Purple Phoenix Productions presents: Singin' and Swingin' with Bobby D

This is a ticketed event, but if cost is a barrier, please let us know.

Accessibility: Wheelchair lift available at the SW entrance (off Brooklyn Ave).

Max capacity of 550 lbs. Call UHeights staff for assistance at: (206) 235-8567

Join Purple Phoenix Productions for a one night only event that takes an intimate look at the life and legacy of Bobby Darin and pays tribute to one of America’s music icons. Featuring popular Seattle-based actor/singer Bob De Dea with all-new arrangements created by long-time Seattle-based musical director/arranger David Duvall.

Bobby Darin was a multi-talented performer, known primarily as a singer, but was also an Oscar-nominated actor who was posthumously inducted into the Songwriter’s Hall Of Fame. He performed and composed pop, rock, swing, folk and country music throughout his career. Among the many Darin hits included in this concert are: “Mack The Knife”, “Beyond The Sea”, “Lazy River”, “If I Were A Carpenter”, “Simple Song Of Freedom”, “Queen Of The Hop”, “Bill Bailey”, “Work Song”,“ Splish Splash” and “Dream Lover.”

Darin’s career skyrocketed with the release of his 1958 single “Splish Splash,” and he rode a wave of popularity that led him into a string of film and television appearances. His recording of “Mack The Knife” won the 1960 Grammy Award for Record of the Year and he was later honored with a Grammy Hall of Fame Award. Darin received the Grammy for Best New Artist the same year. He received a Golden Globe award for his first film, COME SEPTEMBER and his headline act from the 1960’s set nightclub attendance records in New York and Las Vegas.

He was married to singer/actress Sandra Dee for seven years. At age 32 he discovered that the woman he thought to be his sister was in fact his birth mother and the woman he thought as his deceased mother was in fact his grandmother. In 1968 he worked on the Robert Kennedy presidential campaign but after the Kennedy assassination he became disillusioned and went into seclusion. Darin suffered from poor health and a weak heart for almost his entire life. He died in 1973 at the age of 37 following surgery to repair two artificial heart valves.

In 1990 Darin was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. In 2007 he was inducted into the Hit Parade Hall of Fame. He received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2010.

A long-time fan of Bobby Darin’s work, Bob De Dea has been seen in a wide variety of roles in Seattle’s theatres, including as Harold in The Full Monty at Village Theatre, J.J. Astor in Titanic and The Baker in Into The Woods at the 5th Avenue Theatre, Felix in The Odd Couple at Bellevue Civic Theatre, as himself in My Way at Centerstage Theatre, and in various regional theatres as Buddy in Follies, Ford in The Merry Wives of Windsor, Lenny in Rumors, Jesus in Godspell, and Judas in Jesus Chris Superstar.

David Duvall is the Artistic Director for Purple Phoenix Productions. Duvall created the earlier Purple Phoenix tributes to Patsy Cline, the McGuire Sisters, and the recent tribute to Rosemary Clooney, which played at UHeights in July.