David Cassidy on the Web
Sunset Music Series Think we love him
David Cassidy will perform in Newport on Saturday, July 21.
Wednesday, July 18, 2012
By Nicole Sullivan
www.newportri.com
He was the Justin Bieber of the '70s. Only David Cassidy was much, much cooler. And totally foxier. On "The Partridge Family," the heartthrob made baby boomer chicks swoon with his signature feathered hair, tight jumpsuits and puka shell necklaces.
But even though the 62-year-old still makes grown women scream every night during his shows, he sounds strikingly humble and speaks with a warm, upbeat voice like that of an old friend.
"I actually never thought I was super cool. I was just always me," said Cassidy via telephone last week. "For me to go out and play my hits and to play the songs I grew up with … it's really a wonderful thing."
On Saturday, July 21, Cassidy will take his fans back on a psychedelic bus trip at the Newport Yachting Center as part of the Nantucket Nectars Sunset Music Series.
In addition to playing iconic Partridge Family hits (including "I Think I Love You," "Doesn't Somebody Want to Be Wanted" and "I Woke Up in Love This Morning) and solo hits (including "Rock Me Baby," "Cherish" and "Could It Be Forever), he'll perform several of The Monkees' tunes in memory of his good friend Davy Jones who passed away Feb. 29 from a heart attack.
Cassidy met Jones circa 1971-1972 during the second season of "The Partridge Family" when the English actor stopped by Cassidy's Hollywood Hills home. "I was still in high school when that show ("The Monkees") was on. I was a huge fan of their music," Cassidy said. Just five years ago, the teen idols reconnected when they performed in a show together. The musicians became good friends, talked often and shared a passion for thoroughbred horses. Cassidy and Jones had been rehearsing together for a show, but the former Monkee died just a few weeks before the scheduled performance.
"It's amazing how close we became. There are so many parallels in our lives," Cassidy said. "He was just an amazing guy, and I'm really pleased to have gotten to become such good friends with him."
For his Newport show, Cassidy will perform a few hits by The Beatles. "When I was 13 years old, I saw 'The Ed Sullivan Show.' The Beatles were on and it changed my life," Cassidy said. "The next day I went out and bought an electric guitar."
After Cassidy reached meteoric fame while on "The Partridge Family," he became friends with The Fab Four, particularly John Lennon, who he describes as a mentor. "He (Lennon) came over to my house on New Year's Eve in 1975. He had forgotten the early, early Beatles stuff and I got to re-teach him songs like 'Please Please Me,' Cassidy said. "I got to sing all of Paul's parts. That was the coolest thing that I ever had happen. Because I grew up with them. They were my inspiration."
Cassidy's bonds with other teen idols makes sense — only a few people in the world could ever relate to the madness of fandom and the pervasive merchandising machine that plastered Cassidy's face on every lunchbox, T-shirt and heart-shaped keychain.
VH1's 1998 "Behind the Music: David Cassidy" paints Cassidy as a frustrated rock star trapped behind the squeaky pop image of Keith Partridge. While on the show, Cassidy maintained a breakneck schedule of shooting, recording music at night and performing show after show on weekends. He left after the fourth (and final) season of "The Partridge Family," but today he truly appreciates the show and his on-screen family.
"There were hundreds of people, fans everywhere. They slept outside my house," he said. "So when I got inside the (television) studio, there would be my (real-life) stepmom Shirley (Jones, who played the show's matriarch), Danny (Bonaduce) … and all of the crew and cast. It was like I had another family and they would all embrace me …"
"I loved working on that show," he added. "It was an insane time for me, but it was a beautiful, beautiful thing."
Cassidy remains in touch with his stepmother Jones (who was married to Cassidy's late father, Jack Cassidy, until 1974) and remains close to Bonaduce, to whom Cassidy has been like a real "big brother."
After leaving the iconic show, Cassidy did other TV stints, most notably an Emmy Award-nominated performance in "Police Story" and Broadway productions, "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat" in 1982 and "Blood Brothers" alongside his half-brother Shaun Cassidy. In the late 1990s, he was creative director and performer in the MGM Grand's "EFX" extravaganza show in Las Vegas. In 2009, he starred in the short-lived ABC Family series, "Ruby & The Rockits" with his other half-brother Patrick and had a short stint as a contestant on "The Celebrity Apprentice" in 2011.
Cassidy said performing night after night has strengthened his voice and has kept him at the same weight for about 30 years — 140 pounds. "It's easy for me," said Cassidy, who spends summers in Saratoga, N.Y. "I've always been very high-energy, and I've always been someone who loves to perform."
Cassidy has fond memories of Newport and is delighted to return — around age 8, Cassidy spent time in Rhode Island with his mother, Evelyn Ward, when she did summer stock theater ("The Pajama Game," he thinks).
Today, 89-year-old Ward suffers with dementia and Alzheimer's and has lived in 24-hour nursing care for seven years. Because of his mother's battle, Cassidy recently began working with the Alzheimer's Foundation of America to headline a benefit concert and produce an NBC special to raise money and awareness for the disease.
"Before I leave this Earth, I want to try and do something more than just perform and bring happiness," Cassidy said. "I want to be able to do something a little noble."
If You Go
DAVID CASSIDY
Saturday, July 21, 8 p.m., comedian Ace Aceto opens at 7, singer/guitarist Emma Joy Galvin performs on Courtyard Stage at 6, gates open 5:30,
Newport Yachting Center,
4 Commercial Wharf, Newport
Tickets $24 & $44
(401) 846-1600
www.newportwaterfrontevents.com
