David Cassidy on the Web
I Re-Taught Lennon His Beatles Hits
November 5, 2006
By Billy Sloan
Sunday Mail
DAVID CASSIDY relives his years as a teen pop idol. He plays Glasgow's SECC on April 10 on the Once In A Lifetime tour with The Osmonds and David Essex.
BS: You have fond memories of your first Scottish gig at Shawfield Stadium, Glasgow, in 1974?
DC: When I played there my opening act was Showaddywaddy... so it's a happy coincidence they're also on this tour. I haven't seen or heard from them since. I'd never been to Scotland before and when I arrived fans lined the streets all the way from the airport to the venue. Although I'd created hysteria around the world that moment was very special.
BS: Was it tough performing your songs to a barrage of screams?
DC: It was difficult to have any interaction with an audience and a constant distraction trying to stop girls getting crushed on the barriers at the front of the stage. It felt overwhelming to face a barrage of 30,000 girls screaming at the top of their lungs. Part of the reason I stopped touring was because it became too chaotic just trying to sing my songs.
BS: John Lennon gave you advice on handling fame. How did you meet?
DC: We became friends when John lived in Los Angeles during his so-called "lost weekend" period. There were only a few people who'd lived through the experience of teen mania. At the peak of Beatlemania, he had three other guys to share it with... I was on my own. I really admired the fact he turned his back on fame and said: "I don't wanna be a Beatle any more."
BS: Did you have wild nights?
DC: I first saw The Beatles on the Ed Sullivan Show when I was 13 years old. Next day, I went out and bought an electric guitar and learned how to play their songs. John would come round to my house for a sing-song. He'd forgotten a lot of the lyrics... so I taught John Lennon how to sing his own Beatle songs. I also got to sing all of Paul McCartney's harmonies. It was like living out a childhood fantasy.
BS: What crazy things did fans do trying to get to you?
DC: You live in a very paranoid place. I was very nervous and suspicious all the time. I once got a call from the FBI saying they had received a $1 0million kidnap threat they were taking seriously. I had to live at a secret address with an armed guard. He'd even follow me to the bathroom.
DC: I also had a girl who slept in a wall cavity between my air conditioning unit and bathroom for a month. God only knows what she was observing.
BS: So why have you encouraged your own kids to go into showbusiness?
DC: My son Beau, 15, is a very talented musician who has sung at Carnegie Hall in New York. My daughter Katie, 20, is an actress playing Lucy Ewing in the movie remake of Dallas. I've told them to work hard and not just do things for money... always make sure the jobs they take have real quality.
BS: You're releasing a best of David Cassidy and the Partridge Family hits. Which are your favourites?
DC: I Think I Love You is the track I'm most proud of. I'm also fond of I Write The Songs, written by Bruce Johnson of The Beach Boys.
