James Darren

by Richie UnterbergerEven more than the typical teen idol, James Darrens roots in authentic rock & roll were tenuous. Darren began recording for Colpix in the late 50s at the beginning of a screen career that saw him star in numerous films, most notably Gidget. More at home with standard MOR, show tune-like material than rock, and not much of a singer in any case, Darren was nonetheless marketed as a pop/rock performer to his predominantly young female constituency. He ran off quite a few novelty-tinged hit singles in the early 60s, of which Goodbye Cruel World, which made number three, was the biggest and best. Top Brill Building pop songwriters — including the Goffin-King, Mann-Weil, and Pomus-Shuman teams, as well as Bob Crewe, Gloria Shayne, and Howard Greenfield — gave Darren material, albeit material that was well below their usual standards. He recorded quite a bit after his early-60s heyday, reaching the Top 40 in 1967 with All and charting as late as 1977 with You Take My Heart Away. During the 90s, Darren co-starred on the Star Trek spin-off Deep Space Nine as hologram crooner Vic Fontaine, reprising songs from the series on the 1999 album This Ones From the Heart.