Sound Waves Magazine
DAVID CASSIDY
By Bill Harriman
March 01, 2001
Movies have been made about David Cassidy’s incredible rise to stardom. By the age of 21 he was the highest paid solo performer in the world with a fan club that exceeded both the Beatles and Elvis combined. Playing a T.V. character named Keith Partridge turned David Cassidy into the all-time teen idol. Between 1970 and 1974 he had the hit television show, the sold-out concerts, a bunch of top ten records, and legions of screaming fans. His image was everywhere and merchandisers were making millions off of him. He was on top of the world but he was overwhelmed by it. He was trapped in the white hot glare of celebrity that so few have ever had to deal with. Burn out was inevitable and when the fall came it came quickly. Before the end of the decade he was washed up. Finished.
David Cassidy is 50 now and he’s as hot an entertainer as there is in the industry. He began building his career back up by performing in theatre. He got a break in 1983 when he starred on Broadway in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s "Joseph And The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat." A couple years later he found himself starring with Sir Lawrence Olivier in London’s west end theatre district in a play called "Time." In the early nineties he was back on Broadway starring alongside his half-brother Shaun in the enormously successful "Blood Brothers." After that Vegas came calling and things got interesting.
In 1996 David moved to Las Vegas where he replaced an injured Michael Crawford in a special effects extravaganza called "EFX." It would soon become the most successful production in Vegas and David starred in it for three full years. David, with the help of his partner Don Reos, then went on to write, produce, and direct a show called "The Rat Pack Is Back," This production, which is still going strong today, is a journey back to December 12, 1961, the day of Frank Sinatra’s 46th birthday. It is a loving tribute to the Vegas of yesteryear. And finally there’s "At The Copa" which just ended this past January. This was a semi-autobiographical show that David wrote and co-starred in with Sheena Easton. It was a combination Broadway play and live concert and many felt it was a musical masterpiece. "At The Copa" told the story of two would be entertainers who worked at the legendary Copa. The show ended at the height of it’s popularity.
After working non-stop for many years now, David is ready to move on to other things. He has been happily married to Susan Shifrin-Cassidy for thirteen years and the two have a ten year old son named Beau. He also has a love of horses and has been in the thoroughbred horse business for some time. He will be going on a concert tour triumphantly returning to venues he hasn’t been at in nearly thirty years. He is especially excited about performing at the Foxwoods Casino on March 10th. This phone interview took place on the afternoon of February 16th. David was at a horse farm in Florida at the time.
BH – So David I understand that this will be the first time you’ve ever appeared on the cover of a music magazine.
DC – (Laughs) "Yeah that’s true. I’ve never been on the cover of a music magazine"!
BH – I heard you’ve been in the studio lately. Can I ask you what you’re working on?
DC – "I’m working on some new tracks that will go on a compilation album full of old and new material. I’m just finishing up our contract and it’s with one of the three major labels and I’m extremely anxious to finish it. I just finished my show in Vegas about three weeks ago and just went out on Wednesday night (2/14) and did my first concert on the road. I’m seriously looking forward to coming to Foxwoods because so many friends of mine and so much of my family is from back there. I lived in Connecticut for a while."
BH – Where was that?
DC – "I lived in Ridgefield for five years and I’ve never been to Foxwoods but I’ve heard so many great things about it."
BH – What kind of show will you be bringing to Foxwoods?
DC- " What I’m probably going to do is bring a pretty large band. We’ll probably have six horns and three background singers, five in the rhythm section plus me. So if you count that up you should have a pretty seriously big band. I’m going to do two or three things from ‘At The Copa.’
I’m going to do a lot of my old songs, a lot of my old hits, a lot of my solo stuff certainly from ‘Old Trick New Dog’ ( his 1998 release) and probably one new thing. You know when you’ve had thirty years and eighteen albums you can draw from a lot of material. I’m also thinking about doing a song from ‘Blood Brothers’ which I did on Broadway."
BH – Was it sad doing "At The Copa" for the final time after such a great run?
DC – "No I was absolutely thrilled and delighted. I produced two shows and I been doing eight shows a week and we been working on it for fifteen months and I really haven’t stopped. My plate has been so full with the eight shows a week and producing the two shows and recording, it’s just been too much. So now I’m going out and doing what I really wanted to do. I get to work a lot less and do what I love to do and spend more time having some balance in my life. Having a life! I mean I never used to get to come down here in Florida where I have some horses. I have a pretty sizable investment in the horse business and I could never leave, I was working forty-eight weeks a year in Las Vegas and you can’t go away when you’re working six days a week. Yeah, so I’m really anxious to get back out on the road and see a lot of the places I played a long time ago. I’m going to play the Greek Theatre this summer in L.A. I haven’t been back in L.A. in ten years so it’s going to be really cool. I’m very excited about it."
BH – David what kind of feedback have you been getting since the VH-1 Behind The Music segment about you aired?
DC – "Well the same kind of feedback I’ve been getting for the last decade now. I think part of what is so exciting to me is that, you know when you’re really successful and you’re really young and your audience is very young, you go through a period of being out of favor. And then it’s funny how all of the sudden you walk out the door one day and everybody goes ‘YOU’RE THE MAN!’ It was almost like that. I felt really good about the piece on VH-1. As you know I’ve had three biographies made about my life so people know an awful lot about me. Some people didn’t really have an understanding of what I was, what the experience was like for me and what my life has been. Really truly it’s been about the journey and the work that I do and that I love the work. It’s not about the fame and the money because if you do good work all that stuff comes. It’s been the work that has carried me and I never wanted to rest on my laurels or go back and do what I done before. I wanted to do new things, creative and artistically exciting things. Things that made me want to get up in the morning. And on a personal level I think that my life has really had the same kind of metamorphosis. I think there was a perception because I didn’t want to go back and do the same thing over and over again, and make the same record, or do the same television show, and I didn’t want to do a reunion show that I didn’t like it or that I didn’t want to sing the songs and it was quite the contrary. I absolutely loved it and I wanted to protect it. I’m not a guy who’s been out there slogging through it. I don’t play nostalgia acts. I don’t play nostalgia shows. I’ve been able to go on and have a successful career on Broadway and certainly the last five years in Las Vegas have been amazing. So now going back out and doing concerts, it’s really the next step for me. And for me to go back and to play for audiences some of whom have been following me for thirty years and some who have found me in the last five or six years, that’s really an interesting thing. I have an audience that goes from kids to seventy year olds."
BH- I’m sure you’ll have fans who saw you thirty years ago that will be bringing their kids along with them this time.
DC – "Yeah that’s really cool and I also think that once people start to understand that I wasn’t that guy I was playing, hey I’m not the same guy I was when I was 19 or 20 anyway but, that I’m not a cardboard cutout or a bubblegum card or a comic book. You know my frustration was that people never really knew me, they only saw this imagery that was me playing this character on television that was nothing like me. You know I got kicked out of high school and I used to go to Hendrix concerts. I used to go see Marvin Gaye and B.B. King and so here I am on television as an actor playing the part of this really sweet wholesome all American boy. The reality was I had a much different kind of teenage life. So I think that the perception now is who I am and I feel very, very fortunate. I love singing and playing and I’ve been acknowledged for what I do. I’m one of the luckiest guys on the planet to have survived and have gone on to have a career that in so many ways is much more successful and certainly a lot more gratifying. I’ve been asked to go back and do a television series and I thought I don’t want to do that anymore. And even though the power of television is second to none, and I think it’s where the world became aware of me, I really love the work I get to do live at the theatre and producing, directing, writing now. You know the show I wrote, produced, and directed in Las Vegas now, ‘The Rat Pack Is Back,’ has been a huge hit and I just want to continue to do things that entertain people, that brings some light to people’s lives. I love to work like that. That’s what I wake up in the morning and start to think about. It’s not a job, it’s a gift to be able to have that."
BH – You sound really happy.
DC – "I’ve never been happier, honestly, I’ve never ever been happier. My life has flourished in so many ways both personally and professionally that I can’t ask for a better life. You know two nights ago (2/14) I played my first show in Tunica which is the second largest gaming market in the United States behind Las Vegas if you can believe that. And it was unbelievable. The show was incredibly successful, they had their biggest weekday night ever. So for me I’ve continually been supported by so many fans and people that have not seen me in a long time. I can’t wait to get back out and play and I certainly hope you come and see the show."
BH – I’ll definitely be there! You know David when you see Foxwoods for the first time you’re going to feel like Dorothy in The Wizard OF Oz when she first sees the emerald city.
DC – "I hear it is absolutely unbelievable. I talked to Englebert Humperdink believe it or not and he told me it’s just about the nicest place he’s ever played. So I can only say I’m really anxious to come and I hope everybody comes to see me."
BH – David I was reading about kidscharities.org. Is that an organization that your wife Susan started?
DC – "Indeed. It’s her baby and I’ve tried to assist her but she really doesn’t need my help. We’re doing a big event at Saratoga Springs in New York on August 4th which is going to benefit some of the local and regional children related charities. But it’s something that my wife has such a passion for. She sees to it that a hundred percent of all the on-line donations to these charities. She’s given away hundreds of thousands of dollars now and it’s only a year old so I’m really proud of her. She devotes ten hours a day to it and it’s her passion in life. She’s a great parent and she’s somebody who has such great compassion for human beings. So we’re going to do David Cassidy’s day at the races at Saratoga Springs on August 4th and there’ll be great auctions and fantastic racing and lunches. They’re going to auction off some trips around the world, some really amazing stuff as well as horse related things. The New York racing association has been very supportive and we’re doing this together. We’re trying to raise money for the Belmont Child Care Center and a number of the charities that my wife could tell you about. It’s a wonderful thing and I’m very proud of her and I’m trying to assist her."
BH – Finally is your son Beau a musician yet?
DC – "He’s probably going to be an entertainer I would think. He’s great, he’s got an incredible ear and a wonderful voice, but mostly he’s a great person and I’m really proud of who he is whatever he decides to do. The idea of him being brought up in this environment, he’s seen me since the day he was born working non-stop from television to recordings to movies and producing, but mostly in the theatre and in shows. So because he’s seen me doing all that since the day he was born I just can’t imagine him deciding that one day he’s going to become a brain surgeon! I think the likelihood is that because he’s got a great imagination that he’ll do something creative. Whatever he wants to do I’ll do my best to help him out."
It’s exciting to know how excited David Cassidy is to come to our area. Foxwoods seems like such a perfect venue for him and it will be nice to welcome him back to Connecticut. So David Cassidy’s amazing journey from teen idol to Broadway star to Mr. Vegas to touring rock and roller continues. It would make a great movie don’t you think?
- Bill Harriman
