Not a great quality clip, but interesting nonetheless. Stevie Wonder joins Bobby Darin on stage during one of his TV Shows. I think judging from Bobby's haircut that this probably is around 1968 or so. Bobby went through a period where he gave up the hair piece, and grew a beard and went folkie. It didn't go over well with his fans and he was booed off the stage of the Copacabana in New York. After that he finally returned to the hair piece, and tux, and now you know the rest of the story:-)
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The clip is from a Kraft Music Hall special entitled "The Sound Of The Sixties" that aired January 22, 1969. Other guests on the show were Buddy Rich, Judy Collins and Laura Nyro.
Thanks Laura!!!!
Was Bobby the host, or just one of the guests?? I should have known 1969 since after the death of Bobby Kennedy, Darin retreated from being a pop star and took up protest music, so 68 was too soon.
Bobby was the host of the show. It's too bad that Bobby's folk/protest music didn't meet with a better reception at the time. More people are recognizing it now as great song-writing, but at the time his older fans hated it because it was so different from his previous work, and the folk/rock establishment ignored him or didn't think he was sincere because he was too old ("don't trust anyone over 30") and too associated with Vegas glitz and superficial pop. He got booed at the Copa because he tried to make too radical a change in his image. By 1971 he had figured out if he retained certain elements of his old image, people would accept it when he mixed in the folk/protest songs. Thus, at the Desert Inn in Las Vegas in 1971 he was back to wearing the tux and the toupee and singing Mack The Knife right up front, but he was also singing Laura Nyro's "Save The Country" and his own "Simple Song Of Freedom" ending with a long chorus of "Don't ever let anyone take away your freedom." There were no boos at those performances, and the engagement was seen as a triumphant comeback.
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