Daddy Cool: Finding My Father, the Singer Who Swapped Hollywood Fame for Home in AustraliaPaperback, 19 May 2020

'Every family has secrets. Ours also has an award-winning biographer. My sister's discoveries astonished me.' Geraldine Brooks

Who can ever truly know their parents?
He was a glamorous heart-throb, a famous American singer performing at the Academy Awards in front of Betty Davis, Katherine Hepburn, Clarke Cable and other stars. In the 1930s, his records were outselling Bing Crosby's.
So how did he become an Australian infantryman, fighting alongside and performing for his fellow Diggers in Palestine, Beirut, Egypt and New Guinea?
Why did he leave Hollywood and the ritziest hotels in California for a modest Californian bungalow in suburban Sydney?
And what caused him to cease his endless drifting from one woman to another, one marriage to another, and settle with the love of his life?
She was a strong Aussie woman, a talented radio broadcaster and publicity agent. Why did she take a chance on this reckless vagabond and notorious womaniser?
Seeking answers, Darleen Bungey turns her forensic skills on her own family, exploring her father's multi-layered and at times tempestuous life, with a truthful eye and loving heart.