.
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