December 20, 1973 — Bobby Darin dies

In 1968, Bobby Darin was doing well for himself. He’d had a string of hits over the last decade, starting in 1958 with “Splish Splash”, and continuing with “Dream Lover”, “Beyond the Sea” and “Mack the Knife” that had brought pleasure to millions. And then things went bad for him in a hurry. A close friend of and campaigner for Bobby Kennedy, he was present when Kennedy was shot and killed. Later that same year, he learned that the people he had always believed were his parents were actually his grandparents, and the woman he had thought was his sister was actually his mother.

Darin’s health, never great, took a turn for the worse under the stress of it all. He underwent heart surgery in 1971, and in 1973, developed an infection which led to sepsis that eventually killed him. He was only 37 years old. And not being done making the world a better place, he donated his body to science.