David Cassidy on the Web
Mr. Popular
'70s heartthrob turned modern showman only wants to make you happy
Thursday, Nov. 2, 2006
By Nathan Oravec
www.gazette.net/stories
Maryland Community Newspaper Online
Waiting for David Cassidy to call, one receives a brief, but tactile glimpse of what it must have been like to be a teenage girl in the 1970s, front and center at one of his concerts - all clammy palms and butterflies from the prospect of making contact with a star.
Keith Partridge Unplugged: David Cassidy will visit Frederick to rock The Weinberg Center for the Arts Friday night
But for this writer, at least, the reaction is less about Cassidy's skyrocketing to fame as eldest sibling Keith in television's pop-hit ''The Partridge Family."
It's also not about his long-running tenure on Broadway in shows like ''Blood Brothers" and ''Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat" in the early '90s - or his debut on London's West End starring opposite Sir Laurence Olivier in ''Time."
It's not even about his $75 million Las Vegas phenomenon ''EFX," which in 1996, under his creative direction, packed the house at the MGM Grand and garnered accolades like ''Best Production Show" and ''Best All Around Performer."
And for a married man with child, it certainly isn't a case of ''Puppy Love."
It's so, so much more about the musician's subsequent Vegas opus, ''The Rat Pack is Back," a tribute show which he devised and starred in at the legendary Desert Inn and The Sahara, and which continues to tour today.
''I knew Dean," he says quite casually, as though the iconic crooner was the milkman or his stockbroker. (Cassidy, it turns out, attended private school with Martin's son, Dino.)
He also once met Bobby Darin, who he portrays in the show and considers one of the finest performers to have ever walked the planet.
Sounds good.
''Sounds good? 'Beyond the Sea?' 'Mack the Knife?' I think so."
But it's ''The Partridge Family" that solidified his pop-culture immortality. At the age of 20, when the show debuted, Cassidy was propelled instantly onto magazine covers and posters on dormitory walls.
By 21, he had become the highest paid performer of his time. Throughout the show's running, his fan club, it is said, surpassed that of Elvis Presley and The Beatles (Cassidy knew the Fab Four, too, by the way.)
And his popularity hasn't weaned over the years.
''I just had ten calls in ten minutes," he says when he finally phones.
It's no wonder. With multiple projects in the works, including a new book due next year, and a revamped best-of tour that has seen him zig-zagging from Los Angeles to New Mexico and even the UK, with a quick stop scheduled for Frederick tomorrow, David Cassidy is once again taking the world by storm.
'Could It Be Forever'
Cassidy was absent from concert stages for nearly a decade, but returned to his roots not only for his fans, not only for himself, but also for his family.
''It was important for me not to work 10 shows a week ... My son was becoming a teenager, and I decided it was really time for me to put down some roots. So we found a great house down by the water in South Florida. Other than New York, where I was born and raised, I can't think of anywhere else I'd rather live. And it was the right environment for my son to flourish. When you're traveling, you can live anywhere you want. I like that idea."
''I don't tour nonstop. I have to have balance in life. I don't want to pack up and leave for six months. I have a wife, a son, my mother-family. I need to have a balance for them. So I never leave for more than ten days at a time."
'Cherish'
Cassidy clocked nearly 3,000 ''Partridge"- free performances in his ten-year sabbatical from touring. Returning to the hits that shaped his career has been a thrill, he said.
''It's like if you had opened up an old chest and found these great jewels - these great heirlooms - inside, but they're all yours. The Partridge Family is still alive in the public consciousness. We sold 25 million records ... I'm really proud of the work. It's a celebration for me and I embrace it. I set my guitar on my neck and I feel like I'm 20 again."
For the day they release a ''Partridge Family" Trivial Pursuit: In the show's early days - no one except David knew that he could carry a tune.
''I was 19 when we shot the pilot, and 20 when we started filming. I was cast as an actor in a television sitcom by a Los Angeles theatre company. I had worked in a lot of dramatic shows beforehand, so I was never asked if I could sing and play. At the time, they didn't know if it would sell. After the pilot sold, I approached [the producers] and said 'I do play and sing.' ... At the time, [Columbia Pictures had a division] Bell Records and Wes [Farrell] was the producer. I auditioned for him and he said, 'You're pretty good, kid.' The rest was history."
Growing up Partridge
''It was difficult because I was working all day as an actor and recording every night with both The Partridge Family and as David Cassidy. I had two recording careers. And on the weekend I was out doing concerts ... I had no time. I was working 18 hours a day. When you're on the cover of every magazine and people are following you home and sleeping on your lawn, it's difficult. But it was a fantastic experience. I had the largest fan club in history. It was phenomenal. But I was certainly overworked. I think anyone would be once you reach a certain level of fame. But I loved the people I worked with. We worked with some of the greatest songwriters in history ... It was [an amazing education] ... and I soaked it up like a sponge. If you had a million dollars you couldn't buy it. I always felt that way - that I was extremely fortunate."
TV Land
''I understand one of the channels ran a [Partridge Family] marathon over the weekend. One of my friends called me up and said, 'I saw you on TV this week,' and I thought, 'Wow. That's cool.' I do a guest shot or two a year. I did an episode of 'Malcom in the Middle,' and that was great. When something interesting comes up that doesn't take me away from home, I still love to act. ...But I don't want to move back to LA ... Been there, done that."
Show business blues
''It's much more of a marketing business now. I never heard the term 'marketing' until 1977. To us, marketing meant going to the store for eggs, bread and cheese. That conversation never took place. It was all about the music."
''Today, it's much more of a business than music. The music is secondary now. Today it's all about managers and lawyers [getting together] and saying, 'Do they sound like something popular?' Back then, you were signed because you were different and unique. On the radio - on the same station -you could hear things like Cream, Marvin Gaye, Petula Clark, Sinatra, and Tony Bennett. Now, there are 15 different radio stations and they all play the same thing. It's a shame. On Top 40 radio you're listening to the same recordings, the same sounds. There's very little variation. It's unfortunate [listeners] are not getting exposed [to a variety.]"
'Come On Get Happy'
''My plate's pretty full. I'm working on a book that will be out next year. But I'm looking forward to coming to Maryland. I haven't been out in quite some time ... Audiences should expect a celebration. I'll be playing a lot of early hits. It will be me taking them on their own musical journey ... They should be ready to scream, shout and sweat."
