From:   "Dik de Heer" 
Date:  Thu Oct 3, 2002  2:09 am
Subject:  Born To Be With You : James Darren

JAMES DARREN

Born James William Ercolani, 3 October 1936, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

This photogenic actor/singer was signed to Columbia Pictures in the mid-50s,
his first movie being 'Rumble On The Docks' in 1956. He first sang in 'Gidget'
in 1959, from which the title song made the US chart (# 41). Other notable
starring roles include 'Because They're Young' (1960) and the epic 'The Guns
Of Navarone' (1961). 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. In late
1961 he reached the US Top 3 with his lucky 13th single "Goodbye Cruel World"
and followed it with two more transatlantic hits, "Her Royal Majesty", a Carole
King composition, and "Conscience", written by Barry Mann. After leaving the
Colpix label, Darren recorded with little success for Warner Bros, Kirshner,
Buddah, MGM, Private Stock (where he returned briefly to the US Top 100 in
1977 with "You Take My Heart Away", from the hit movie 'Rocky') and RCA
Records.
Darren is now best known for his television roles, playing the role of Dr. Tony
Newman in the popular and often re-run 60s television series The Time
Tunnel, Officer James Corrigan in T.J. Hooker, the singing hologram Vic
Fontaine in Star Trek : Deep Space Nine, and Tony Marlin in Melrose Place.
During the 90s he established himself as an in-demand television director.

The most comprehensive CD overview of the Colpix recordings is "Teenage
Tears" on the Australian Raven label (32 tracks). An alternative is "Best Of
James Darren" on Rhino.