Book summary

With the twin disadvantages of being born with a medical condition that doctors predicted would kill him before the age of 30 (he actually died at 37), and believing his grandmother to be his mother (his real mother was actually his "sister"), 1950s and '60s performer Bobby Darin can be forgiven some emotional confusion. However, as David Evanier's forthright biography, ROMAN CANDLE, shows, his ill health had the effect of concentrating his mind on succeeding in the one thing he believed would distinguish him from the pack--show business. Darin's single-minded obsession with success drove his life, and drives the narrative of Evanier's book, which chronicles the many forms his career took--'50s pop singer, '60s nightclub singer, folk singer, and actor--and the stories of the many people who assisted him (mostly women), from his grandmother/mother, Polly, to his faithful publicist, Harriet Wasser. In Evanier's insightful book, Darin's talent, intelligence, and chameleon-like shifts in musical direction, which, in the case of his protest-song period, found him risking commercial oblivion, are vividly portrayed as springing from a driven urge to create "faster than the speed of life."

Media reviews

"Evanier's portrait, true to its title, is one of a bright talent that soared quickly and erupted in a flash of glory."